A 2006 Pew Research poll found that 45 percent of Republicans describe themselves as "very happy," compared with only 30 percent of Democrats (and 29 percent of independents). This is a sizable gap and a remarkably consistent one, too. Republicans have been happier than Democrats every year since the General Social Survey, conducted biannually by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, began asking about happiness in 1972.
You know, now that I think about it, I have seemed a bit more depressed since I registered as an independent!
3 comments:
It's an interesting statistic. Is it just that Democrats (generally) think that the U.S. needs to "progress" more quickly in the direction they think correct, or does it have to do with more fundamental aspects of life like religion and family? Or is it something else entirely?
-Nate
Nate
Thanks for making the only comment! That's a good question, and I don't think that the article mentioned how they measured "happiness." One idea might go back to something Greenspan mentioned in his book. One of the trade-offs of the productivity and growth of big cities is high stress levels. Since big cities tend to be more liberal, and laid back parts of the country seem to be more conservative, that might explain SOME of the findings. The most interesting thing to me, though, is how consistent the article claims the results have been, especially considering how much scrutiny they've held up against.
Another explanation could go something like this: In general, Democrats dislike the status quo and fight for what they call "progress". Since by definition the status quo is the prevailing present environment, Democrats (in general) aren't happy about the present political environment. I would venture to say that Democrats allow politics to affect their happiness more than Republicans (just my opinion). Thus, since Democrats are unhappy about the status quo and they let politics influence their happiness to a greater degree than Republicans, they are less happy, on average, than Republicans.
-Nate
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