HPU Poll: NC Stocks Up on Bread, Water, Gas and Toilet Paper Ahead of Winter Storms
HIGH POINT, N.C., Feb. 18, 2025 – As winter storms hit states from the Northwest to Mid-Atlantic, a High Point University Poll surveyed North Carolina residents on what they stock up on when the threat of a winter storm looms.
The poll finds that about three-quarters of North Carolinians say they make sure to buy bread (78%), water (75%), extra gas for their car (74%) and toilet paper (73%) before a major snowstorm hits. Smaller majorities stock up on milk (66%), eggs (65%) and fruit (52%) before major snowstorms.
Fewer people say they buy beer or other alcoholic beverages (31%) before a snowstorm.
“Even if North Carolina is not getting the worst of this winter weather, there are a lot of folks stocking up just in case,” said Natalie Hinson, research assistant for the HPU Poll. “This polling shows us a bit about how North Carolinians may be planning for possible snow and ice.”
NC Residents Winter Weather (January 2025)
| Thinking about winter weather. Which of these items, if any, do you make sure you buy before a major snowstorm hits? | |||
| Yes | No | Unsure | |
| Bread | 78 | 19 | 2 |
| Water | 75 | 23 | 2 |
| Extra gasoline for your car | 74 | 22 | 4 |
| Toilet paper | 73 | 24 | 3 |
| Milk | 66 | 32 | 3 |
| Eggs | 65 | 32 | 3 |
| Fruit | 52 | 43 | 5 |
| Beer or other alcoholic beverages | 31 | 65 | 4 |
HPU Poll 109 was fielded by the High Point University Survey Research Center on Jan. 16 through Jan. 26, 2025, as an online survey using a panel of respondents recruited and maintained by Dynata. Dynata sent invitations to its panel of North Carolina respondents and the SRC collected 1,000 responses (an all-adults sample) on its Qualtrics platform. All respondents were asked two screening questions to identify them as registered voters. A total of 839 respondents identified themselves as registered voters. 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, for the all-adults sample, the SRC provides a credibility interval of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points to account for a traditional 95% confidence interval for the estimates (plus or minus 3.1 percentage points) and a design effect of 1.03 (based on the weighting). The all-adults data is weighted toward population estimates for age, gender, race, ethnicity, and education based on U.S. Census numbers for North Carolina. The High Point University Survey Research Center (SRC) produces weights through an iterative procedure within SPSS. Factors such as question wording and other methodological choices in conducting survey research can introduce additional errors into the findings of opinion polls. 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.
Dr. Martin Kifer, chair and professor of political science, serves as the director of the HPU Poll for the Survey Research Center.
Natalie Hinson is a research assistant in the Survey Research Center.