If it's in the News, it's in our Polls. Public opinion polling since 2003.

LIFESTYLE

28% Say There Are Too Many Federal Holidays

Ask Americans about the number of federal holidays, and the answer is – enough is enough.

Twenty-eight percent (28%) of American Adults, in fact, say there are already too many federal holidays, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Thirteen percent (13%) say there aren’t enough of them. But most Americans (53%) say the number of federal holidays is about right. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Only eight percent (8%) of government employees think there are too many federal holidays, compared to 25% of those who work in the private sector. Seventy percent (70%) of those who work for the government say the number of holidays is about right, a view shared by a plurality (49%) of private sector workers.

The National Taxpayers Union has estimated that a federal holiday costs roughly $450 million in holiday pay and salary for lost productivity, but it’s important to note that our question did not include that information.

(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.

The survey of 1,000 Adults was conducted on February 15-16, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

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