Americans concerned about commercialization

More Americans are concerned about the commercialization of Christmas than about restrictions on public displays of religious symbols, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center for the People ande Press.

Fifty-two percent of respondents said they were troubled by the commercialization of the holiday, while just 35 percent expressed concern about opposition to public religious displays.

In fact, 56 percent of respondents said they were not concerned at all about the controversies surrounding the displays, according to the poll.

If given the choice, a majority of those surveyed said they would prefer being greeted with “Merry Christmas” rather than “Season’s Greetings” when they entered stores over the holidays. However, 45 percent said the greetings were of little consequence to them.

The telephone survey of 1,502 adults nationwide was conducted Dec. 7 through Dec. 11 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.