Canadians split down the middle on handing out Halloween candy: survey

TORONTO -

A new poll suggests Canadians are roughly split down the middle when it comes to handing out Halloween candy this year.

Forty-eight per cent of the 1,521 adults who completed the online Leger survey said they would be handing out candy, while 46 per cent said they would opt out and six per cent were undecided.

• 5 Things to Know newsletter: Sign up to start your day with the biggest stories

For those with kids in their household, the proportion of those dishing out treats jumps to 63 per cent.

But an even greater proportion of families with kids plan to take advantage of the night's spoils.

Of the 350 respondents with kids old enough to go trick-or-treating, 79 per cent said they would do so.

The poll from Leger and The Canadian Press, which was conducted between Oct. 20 and 22, also indicates 71 per cent of Canadians expect to spend about the same amount of money on Halloween this year as last.

Roughly 15 per cent of respondents said they were cutting back on spending, while 11 per cent said they were throwing more cash at the holiday.

On average, the poll found, those who spend anything shell out an average of $64.20 for costumes, candy, decorations and other expenses related to Halloween -- but for parents, the average is $115.80.

And do Canadians believe in the supernatural beings they might be dressing up as?

Leger says 45 per cent of respondents reported believing in angels, while 38 per cent said they believe in ghosts and the paranormal.

Thirty-five per cent said they believe some people have special powers such as speaking to the dead or seeing the future.

Five per cent said they believe in vampires, and four per cent said they believe in zombies.

Fifty-nine per cent of survey participants believe in at least one of those phenomena.

The polling industry's professional body, the Canadian Research Insights Council, says online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error because they do not randomly sample the population.

 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 27, 2023.