{"id":19040,"date":"2013-12-12T12:53:09","date_gmt":"2013-12-12T17:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/merry-christmas-or-happy-holidays\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T03:44:28","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T08:44:28","slug":"merry-christmas-or-happy-holidays","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2013\/12\/12\/merry-christmas-or-happy-holidays\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Merry Christmas\u2019 or \u2018Happy Holidays\u2019?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Whether or not there is a \u201cWar on Christmas\u201d in the United States, as some commentators believe<\/a>, there\u2019s plenty of discussion about the topic. In Texas earlier this week<\/a>, for instance, a state legislator who sponsored a new law protecting traditional holiday greetings in public schools said he hoped other states would follow Texas\u2019 example in standing \u201cin defense of Christmas.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Last December, the Pew Research Center asked Americans whether they prefer stores and businesses to greet their customers by saying \u201cMerry Christmas,\u201d or \u201cless religious terms such as ‘Happy Holidays’ and ‘Season’s Greetings.\u2019\u201d The survey asked the question in two different ways to two different groups:<\/p>\n\n

\u2022 A random half of respondents were asked to choose a preference between \u201cMerry Christmas\u201d and the less religious terms.\n\u2022 The other half were asked a version that included those two options, then added \u201cor doesn\u2019t it matter to you?\u201d at the end.<\/p>\n\n

When the question is presented as a choice between \u201cMerry Christmas\u201d and the less religious terms, 57% pick \u201cMerry Christmas\u201d and 27% select the less religious terms. (In this instance, even without \u201cit doesn\u2019t matter\u201d presented as an option, 15% volunteer that they don\u2019t have a preference.)<\/p>\n\n

But when \u201cit doesn\u2019t matter<\/i>\u201d is added as an option, it draws roughly the same amount of support as \u201cMerry Christmas\u201d; 42% say they prefer \u201cMerry Christmas,\u201d 12% prefer the less religious terms and 46% say it doesn\u2019t matter. There has been almost no change since 2005, when we asked the same question<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

In either case, there is a significant split between Republicans and Democrats on the question; Republicans strongly prefer the Christmas greeting. For example, when \u201cit doesn\u2019t matter\u201d is included as an option, 63% of Republicans or those who lean Republican say they prefer \u201cMerry Christmas,\u201d while 5% choose \u201cSeason\u2019s Greetings\u201d or \u201cHappy Holidays\u201d and 32% say it doesn\u2019t matter. Among Democrats or those who lean Democratic, 28% prefer \u201cMerry Christmas,\u201d 17% opt for the less religious terms and 55% say it doesn\u2019t matter.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When asked about how stores should greet their customers over the holidays, 42% of Americans prefer \u201cMerry Christmas,\u201d 12% prefer \u201cHappy Holidays\u201d and 46% say it doesn’t matter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":165,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"sub_headline":null,"sub_title":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"apple_news_api_pending":"1713064179","relatedPosts":[],"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0},"categories":[161],"bylines":[854],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[467],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[515],"research-teams":[517],"workflow-status":[],"class_list":["post-19040","short-read","type-short-read","status-publish","hentry","category-beliefs-practices","bylines-michael-lipka","formats-short-read","regions-countries-united-states","research-teams-religion"],"label":"Short 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