Most Believe America Should Still Honor Columbus with National Holiday

It’s Columbus Day, and although most Americans say we should continue to honor Christopher Columbus’ achievement with a national holiday, not nearly as many consider it the most important.  
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 57% of Adults feel that America should continue to honor Columbus with a national holiday.  Just 27% disagree and say we should not devote a national holiday to him, while 15% more are not sure.  (To see survey question wording.)
These findings show little change from this time last year.
But only nine percent (9%) consider Columbus Day to be one of our nation’s most important holidays. Thirty-seven percent (37%) see it as the least important, while roughly half (51%) say it’s somewhere in between.  These numbers have held relatively steady over the past few years.
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The survey of 1,000 Adults was conducted on October 7-8, 2010 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.
Still, an overwhelming 72% of Americans have a favorable opinion of Columbus, including 32% who have a Very Favorable opinion of him. Nineteen percent (19%) hold an unfavorable opinion of the explorer.
Men view Columbus slightly more favorably than women, while adults over the age of 40 view America’s founder in a more positive light than younger adults.