Poll: What We Want for Christmas

Dec. 22, 2009— -- It's the little things people would like to have for the holidays this year: a job, peace on Earth, parole for the old man.

Or, let's say, $20 million.

Click here for a PDF with questions.

They're all there on the nation's wish list, this ABC News poll finds, alongside the new bikes, the cameras, the Kindles, Nooks and iPods, the "pair of boots" and warm coats, sewing machines, crock pots, laptops, cameras, vacuum cleaners, the "perfumes, always" – and the odder ones.

"A trolling motor for my boat."

"Sod for the back yard."

"A leg stretcher."

"A plasma cutter." (It's a metal cutting torch. We checked.)

"A barley smoker."

"A work permit."

"A supersonic jet."

"A submachine gun."

And what would you like for the holidays?

Combining answers, hopes for a car, truck, motorcycle or automotive accessory lead the list, mentioned by 10 percent of Americans – compared with a peak of 16 percent in 2005, perhaps indicating frugality in the current economy, Detroit's woes or a bit of both.

But there's far more flavor in the open-ended responses; just in the automotive category, for instance, we've got everything from "a new Crown Victoria" (bad news: since 2008 it's only been available for fleet sales) to "a Ferrari" (model unspecified, but it's a cool $397,000 for the top-of-the-line 599 GTB, loaded, with a custom paint job), a Dodge Viper, the obligatory Lexuses, Corvettes and Harleys and a "new Ford F-150 with silver chrome everywhere."

On the human side, how about "a husband, or a date," says an older woman in New Jersey, ready to negotiate. Forget the commitment; let's have "a sexy young man," says a 50-year-old North Carolinian. One woman wants her "marriage fixed." And those whose relationships did endure speak to the power of lifelong commitment; several widows and widowers alike ask, touchingly, for more time with their departed spouse.

The range of answers speaks to the hopes, dreams, priorities and personality types that make this country what it is. For everyone who wants a flat screen TV (and there are plenty), others go all gooey: "To be with my family. There isn't anything I need that you buy," says an 82-year-old Tennessee woman. And a 29-year-old dad in South Carolina just hopes that "my little boy gets what he wants."