WASHINGTON (CBS DC) – A vast majority of Americans prefer to see store signs that say “Merry Christmas” instead of ones with “Happy Holidays.”

As part of a nine-point questionnaire from Rasmussen Reports, telephone respondents were asked, “Would you prefer stores to show signs saying Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays?” The survey found that 68 percent of American adults preferred Merry Christmas.

Only 23 percent liked Happy Holidays used instead.

A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey from 2011 found that 67 percent of American Adults consider Christmas one of the nation’s most important holidays, showing little change from 2010 and consistent with surveys stretching back to December 2006.

And more Americans than ever say that they will celebrate the upcoming Christmas holiday as a religious one. A 2011 Rasmussen telephone survey found that 88 percent of American adults celebrate Christmas, and 81 percent of that group celebrates it as a religious holiday.

Sixteen percent of those celebrants regard it as a secular holiday.

The survey showing “Merry Christmas” as the preferred phrase reached out to 1,000 adult respondents nationwide and was conducted on Nov. 11-12 by Rasmussen Reports.