Some people absolutely love Halloween – which, according to some studies, is the number one night of the year for random hookups among young people – while others think Halloween is clearly a satanic celebration. Then there are those who fall in between: They don’t think it’s the night of the devil, but they still don’t look forward to a bunch of random kids knocking on their door asking for treats.
However, mixed as the feelings may be, a new High Point University poll found that, across the state, the majority of people are celebrating Halloween this year.
Specifically, the poll found that 59 percent of North Carolinians polled plan to celebrate Halloween in 2024, while 36 percent say they’re going to take a pass. They won’t dress up, watch horror flicks with friends or pass out treats to kids.
The study also asked which candies and treats scored highest and which came in at the bottom of the list.
This year’s poll found that a significantly higher proportion of the population in the state will celebrate than last year. The High Point University Poll conducted last year on the same subject found that only 47 percent of North Carolinians would be celebrating Halloween.
The new 2024 poll also found that about two-thirds, 67 percent, of state residents say they’ll spend less than $100 celebrating Halloween.
Only 4 percent responded saying that they’ll spend $200 or more for their October 31 celebration.
A majority of those responding – 60 percent – said they intend to spend the same amount of money for Halloween as last year, while 14 percent say they will spend more and 20 percent will spend less.
In the 2023 poll, 61 percent of respondents said they will spend the same amount of money celebrating Halloween as they did the previous year – while 17 percent said they would spend more and 18 percent would spend less.
The poll also, of course, asked North Carolinians which type of candy was their favorite. There was a four-way tie for first place: M&M’s. Hershey bars, Kit Kat bars and Reese’s Cups came in first at 85 percent popularity.
Snickers bars, which 84 percent of people in the state like, almost made that a five-way tie.
The also-rans in the candy category were Twix (81%). Butterfinger (72%), Tootsie Rolls (70%), Skittles (66%), Whoppers (62%), Smarties (61%), candy corn (53%), Nerds (54%), pumpkin spice (53%) and Sour Patch Kids (56%).
Mary Janes – the peanut butter-like candy that comes in the orange and black wrapping, only had a favorable rating of 46 percent in North Carolina.
People’s favorite candies this year are remarkably similar to those of the previous few years.
The 2024 poll also asked how North Carolina residents are celebrating the day and night variety of things to celebrate Halloween. Here are some of the most popular ways…
Watch a scary movie (54%),
Pass out candy to children trick-or-treating at their house (49%),
Put up Halloween decorations in their home or yard (49%).
Carve a pumpkin (41%)
Wear a costume (33%)
Dress their children in costumes (31%)
Take children trick-or-treating (31%)
Attend a Halloween party (27%)
Dress up a pet in costume (23%)
Pass out healthy snacks instead of candy to children trick-or-treating (20%).
(That last one often draws frowns rather than smiles from the kids.)
And, of course, a lot of people will celebrate by dressing up in costume and heading to downtown Greensboro. In some past years, Halloween has fallen on the same weekend as the Greatest Homecoming On Earth, which is not a good thing at all since, those years, it’s so jam-packed on closed-off Elm Street that it’s almost impossible to even so much as walk from one bar to another.
Well, with the price of apples and razor blades so high this year and with my chain saw in the shop I think I’ll let Hallowe’en 2024 quietly slide by. I do think that whoever took this poll has entirely too much time on their hands….
I got out in my costume every day, Oct, or not. It is scary.