How do you view Santa Claus?
Santa Claus is a symbolic holiday figure, not a religious figure, according to more than three out of every four Americans. In a Poll Position national scientific telephone survey we asked, do you view Santa Claus as a religious figure or as a non-religious symbolic holiday figure? A large majority, 77% said Santa is a non-religious symbolic holiday figure, 12% see him as a religious figure, 11% did not have an opinion.
In two age groups there is a noticeable discrepancy on Santa. In the 30-44 year old age group, 87% see Santa as a non-religious holiday figure, 9% think Santa is a religious figure, 4% did not have an opinion. However, in the 18-29 year old age group, 64% view Santa as a holiday figure, while 19% see him as a religious figure, 16% offered no opinion.
Whites and African-Americans also differed on the question. Among whites, 84% see Santa as a holiday figure, 11% think he is a religious figure, 5% had no opinion. African-Americans differed with 70% viewing Santa Claus as a non-religious holiday figure, 20% see Santa as a religious figure, 10% did not offer an opinion.
Poll Position’s scientific telephone survey of 1,024 registered voters nationwide was conducted December 08, 2011 and has a margin of error of ±3%. Poll results are weighted to be a representative sampling of all American adults.
What do you think? Vote in our online companion poll and comment below.
The online companion poll in which you can vote provides unscientific results, meaning it’s a tally of participating Poll Position users, not a nationally representative sampling.
Poll Position is committed to transparency and upholding the highest professional standards in its polling, explaining why we provide you with the crosstabs of our scientific polls. Crosstabs provide a breakdown of survey participants by age, race, gender, and political affiliation. Here are the crosstabs for this poll: Poll Position Crosstabs-Santa Claus
You can learn more about our polling methodology here.
