The number of shopping days to Christmas is fast reducing. There have already been several market research surveys trying to assess likely spending patterns this season, especially in the light of the national economic situation.
YouGov has just added to these surveys, with a SixthSense online poll of 2,294 UK citizens between 1 and 3 November. It is unusual in terms of the breadth of demographic analysis: by gender, age, marital status, terminal education age, social grade, region, housing tenure, household size, and gross household income. The resultant 56 pages of tables are available at:
http://today.yougov.co.uk/sites/today.yougov.co.uk/files/Christmas_spending_results.pdf
While the questions majored on Christmas spending intentions, the first asked ‘Do you celebrate Christmas?’ 95% of the sample said that they did and 5% not.
Some non-celebrants were to be found in all demographic sub-groups with a meaningful number of respondents, apart from residents of Northern Ireland (who were 100% observant).
However, non-celebrants were particularly numerous among: those with a gross household income of under £10,000 (17%), people who lived alone (12%), men aged 40-54 (11%), Londoners (11%), and the divorced (9%).
The survey did not enquire into knowledge of, attitudes to and the observance of the religious aspects of Christmas. But there will doubtless be an enquiry or two along these lines before we reach 25 December.
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