100th HPU Poll: Most North Carolinians Still Appreciate Valentine’s Day
- A majority of North Carolinians (54%) enjoy giving gifts for Valentine’s Day
- Most respondents (58%) give gifts only to a romantic partner
- A majority of N.C. respondents (56%) say they are in a romantic relationship
HIGH POINT, N.C., Feb. 13, 2024 – Most North Carolinians still enjoy expressing their love and appreciation on Valentine’s Day. A majority (54%) of residents interviewed for the 100th High Point University Poll see the gift-giving tradition of Valentine’s Day as a positive part of the holiday, while 26% see it as a negative.
When asked to rate the phrase “I enjoy the Valentines Day holiday” on a scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree), nearly two in five respondents (39%) said that they agreed (rating it a 5, 6 or 7). About one-third (33%) rated it a 4, and just over one-quarter (27%) disagreed with the phrase and rated it a 3, 2 or 1.
“A lot has been said about the commercialization of Valentine’s Day,” said Dr. Sadie Leder Elder, associate professor of psychology at High Point University. “However, I agree with the majority of our participants that gift-giving is a positive part of the Valentine’s Day tradition and celebration. I don’t think it is a matter of spending a lot of money or buying particular items but rather taking time out of our busy lives to acknowledge and recognize our partner. Relationship researchers have demonstrated the many beneficial aspects of investing in our romantic relationships. Small behaviors that generate positivity and provide assurance of your commitment and love can go a long way to promote relationship satisfaction and stability.”
Most poll respondents (58%) report only giving Valentine’s Day gifts to their romantic partner, while 40% said they give Valentine’s Day gifts to family members, co-workers or friends. A majority (82%) said they do not typically participate in friendship celebrations, such as “Gal-entine’s Day” or “Mal-entine’s Day” around the Valentine’s Day holiday, while 15% said they do participate in such celebrations.
A majority (56%) of North Carolinians say they are currently in a romantic relationship, while 41% say that they are not. The HPU Poll asked those participants in a relationship how satisfied they are with their current relationship. A large majority of those in a relationship (81%) said they are either extremely or very satisfied with that relationship, while 16% indicated they are somewhat satisfied and only 2% said they are not too satisfied or not at all satisfied.
Nearly half (46%) of these same respondents said their relationship with their romantic partner stayed about the same in the last year. About two in five respondents (44%) said that it improved, and only 8% said it had gotten worse.
The poll asked those respondents currently not in a romantic relationship how interested they were in finding a romantic partner. Almost half (45%) said they are not at all or not very interested. Just under one-quarter (24%) said they are either very or extremely interested, and about one-third (30%) said that they were somewhat interested.
“Our results on the desire for a romantic involvement among currently single individuals are similar to those found by PEW Research Center in February of 2023,” Elder said. “They reported that 57% of single Americans were not currently looking for a relationship. Our data indicate that 45% of single North Carolinians share this sentiment.”
A majority of North Carolinians (62%) said the Valentine’s Day holiday has no influence on the closeness they feel to a romantic partner. A little over one-quarter (28%) said it increases how they feel, and only 6% said it decreases how they feel about their partner.
The HPU Poll asked adults in North Carolina about their use of online dating sites or apps. Of those surveyed, about two-thirds (66%) said they have not used an online dating site or app, and 34% indicated that they have used an online dating site or app. More than half (52%) do not personally know anyone who has been in a long-term relationship with or married someone they met through an online dating site or app, while 44% said that they do know someone.
NC residents – Enjoy Valentine’s Day (January 2024)
As you may know, the Valentine’s Day holiday is approaching. We would like to ask you some questions about your feelings toward the holiday. On a scale from one to seven, where one is “strongly disagree” and seven is “strongly agree,” how much do you agree with the statement, “I enjoy the Valentine’s Day holiday?”
1 – 13%
2 – 5%
3 – 9%
4 – 33%
5 – 15%
6 – 10%
7 – 14%
NC residents – Current Relationship (January 2024)
Would you say you are currently in a romantic relationship or not?
Yes – 56%
No – 41%
Unsure – 3%
NC residents –Relationship Satisfaction (January 2024)
How satisfied are you with your current relationship – extremely, very, somewhat, not too, or not at all satisfied? [Asked only of the n=579 currently in a relationship]
Extremely satisfied – 49%
Very satisfied – 32%
Somewhat satisfied – 16%
Not too satisfied – 2%
Not at all satisfied – less than 1%
Unsure – less than 1%
NC residents –Relationship Satisfaction (January 2024)
How interested are you in finding a romantic partner? [Asked only of the n=428 currently not in a relationship]
Not at all interested – 27%
Not very interested – 18%
Somewhat interested – 30%
Very interested – 15%
Extremely interested – 9%
Unsure – 1%
NC residents –Relationship Strength (January 2024)
Overall, would you say your relationship with your romantic partner has improved, gotten worse, or stayed about the same in the last year? [Asked only of the n=579 currently in a relationship]
Improved – 44%
Stayed about the same – 46%
Gotten worse – 8%
Unsure – 2%
NC residents – Relationship Closeness (January 2024)
Generally speaking, do you find that Valentine’s Day increases, decreases, or has no influence on the closeness you feel to a romantic partner?
Increases – 28%
Decreases – 6%
Has no influence – 62%
Unsure – 4%
NC residents – Valentine’s Day gift-giving (January 2024)
Do you see the gift-giving tradition of Valentine’s Day as a positive or negative part of the holiday?
Positive – 54%
Negative – 26%
Unsure – 20%
NC residents – Friendship Gifts (January 2024)
Do you give gifts to people other than your romantic partner, such as family members, co-workers, or friends, on Valentine’s Day?
Yes – 40%
No – 58%
Unsure – 2%
NC residents – Friendship Celebrations (January 2024)
Do you typically participate in friendship celebrations, such as “Gal-entine’s Day” or “Mal-entine’s Day” around the Valentine’s Day holiday?
Yes – 15%
No – 82%
Unsure – 3%
NC residents – Dating App (January 2024)
Have you ever used an online dating site or app?
Yes – 34%
No – 66%
Unsure – 0%
NC residents – Dating App Relationship (January 2024)
Do you personally know anyone who has been in a long-term relationship with or married someone they met through an online dating site or app?
Yes – 44%
No – 52%
Unsure – 4%
HPU Poll 100 was fielded by the High Point University Survey Research Center on Jan. 16 through Jan. 26 as an online survey using a panel of respondents recruited and maintained by Dynata. Dynata sent invitations to its panel of N.C. respondents and the SRC collected 1,042 responses on its Qualtrics platform. The SRC did all data analysis. The online sample is from a panel of respondents, and their participation does not adhere to usual assumptions associated with random selection. Therefore, it is not appropriate to assign a classic margin of sampling error for the results. In this case, the SRC provides a credibility interval of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points to account for a traditional 95% confidence interval for the estimates (plus or minus 3.0 percentage points) and a design effect of 1.2 (based on the weighting). The data is weighted toward population estimates for age, gender, race, ethnicity and education based on U.S. Census numbers for North Carolina. Factors such as question wording and other methodological choices in conducting survey research can introduce additional errors into the findings of opinion polls. Percentages may not add to 100 because of rounding.
Further results and methodological details from the most recent survey and past surveys can be found at the Survey Research Center website. Materials online include past press releases as well as memos summarizing the findings (including approval ratings) for each poll since 2010.
The HPU Poll reports methodological details in accordance with the standards set out by AAPOR’s Transparency Initiative, and the HPU Survey Research Center is a Charter Member of the Initiative.
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Dr. Martin Kifer, chair and associate professor of political science, serves as the director of the HPU Poll, and Brian McDonald is the associate director of the HPU Poll.