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Pew Research, hardly a bastion of right-wing conservatism, has confirmed what many folks already know; simply put, Republicans are generally happier people than Democrats. Republicans generally have a sunnier disposition, a brighter and more optimistic outlook on life, are more likely to take control of their own destiny, less likely to place blame on others for their own circumstances and less likely to look to government for solutions in their daily life. In short, throw away all those self help books, become a Republican and be a happier person, it’s a scientific fact:
"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. Pew surveys since 1991 also show a partisan gap on happiness; the current 16 percentage point gap is among the largest in Pew surveys, rivaled only by a 17 point gap in February 2003.
Could it be that Republicans are so much happier now because their party controls all the levers of federal power? Not likely. Since 1972, the GOP happiness edge over Democrats has ebbed and flowed in a pattern that appears unrelated to which party is in political power.
For example, Republicans had up to a 10 and 11 percentage point happiness edge over Democrats in various years of both the Carter and Clinton presidencies, and as small as a three and five percentage point edge in various years of the Reagan and first Bush presidencies. Also, we should explain here a bit about how our survey questionnaire was constructed. The question about happiness was posed at the very beginning of the interview, while the question about political affiliation was posed at the back end, along with questions about demographic traits. So respondents were not cued to consider their happiness through the frame of partisan politics. This question is about happiness; it is not a question about happiness with partisan outcomes.
Of course, there's a more obvious explanation for the Republicans' happiness edge. Republicans tend to have more money than Democrats, and -- as we've already discovered -- people who have more money tend to be happier.
But even this explanation only goes so far. If one controls for household income, Republicans still hold a significant edge: that is, poor Republicans are happier than poor Democrats; middle-income Republicans are happier than middle-income Democrats, and rich Republicans are happier than rich Democrats.
Might ideology be the key? It's true that conservatives, who are more likely to be Republican, are happier than liberals, who are more likely to be Democrats. But even controlling for this ideological factor, a significant partisan gap remains. Conservative Republicans are happier than conservative Democrats, and moderate/liberal Republicans are happier than liberal Democrats. Hmmm, what other factors might be at play? Well, there's always..."
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Tags: Republicans, Democrats, Politics, Culture, Society
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10 hours ago
This whole concept, that Republicans are happier than Democrats, is something I've noticed for a long, long time.
ReplyDeleteAs the article states, Republicans tend to be more proactive in their own lives; they aren't waiting for the government to fix all their problems -- and therefore, aren't automatically disappointed, like virtually every Democrat.
They realize that they can take politics in their own hands, and win at the polls. Democrats have edged further and further into the "we have no control, just look at those Fascists taking away our rights" mentality that leads to feelings of helplessness and depression.
It's rather sad, really. There's a place for everyone in our system; if the Democrats would cough up a leader or two with some charisma, some ideas, and a positive outlook about our country, I think they'd do much better at the polls and eventually, up their happiness quotient.
tiberius gracchus makes excellent points!
ReplyDelete