{"id":19817,"date":"2007-12-14T00:00:01","date_gmt":"2007-12-14T05:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/holiday-greeting-a-ho-hum-choice\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T03:45:20","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T08:45:20","slug":"holiday-greeting-a-ho-hum-choice","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2007\/12\/14\/holiday-greeting-a-ho-hum-choice\/","title":{"rendered":"Holiday Greeting: A Ho-Hum Choice"},"content":{"rendered":"

Given the option of saying they prefer that stores and businesses greet customers by saying \u201cMerry Christmas,\u201d use non-religious terms such as \u201cHappy Holidays\u201d or \u201cSeason\u2019s Greetings,\u201d or that the choice of greeting really does not matter to them, a plurality (45%) choose this last alternative. Only 42% say they prefer \u201cMerry Christmas,\u201d while 12% prefer less religious terminology. Most striking is the age difference in preferences for holiday greetings. Only among those ages 65 and over, does a majority (64%) opt for \u201cMerry Christmas.\u201d That preference declines across younger age groups with only 28% of those under age 30 opting for the Christmas greeting while roughly six-in-ten say the choice of greeting doesn\u2019t matter to them. Several other groups stand out for their strong preference for the Christmas greeting. Even when explicitly offered the opportunity to say this issue doesn\u2019t matter, majorities of white evangelical Protestants (73%) and Catholics (53%) say they prefer \u201cMerry Christmas.\u201d Read More<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A 45%-plurality of Americans say they don’t really care how they are greeted when they enter stores or businesses; 42% prefer a “Merry Christmas” greeting. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"sub_headline":"","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":"1713064228","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":[],"bylines":[791],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[467],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[515],"research-teams":[],"workflow-status":[],"class_list":["post-19817","short-read","type-short-read","status-publish","hentry","bylines-pew-research-center-staff","formats-short-read","regions-countries-united-states"],"label":"Short Read","post_parent":0,"word_count":152,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2007\/12\/14\/holiday-greeting-a-ho-hum-choice\/","art_direction":false,"_embeds":[],"watchers":[],"table_of_contents":[],"datacite_doi":"","prc_seo_data":{"title":"Holiday Greeting: A Ho-Hum Choice","description":"A 45%-plurality of Americans say they don't really care how they are greeted when they enter stores or businesses; 42% prefer a \"Merry Christmas\" greeting. 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