Survey: 7 of 10 Americans Prefer 'Merry Christmas' Over 'Happy Holidays'
When Americans go Christmas shopping, many prefer to see stores use the traditional phrase "Merry Christmas" in their seasonal advertising rather than "Happy Holidays," a new poll found.
The survey released by Rasmussen Reports after the Thanksgiving holiday showed that 67 percent of Americans favor "Merry Christmas" while only 26 percent would choose "Happy Holidays."
The poll results were the same for men and women and presented few demographic differences.
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But a comparison between responses from Republicans and Democrats, however, revealed a sharp contrast.
While 88 percent of Republicans prefer "Merry Christmas," just 57 percent of Democrats favor the greeting.
Meanwhile, 57 percent of Americans say they will attend a Christian service on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day this year, with women more likely to attend a Christmas service than men.
Nearly 30 percent of respondents say they won't go to a special service.
Over the years, many businesses and retailers have removed the phrase "Merry Christmas" or references to Christmas from their stores and opted for a version like "Happy Holidays" instead.
In an attempt to encourage stores to retain references to the Dec. 25 holiday, a Christian legal group has released a "Naughty or Nice" list that advises Christians where to shop for Christmas.
Businesses and retailers are placed on the "Nice" list if they recognize Christmas and on the "Naughty" list if they censor such references.
The list was released as part of Fla.-based Liberty Counsel's fifth annual Friend or Foe Christmas Campaign, in which the legal group is pledging to be a "Friend" to those entities which do not censor Christmas and a "Foe" to those that do.
The Rasmussen survey was based on a national telephone survey of 1,000 Adults, conducted from November 18-19, 2007. The margin of sampling error for the survey is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95 percent level of confidence.
