Americans Feeling Better About Holiday Season: Marist Poll

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY — How are the holidays going for you and your family?

If you think, at least this year, that the holiday season is more fun than stressful, then you agree with 61 percent of Americans, according to a Marist National Poll.

More than a third of Americans, or 37 percent, who answered Marist’s survey, think the holidays are stressful.

The proportion of holiday-fun-thinking Americans is at its highest since Marist asked the question in 2010. In fact, it’s up from 52 percent last year.

There has also been a marked increase in the proportion of men who think the holidays are more enjoyable — 69 percent — than stressful — 30 percent.

In 2021, 57 percent of men thought the holidays were fun, while 39 percent said it was more agitating.

Women were just about evenly divided last year, but this year, 53 percent think the holidays are more fun, and 44 percent, more stressful.

More Americans — 44 percent — planned to shop online for most or all of their gifts this year, the Marist Poll said.

That is up from 37 percent from last year.

Thirty-seven percent said that they were going to buy some of their gifts online, while 19 percent did not expect to buy any presents online.

And men were more likely than women to do all or most of their holiday shopping via the internet.

Mary Griffith, associate director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, said the twinkling lights of the holiday season seem to be shining a bit brighter for many Americans.

“After two years of uncertainty due to the COVID-19 pandemic, more than six in 10 Americans are putting the stress of the holiday season on the backburner and are focusing on the season’s festivities,” she said.

“One holdover from the COVID-19 holiday, though, may be the way Americans do their holiday shopping,” Griffith said.

The Marist Poll was a survey of 1,312 Americans conducted between Dec. 6 and Dec. 8. The margin of error is ±3.5 percentage points.