Fox News tells you that you’re supposed to be offended when somebody wishes you “Happy Holidays.” Turns out most of you aren’t offended.
A new Public Policy Polling survey – hey, we’re between elections, so they needed something to do – reports that just 22 percent of us are offended at the “Happy Holidays” greeting, with 75 percent saying it’s not a big deal.
The survey does find that a slim majority does prefer being wished a “Merry Christmas” – 51 percent preferring “Merry Christmas” to 8 percent liking “Happy Holidays,” and a sensible 41 percent saying that they don’t care either way.
But the Fox News folks are having an impact on their ongoing efforts to manufacture a War on Christmas. Forty-one percent of Americans think there is an active War on Christmas, with 47 percent thinking the war is a bunch of hooey.
(The wording on the question didn’t use “hooey,” but that was the gist of what folks were being asked.)
And speaking of hooey, we have Megyn Kelly and her “verifiably white” Santa issue. Americans are divided on Santa’s skin pigmentation, with 32 percent saying Santa is white, 36 percent saying he isn’t, and 36 percent saying they aren’t sure.
(For what it’s worth, the PPP folks tell us that 43 percent of those surveyed report believing in Santa Claus, to 50 percent who don’t. Looks like Santa is going to need to stock up on coal for stockings, and quick.)
Santa isn’t the only loser here. Kelly, new to the primetime lineup at Fox, is still a relative unknown among the general populace, with 58 percent of those surveyed not being able to report having an opinion on her after her name has been in the headlines over the Santa-is-white brouhaha for the past two weeks.
More online: http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/main/2013/12/polling-the-holidays.html.
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Chris Graham
