What happens when Halloween meets the election season?
By Mikaila Bluew
Frightening finances:
Holiday seasons ignite spending in the United States, with Americans spending a staggering 12.2 billion dollars on Halloween in 2023. A few factors play into why spending skyrockets during election cycles, below is a breakdown:
- Retailers fear a November slowdown following the election season.
- Retail therapy is a route many citizens take to de-stress from the information overload the election cycle brings.
- More options of political based decor that change with every election, this pushes individuals that may not usually buy into splurging.
With so much pressure and uncertainty surrounding the outcome of the election retailers are pushing for early spending. Christmas decor has hit the shelves early and Halloween stock has doubled in size.
Spine-tingling statics:
In popular Halloween themed stores across the U.S the trend of sales in Halloween masks matching who becomes president is astonishing. Halloween mask sales for Spirit Halloween and a St. Louis based costume store Johnnie Brock’s Dungeon both have a history of presidential prediction. Here is a list of some of the presidents that have been predicated by the “Mask Index”:
- Richard Nixon
- Ronald Reagan
- Bill Clinton
- George W. Bush
- Barack Obama
- Donald Trump
These statistics did not match up for the 2020 race between Trump and Biden as more masks depicting Donald Trump were sold. Following the election on Nov. 5 it will be interesting to see if the trend continues to fizzle out or reign true with our current presidential candidates.
Eerie epilogue:
Though it may not be apparent the election season has a direct effect on the holidays when the two coincide. Americans are consciously and subconsciously spending more on every holiday, but especially Halloween since it occurs before the looming election.
The United States creates ways such as the mask index to predict the outcome of the elections. These factors can both act as a distraction from the stress and uncertainty of what the election may mean for the future of America’s economy.
