Taking the kids to visit Santa is a time-honored tradition for many families. But with a pandemic still raging in the US, people are having to get a bit more creative with their Santa visits this year. Some retailers that host Santa visits are putting plexiglass shields in front of Santa, while others are putting Santa himself inside an inflatable igloo. Other companies are offering virtual visits with Santa, so that kids can talk to Santa from their own home.
Data from YouGov finds that among parents of children who are 10 or younger, 19% say that they plan to do an in-person visit with Santa this year. Slightly fewer (15%) are going digital this year and organizing a virtual Santa visit for their children.
But for many families, this might be a year without a Santa Claus (or at least without a Santa Claus visit). Most (58%) parents of young children say that they will not be taking their children to visit Santa this year.
Although most parents of young children say they won’t be taking their kids to see Santa this year, he proves to be generally popular with the American public. A separate YouGov survey of nearly 3,000 Americans finds that four out of five people say they have a favorable view of Ol’ Kris Kringle. About three-quarters (73%) also approve of how he is handling his job.
See full results here.
Related: America Speaks: Why did they stop believing in Santa Claus – and who broke the news?
Methodology: 3,407 US adults, including 621 who are parents to children who are 10 years old or younger, were surveyed through YouGov Direct on December 11, 2020. Data is weighted on age, gender, education level, political affiliation, and ethnicity to be nationally representative of adults in the United States. The margin of error is approximately 2.5% for the overall sample.
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