What one present would you most like to have for Christmas?
(ABCNews Photo Illustration)Under the tree, let's just call it a year of modest expectations.
In Traverse City, Mich., "a necktie" would be nice. "House slippers" for an older woman in Paducah, Ky. A case of beer here, a bottle of wine there. A toaster in Portland, Ore. A dart board in Dover, Del. A gift card for Applebee's (ribeye steak, $15.99). "Hot curlers."
A Ferrari?
Click here for PDF of analysis with full questionnaire.
OK, some folks still aim high. But even with the dreamers among us, Americans' Christmas gift wish list has a decidedly more prosaic cast this recession year. Skip the sports car; "a radar detector" tops the list for a young man in San Antonio, Texas. Good reason: Fifteen mph over the limit on I-35 will get you a $190 ticket, holiday or not.
This ABC News poll posed a simple question: What one present would you most like to have for Christmas? Eleven percent pined for a car, motorcycle or automotive accessory -- down from a peak of 16 percent in 2005. (Hence the federal government's holiday smooch for the Big Three automakers.) Clothes or shoes, meanwhile, rose from 5 percent last year to 10 percent this year.
But this is a story best told on an individual level, one that reveals the richness and breadth of Americans' hopes, wants, needs and dreams this holiday season -- from the inspirational to the practical, from the sublime to the simple, from "world peace" to "a Mickey Mouse race track."
Many holiday wishes, necessarily, reflect the country's economic woes. Some people hope to find a job neatly wrapped under the tree. "My mortgage paid off" would do it for a woman in Boston. "Less debt," for an older man. "To have my other credit card paid off," in Prince William County, Va. In Portland, Maine: "The ability to pay the rent."
Others think in more macroeconomic terms. "A strong recovery on the stock market" would be a lovely gift for a retirement-aged man outside Philadelphia. "The economy to be better," requests a woman in Bozeman, Mont. Santa, thy name is Bernanke.
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