Look Who's Smiling
Power Line
One of the things tracked by the Pew Research Center is happiness. Since the 1970s, the Pew pollsters have been asking Americans how happy they are and analyzing the results. This year's survey came out on Monday, and, as always, it shows that Republicans, on the average, are happier than Democrats:
<<< Some 45% of all Republicans report being very happy, compared with just 30% of Democrats and 29% of independents.
This finding has also been around a long time; Republicans have been happier than Democrats every year since the General Social Survey began taking its measurements in 1972. >>>
The gap between Republicans and Democrats persists when factors like income and marital status (both powerful predictors of happiness) are accounted for.
Conservatives, likewise, are happier people than liberals, and churchgoers are happier than non-churchgoers.
That conservatives (Republicans) are happier than liberals (Democrats) is no coincidence, as anyone who earns a living selecting juries can tell you. Nowadays, the fact that the Democrats are an angry (I would say, hateful) party is one of the commonplaces of political commentary. And, no doubt, the Democrats are angrier now than usual. But it seems likely that the fact that Democrats tend, statistically, to be unhappy people makes that party especially susceptible to appeals based on anger and hate.
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