Why the shift toward a more secular Christmas? One reason, is that a decade ago, many more people identified as evangelicals, who (according to the poll) take the holiday most seriously. Today, they are 18 percent of Americans — outnumbered by the 20 percent who say they have no religious identity.

The new survey finds a preference for the “Merry Christmas” greeting — perhaps the most contested cultural turf in the so-called “War on Christmas” — is a marker of someone’s religion, politics, and age:

• ·Nearly half of Americans (49 percent) say they choose a nonreligious December greeting “out of respect for people of all faiths,” up from 44 percent in a 2010 survey by PRRI.
• ·Nearly two in three evangelicals (62 percent) prefer a “Merry Christmas” greeting, while most people with no religious identity (58 percent) like a nonreligious greeting. Most other Christians are nearly evenly divided.
• ·Republicans prefer the religious greeting by 61 percent, while 58 percent of Democrats say the opposite.
• ·Selling to the under 30 crowd? Skip the religious greeting, say 66 percent of young adults. “They didn’t grow up with a stigma attached to being unreligious,” said researcher.

Even though 73 percent of adults say Christmas is either strongly or somewhat religious for them, among Americans overall:

• ·Most (79 percent) will watch Christmas movies such as “It’s a Wonderful Life,” or “A Christmas Story,” but a smaller number (59 percent) expect to attend religious services on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.
• ·People are equally likely (36 percent) to read the Christmas story from the Bible, as they are to read “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.”
• ·Those who read the Christmas story from the Bible are twice as likely to be white evangelical Protestants (68 percent) and minority Protestants (57 percent) than other Christians. Fewer than one in three white mainline Protestants (27 percent) or Catholics (28 percent) say they do so.
• ·Just four in 10 adults says the biblical Christmas narrative is a “theological story to affirm faith in Jesus Christ.”
• ·Most adults are about as religious about Christmas as their families were in their childhood: 70 percent celebrated it then as a strongly or somewhat religious day, but 26 percent had a cultural celebration.

Evangelicals are the exception, again, said Jones. While 97 percent say their celebrations today are primarily religious, 87 percent say it was so in their childhood. They also say they expect to spend more this holiday than any other group that celebrates Christmas.

Evangelicals “take the holiday more seriously than others,” both religiously and materially, said Jones.

PRRI found the overall average amount people say they would spend was $914. The thrifty (12 percent say they’ll spend under $100) are balanced by the extravagant (10 percent expect to spend more than $2,000). White evangelicals say they will spend an average of $1,153. However, 26 percent of the top spenders are white evangelical Protestants, higher than their share of the U.S. population.

Jones also pointed out that the biggest spenders are also the most generous with time and funds for the less fortunate. Among the 77 percent of Americans who say they will give to charity or volunteer during the Christmas holiday season, that includes nearly all (93 percent) of the $2,000-and-over spenders.  Most of those who plan to spend the least this month — budgeting $100 or less — also look to others’ welfare. Nearly two-thirds of the thrifty (61 percent) will give to charity or volunteer.

The survey of 1,056 adults, conducted December 4-12, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

(Image source:Unsplash.com)