Fox News Poll Finds Rich, Republicans Most Thankful This Thanksgiving
A new Fox News poll has found that Americans are more thankful this Thanksgiving than they were ten years ago, but slightly less thankful than in 2001 and 2002. Among the most thankful this year: Republicans, rich Americans and Southerners.
By Cole Walters
A new poll conducted by the Opinion Dynamics Corporation for the Fox News channel has found that Americans are more thankful this Thanksgiving than they were 10 years ago. According to the poll of 900 adults, 83% said that they felt "very thankful," as opposed to just 1% who described themselves as "not at all thankful." Another 1% said that they were unsure about whether they were thankful or not.
The poll also revealed that Republicans and high-income Americans are feeling particularly thankful this Thanksgiving season. 87% of Republicans described themselves as "very thankful," as compared to 77% of Democrats, a difference of 10 percentage points, well beyond the poll's margin of error. 83% of rich respondents also rated themselves at the top of the thankfulness scale.
The rich and Republicans also said that they feel considerably more thankful now than they did ten years ago. 83% of Republicans and 84% of high-income respondents said that they have more to give thanks for this year than a decade ago. Only 63% of Democrats said that they were more thankful compared with how thankful they were ten years ago.
Other thankful groups include those living in the South, 77% of whom described themselves as being more thankful in 2004 than they were in 1994. Married respondents were also more likely to have a higher quotient of thankfulness (79%) than their single counterparts. Just 63% of singles said that they were more thankful today than when they were ten years younger.
But the poll also turned up one ominous indicator: overall, the public is less thankful this year than in either 2001 or 2002. In both of those years, 82% of adults polled indicated that they had more to be thankful for than during Thanksgivings in other years, compared to just 72% this year.
How the poll was conducted: Opinion Dynamics Corporation, a Cambridge, MA survey research firm uses a computerized method in which a two-digit random number is added to the first eight digits of an actual working phone number to produce what is called a random digit dial sample. Use of such samples allows pollsters to contact listed and unlisted numbers, as well as households with new numbers. The interviewer then asks to speak to the adult with the next birthday.