Throwing a warm “Merry Christmas” at the end of the year is much more common in Canada than the use of the neutral “Happy Holidays”, reveals a Postmedia-Léger national public opinion poll.
While some respondents celebrating the Christian holiday said they deliberately avoided the traditional holiday greeting for fear of offending, this would rarely be a problem: in fact, 92% of respondents who grew up in a non-Christian household said they were not offended by a Christmas wish addressed to them.
Only 8% of respondents from culturally or religiously non-Christian backgrounds expressed being offended by a Christmas greeting.
This survey examines attitudes about the relationship between religion and the holiday season. 70% of respondents across the country said they were more likely to greet someone this time of year with “Merry Christmas,” compared to 23% who said they would likely turn to “Happy Holidays.”.
A minority of respondents brought up in the Catholic faith indicated that they intentionally avoid greeting strangers with “Merry Christmas” for fear of displeasing them. Thus, 29% say they avoid it and 71% say they can’t help it.
“Institutions, government, corporations sometimes go to great lengths to try to find, I guess we could call it, a politically correct approach to conveying holiday greetings. It seems that a strong majority tends to simply use “Merry Christmas,” Andrew Enns, executive vice president at Leger, told the media. Maybe we worry about something that the people we think we’re upsetting aren’t thinking about.
Statutory holidays, a Canadian tradition
About 60% of Canadian residents said religion, including special religious days, was not significant in their daily lives today – including 34% who said it didn’t matter at all and 25% who said that it was not very important.
On the other hand, 41% said religion was prominent in their household, with 17% considering it very important and the remaining 24% saying it was quite important. More women than men said religion was important (44% vs. 39%).
Regarding the celebration of Canadian holidays based on religion, 58% of respondents would keep the current calendar should remain as it is, by Canadian tradition.
Almost a quarter (24%) said the list of public holidays should be expanded to include other religions and cultures, while 6% said no religious holidays, including Christmas and Easter, should be on a day. holiday. The remaining 12% said they didn’t know.
The survey was conducted online with 1,526 people between December 9 and 11. The results were weighted according to age, sex and region to obtain a representative sample of the population. Since the survey was conducted online, the calculation of the margin of error does not apply, says Léger. If the data had been collected using a random sample of the same size, the margin of error would be plus or minus 2.5%, 19 times out of 20, it is pointed out.