Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays? Depends on your side of the aisle
If there’s a war on Christmas, then it’s a fairly even fight, according to a national poll released Monday.
Findings by the non-profit, non-partisan Public Religion Research Institute indicate 47 percent of Americans prefer “happy holidays,” while 46 percent favor the Christian “Merry Christmas.”
The political divide is greater: 66 percent of those who identified as Democrats think stores should say “happy holidays,” while 67 percent of Republicans want to hear only “Merry Christmas.”
PRRI surveyed a random sample of 1,004 adults between Dec. 7 and Dec. 11 with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percent. The survey was funded with grants from The Nathan Cummings Foundation, a progressive organization, and The Ford Foundation.
PRRI research indicates 43 percent of Americans who celebrate Christmas do so as a “strongly religious” observance, and 29 percent see it as a “somewhat religious” holiday. While 27 percent told pollsters they view the holiday as “not too religious,” that’s 10 points higher than in 2010, when 17 percent of Americans said their celebration of Christmas was mostly secular.
“Americans are still celebrating Christmas in huge numbers-89 percent-but we’ve seen a significant shift in how the holiday is celebrated,” Daniel Cox, PRRI’s research director, said in a statement. “Compared to just six years ago, fewer Americans are celebrating Christmas as a religious holiday. This is particularly true for younger Americans celebrating Christmas. More than one-third say it is not that religious a holiday for them.”
Politics plays a role, however.
President-elect Donald Trump said on the campaign trail he intends to get more Americans saying “Merry Christmas” over the secular greeting.
“If I become president, we’re gonna be saying Merry Christmas at every store,” he said in October. “… You can leave happy holidays at the corner.”
The partisan mood, in general, has migrated to social media, where 13 percent of Americans (24 percent of Democrats and 9 percent of Republicans) say they have blocked, muted or unfriended someone on social media because of their political views.
“Beleaguered Democrats were significantly more likely than Republicans to report that they unfriended someone on social media or planned to avoid certain relatives during the holidays because of politics,” Robert P. Jones, PRRI’s CEO said.