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67% of Canadians prefer 'Merry Christmas' as greeting despite holiday stress: poll
Most Canadians will be inclined to wish others a Merry Christmas this season, but some of them will do so with the stress of the season hidden behind the festive greeting, a new survey has found.
Polling of 1,002 adults in Canada conducted by Research Co. found that 67 per cent of Canadians prefer Merry Christmas when giving and receiving the seasonal salutation.
That’s up five points from the firm’s same polling in 2024.
For 2025, almost as many are not sure or don’t care (16 per cent) as there are those who prefer the less denominational Happy Holidays (18 per cent), which saw a six-point drop from last year.
Across Canada, the traditional greeting is preferred by the majority of respondents. Regionally, Atlantic Canadians (77 per cent) and Albertans (72 per cent) voiced the strongest support, while the lowest (59 per cent) came in Quebec, where a quarter of respondents said they preferred the modern greeting.
More of those who voted for the Conservative Party of Canada in this year’s election (77 per cent) preferred Merry Christmas than did Liberal (63 per cent) or NDP (51 per cent) supporters.
The pollster also asked people about stress and fun this holiday season, and while more than half (52 per cent) expected more of the former, almost a third (30 per cent) anticipated it to be more stressful. The rest were unsure.
“More than a third of Generation X members in Canada (34 per cent) foresee a stressful holiday season,” Mario Canseco, president of Research Co., said in a news release.
“Fewer millennials (31 per cent), Generation Z (29 per cent) and baby boomers (27 per cent) share this feeling.”
Regionally, worries of stress were highest in Atlantic Canada (38 per cent) and lowest in Quebec (23 per cent). Conservative supporters (34 per cent), too, were more inclined to foresee stress than Liberal (28 per cent) or NDP (26 per cent) voters.
As it has in previous years, the Vancouver-based firm also quizzed Canadians about classic holiday traditions and foods. People overwhelmingly expressed fondness for Christmas dinner staples such as turkey (82 per cent), cranberry sauce (65 per cent) and fruit cake (58 per cent) for dessert, but enthusiasm for mulled wine (36 per cent) and plum pudding (44 per cent) was more tepid.
The survey also explored when Canadians first learned the truth about Santa Claus, with a majority (52 per cent) saying they found out at age nine or younger. The same percentage felt nine and younger was the appropriate age to tell kids, 36 per cent thought 10 or older was reasonable.
Conducted Dec. 9-7, the poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
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Unpublished Newswire
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