Over three quarters of people in Moray and the North East will not be glued to their television sets when the Queen addresses the nation on Christmas Day.
That is one of the surprising findings of a pre-Christmas poll conducted by Robert Gordon University’s (RGU) marketing team.
Promoted through the university’s social media pages the poll aimed to establish how people in 2014 viewed some of the more traditional Christmas events – and it turned up a few surprises.
Christmas Jumpers may have been a traditional joke around the dinner tables – but this year 66% of those polled revealed that they would be wearing one tomorrow. While it has also been thought that most would run a mile rather than face a Brussels Sprout, the university poll discovered that over half – 57% – admitted to actually liking the little green treats.
There was bad news, however, for Santa – he will arrived at 58% of north east homes this evening and find no drinks or snacks being laid out, so he will have to content himself to raiding the fridge. Rudolph and his mates will also be left disappointed at 42% of homes where no carrot will be left beside the fire.
The poll also uncovered the north east’s favourite Christmas song, with the Kirsty McColl and the Pogues “Fairytale of New York” the No.1 in most homes regardless of who just won X-Factor.
Principal of RGU, Professor Ferdinand von Prondzynski, said the poll has helped to identify several key Christmas behavioural trends in the north-east and was part of the university’s growing presence across several social media platforms.
He said: “The Festive Poll has certainly captured our online community’s imagination and the results have shed light on a number of questions like the popularity of Brussels sprouts and whether or not people believe it will snow this Christmas.
“We’ve been working to enhance the university’s social media presence to keep our followers engaged and up-to-date with the very latest news from RGU. Our Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts have proven to be extremely popular and we hope to welcome many more new followers in 2014.”
insideMoray will take a day off tomorrow but return on Boxing Day – we hope that all our readers have a safe, happy and enjoyable Christmas and to get the party started here is the most popular song in the north east right now!