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LIFESTYLE

41% Are Concerned About Safety of Holiday Toys

‘Tis the season for many parents to be worried about how safe the toys are they give to their children, but there appears to be a lot less worry this year.

Just 41% of American Adults are even somewhat concerned about the safety of most toys being sold this holiday season, down from 51% a year ago and 48% in December 2009.  A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 53% don’t share that concern. These findings include 16% who are Very Concerned about toy safety and 12% who are Not At All Concerned. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Not surprisingly, adults with children in the home are more concerned about the safety of this year’s toys than those without children living with them – by a 51% to 35% margin.

Americans remain closely divided over the consumer safety efforts of the federal government as they have been since 2009. Thirty-nine percent (39%) think the government does a good job regulating the safety of toys, but 37% disagree. Twenty-four percent (24%) are not sure.

But then just 14% think the government should be the one most responsible for ensuring the safety of toys. Most adults (54%) feel toy manufacturers should be primarily responsible, up eight points from 46% a year ago at this time, while 26% feel parents have the most responsibility in this area. Three percent (3%) say stores that sell the toys should be the most responsible for their safety.

(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 December 13-14, 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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