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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....

...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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ORIGINAL: Lordandmaster

Ignorance is bliss.

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ORIGINAL: mnottertail

Would you expect War and Peace, or a Brief History of Time in response to a facile and patronizing write by post?

Curiously,
Ron

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ORIGINAL: Lordandmaster

Ignorance is bliss.

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ORIGINAL: SirKenin

I wonder if it has anything to do with religion?  More religious folk seem to be happier than those that are not for some reason.

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ORIGINAL: Lordandmaster

You know, it was a witty and brilliant comment, but since you're brutishly forcing me to explain it, I will.

The more people learn about the world, the more they object to the status quo, and the more they object to the status quo, the less likely they are to be conservative.

Most conservative opposition to issues that matter is based on either ignorance of facts or unwillingness to confront facts.  Conservatives like to talk about how they "stand for" this or that value; all they "stand for" is to keep on fucking the environment and letting corporations get their way at taxpayers' expense.  It's a bankrupt ideology, and your party pundits are correct when they say that it's time for some new ideas.

Was that less facile for ya?

quote:

ORIGINAL: Lordandmaster

You know, it was a witty and brilliant comment, but since you're brutishly forcing me to explain it, I will.

The more people learn about the world, the more they object to the status quo, and the more they object to the status quo, the less likely they are to be conservative.

Most conservative opposition to issues that matter is based on either ignorance of facts or unwillingness to confront facts.  Conservatives like to talk about how they "stand for" this or that value; all they "stand for" is to keep on fucking the environment and letting corporations get their way at taxpayers' expense.  It's a bankrupt ideology, and your party pundits are correct when they say that it's time for some new ideas.

Was that less facile for ya?