How are Canadians/Americans planning to celebrate Canada/Independence Day?

Posted on July 1st, 2020 in News

If you’re Canadian, did you celebrate Canada Day last year? And if you’re American, did you celebrate Independence Day/the Fourth of July?

Did you watch fireworks with friends and family? Did you get together for a barbecue? Did you watch a parade (on TV or in person)?

Normally, Canada Day and Independence Day are large celebrations. However, the pandemic has forced Canadians and Americans to re-evaluate how they will celebrate these important holidays this year.

Cities and towns in Canada and the United States have been modifying their usual celebrations to comply with social distancing recommendations. Some have set up virtual celebrations or in-person events with social distancing rules.

red, white, and blue fireworks

If you’re Canadian, you can find a list of virtual Canada Day celebrations here.

From June 12 to June 14, 2020, we asked Canadians and Americans:

  • Whether they plan to celebrate Canada Day (among Canadians) / Independence Day (among Americans) this year
  • How they plan to celebrate the holiday (among those who plan to celebrate)
  • How different their plans are this year, compared to how they would normally celebrate (among those who plan to celebrate)

Are Canadians planning to celebrate Canada Day, and are Americans planning to celebrate Independence Day?

This year, just over one-third of Canadians (36%) plan to celebrate Canada Day, 47% do not plan to celebrate it, and 17% are not sure whether they will celebrate. In contrast, nearly half (47%) of Americans plan to celebrate Independence Day, 30% do not plan to celebrate it, and 24% are not sure.

What are their celebration plans?

Canadians who plan to celebrate Canada Day this year are most likely to indicate they will celebrate by spending time with a small group of family and/or friends at home (59%), followed by decorating their home with flags or other decorations (28%).

Americans who plan to celebrate Independence Day this year are also most likely to indicate they will celebrate by spending time with a small group of family and/or friends at home (62%), followed by decorating their home with flags or other decorations (27%).

Infographic: How do Canadians/Americans plan to celebrate Canada Day/Independence Day this year?

How different are their plans this year, compared to how they would normally celebrate?

Compared to how they normally celebrate Canada Day, 48% of Canadians who plan to celebrate this year indicate that their celebration plans are similar, and 52% indicate that their celebration plans this year are different.

In contrast, 63% of Americans who plan to celebrate Independence Day this year indicate that their celebration plans are similar compared to how they normally celebrate, and 36% indicate that their celebration plans are different.

Infographic: How similar/different are Canadians'/Americans' 2020 celebration plans, compared to normal?

SURVEY METHODOLOGY

This web survey was conducted from June 12 to June 14, 2020, with 1,527 Canadians and 1,004 Americans, 18 years of age or older, randomly recruited from LEO’s online panel. Using data from the 2016 Census, the results were weighted by gender, age, mother tongue, region, education level and presence of children in the household in order to ensure a representative sample of the population.

The numbers presented have been rounded to the nearest whole number, however, raw values were used to calculate the sums presented and therefore, the sums may not correspond to the manual addition of the raw numbers.

DO YOU PLAN TO CELEBRATE CANADA DAY OR INDEPENDENCE DAY THIS YEAR, AND IF SO, WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS? TELL US IN THE COMMENTS BELOW.

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