Poll: Memorial Day is one of country's more important holidays

Memorial Day, a day set aside to commemorate and mourn those members of the U.S. military who lost their lives serving their country, is Monday. American voters consider it one of the most important holidays of the year.

Napolitan News Service surveyed 1,000 registered U.S. voters and asked: "Is Memorial Day one of our nation's most important holidays, least important, or somewhere in between?"

The poll found that 44% of respondents say it is one of the most important holidays, while 10% said it was one of the least and 42% said somewhere in between. Four percent of voters said they are not sure.

"The only holidays that are more highly rated are Christmas (58%), July 4th (49%), and Veterans Day (47%)," Napolitan News Service said.

Four in 10 voters said they planned to celebrate the holiday by spending time with family, grilling out, going to a parade or a speech.

Forty percent (40%) of all voters plan to do something special to celebrate, including half (50%) of Republicans and 36% of Democrats.

"Unsurprisingly, the holiday is seen as more important among those who served in the military or lost someone in a military conflict," Napolitan said. "Among those who served in the military, 62% of voters call Memorial Day one of that nation's most important holidays. Fifty-six percent (56%) of those who have a close friend or family member who died in a military conflict say the same."

The survey was conducted online by pollster Scott Rasmussen May 19-20. Field work for the survey was conducted by RMG Research, Inc. and has a margin of error of +/- 3.1.