Fox News Poll: Check email on vacation or dig through later?

Tyler Barnett begins to write a text message on his cell phone in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2009. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles) (AP)

We often hear we’re a divided nation: ObamaCare, immigration, same-sex marriage -- the list goes on.  But email?  That’s right.  

Americans are divided over whether to check their inbox while on vacation, according to a Fox News poll.  And as with many things digital, there’s a generational divide as well.

Of the two competing philosophies, 46 percent of workers like to disconnect completely during their time off and just dig through loads of email when they return, while almost as many -- 42 percent -- would rather check and answer email every day even while officially in relaxation mode.

Click here for the poll results.

There’s no gender gap here, although moms are more likely to check their inbox during their time off, while dads are more inclined to let emails pile up.

Those under age 35 are the ones most likely to say they would rather keep up with email while on vacation.  

Overall, nearly half of workers -- 46 percent -- leave it all behind and don’t call the office at all while on vacation.  That’s down from 59 percent who completely disconnected in 2005.  

Yet 24 percent of those with a job check in at least once a day.  That includes 13 percent who really have trouble disconnecting and touch base with the office “several times a day.”  

Some 18 percent say they check in “a few times a week.”  

The number touching base with the office at least daily during their vacation is up 10 percentage points from 14 percent in 2005.

Republicans (16 percent) are nearly twice as likely as Democrats (9 percent) to check in with their office “several times a day.”  

By and large people would rather have more time to be on vacation (55 percent) than more money to spend on a holiday (36 percent).

Not surprisingly more parents than non-parents would like extra vacation time:  Nearly two-thirds feel that way (64 percent) compared to just over half of non-parents (51 percent).  

The Fox News poll is based on landline and cell phone interviews with 1,007 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide and was conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) from August 3 to August 5.  The full poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.