The second We the Italians survey, conducted in collaboration with the Italy America Reputation Lab, focused on a timely topic: Columbus Day.
In the United States, October is celebrated as Italian Heritage Month. This is because on the second Monday of October, the U.S. observes Columbus Day - a federal holiday, and therefore one of the highest-ranking national celebrations.
For the vast majority of Italian Americans, Christopher Columbus has long been - and continues to be - a symbol of Italian pride. Naturally, not for all Italian Americans. In recent years, Columbus has been questioned and attacked, and some believe that these attacks extend to the very idea of Italian identity in the United States.
We therefore decided to ask Italian Americans whether they believe Columbus Day should remain a federal holiday.
As with our first survey, the results of this one will be shared both in Italy and in the United States and presented to Italian institutions.
With this second survey, we began collaborating with some of the most important Italian American organizations. In this case, we were joined and supported by the Conference of Presidents of Major Italian Organizations, the Italian Sons and Daughters of America, and the Italian American ONE VOICE Coalition. We are deeply grateful for their help, which was truly invaluable: thanks to their support, we more than doubled the number of responses compared to the first survey – this time we received 768 responses.
90.4% of respondents believe Columbus Day should remain a federal holiday, while 9.6% said no.
Among women, 86% answered yes and 14% said no. Among men, 94.6% said yes and 5.4% said no.
Looking at age groups:
- Among those born before 1965, 91.7% said yes and 8.3% said no.
- Among those born between 1965 and 1980 (Generation X), 87.1% said yes and 12.9% said no.
- Among those born between 1981 and 1996 (Generation Y), 86.8% said yes and 13.2% said no.
- Among those born between 1997 and 2012 (Generation Z), 93.7% said yes and 6.3% said no.
As for respondents’ countries, among those living in the United States, 90.5% said yes and 9.5% said no. We also received a few responses from Italy, where 88.9% said yes and 11.1% said no.
Breaking down the data further by U.S. region, the results are as follows:
- New England (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont): 91% yes, 9% no.
- New York State: 91.1% yes, 8.9% no.
- East (Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia): 89.6% yes, 10.4% no.
- Midwest (Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Wyoming): 94.8% yes, 5.2% no.
- South (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas): 92.4% yes, 7.6% no.
- West (Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington): 85.1% yes, 14.9% no.
Respondents were invited to leave a comment, and 539 people did so. Once again, this produced a treasure trove of opinions and reflections - all expressed respectfully. We will make sure to share this valuable feedback as well with the Italian institutions.
This is our second survey, and we are working to involve additional important Italian American and Italian organizations to give this initiative an even broader reach.
Two Flags, One Heart
