Majority of Americans Believe in Angels

This image provided by the National Gallery of Art shows the undated woodcut "The Holy Family". Years before Johann Gutenberg printed the Bible, artists were decorating handbills printed with religious pictures, such as an angel looking down on Mary and the infant Jesus as she watches Joseph cooking. An overwhelming majority of people, almost regardless of backgrounds and religious convictions, think angels are real, according to an AP-AOL News poll exploring attitudes about Santa Claus, angels and more. (AP Photo/National Gallery of Art, File) (AP)

"Have I ever seen one? Nope. We depict an angel as a person that's white, has a robe on, has wings on back. I'm not sure that's the way they look. So for me, I think sometimes there's angels that aren't that way."

Pelz recounted a story about a man who showed up to change his tire when he had a flat in Ohio five years ago.

"I look at life _ I say, well maybe I had an angel with me here today. It could have been just another man doing a good deed."

Although Santa took knocks in the poll for diminishing the religious nature of the holiday, some grown-ups who considered him a benefit to the season cited the spirit of selfless giving that he represents.

"Now, if you are using Santa Claus to push a $100 robotic dinosaur, then that's a problem," said Ron Montgomery of Louisville, Ky. But the 64-year-old grandfather counts himself as a Santa believer to this day.

"It's the whole atmosphere," he said. "Santa Claus is the spirit. The trees, the church, the whole works. You actually see more of your neighbors.

"It's a feeling. It's not like a ghost. It's an attitude."

Pelz felt another spirit when he walked into his backyard on a winter's day _ that of the wife he lost over two years ago. He called her Mom.

"She loved bluebirds," he said. "In the wintertime, we don't have bluebirds. I was out in the back, thinking, 'Mom I'd like to see you,' and this little bluebird comes by.

"I don't know, maybe that's an angel. It was just something I wanted to see. Maybe I imagined it. Next thing you know, it flew off. What is an angel? Is an angel something that has a heartbeat like us? Or is it ...?"

The thought trailed off.

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AP writer Nancy Benac, AP's Manager of News Surveys Trevor Tompson and AP News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius contributed to this story.