Who is happiest - Left or Right?

I happened upon this article this morning.

Political Happiness Study

It is regarding a study by the Pew group that shows on average Repulicans are happier than Democrats. The full results are here.

Pew Research

The article and poll go into the various reasons they think are responsible for the results. Such as: Wealth, religion, marriage, etc.

Another interesting question brought to light is:

"The question is not whether Republicans are happier than Democrats, or conservatives are happier than liberals," says Arthur Brooks, the incoming president of the American Enterprise Institute and author of "Gross National Happiness: Why Happiness Matters for America -- and How We Can Get More of It." "That's unambiguously true. The question is, why?"

Brooks says a lot hinges on the answer to this question: Do you believe that hard work and perseverance can overcome disadvantages? Conservatives are more likely to say yes.

Pew found that Democrats are more likely to say that success in life is mostly determined by outside forces. Republicans lean toward thinking that success is determined by one's own efforts.

The hypothesis: Those who think they can control their destinies are happier.

Think this is true?

Lastly, those with the most extreme views tend to be the happiest of all.

Also: Extremists are happier than moderates, Brooks has concluded. Hard-core liberals are the happiest liberals and hard-core conservatives are the happiest people on Earth. Self-certainty is like a happy pill. The bumper sticker may declare, "If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention" -- but the guy behind the wheel is overjoyed.

Could this be because they are convinced their views are correct and that everyone who disagrees is simply wrong?

I'm interested in what ATS thinks. If you lean left, or lean right, by how much and how happy are you and why? Does the other side seem unhappy to you?

NOTE: I really, really hope we can talk about this without bashing each other over the heads. My reason for asking this is because I tend to think of it this way. Even those that I disagree with deserve to be happy. I may not agree with them, but I don't desire them to be miserable.

I am pretty "right" and the only times I'm ever not happy is when I hear about my extorted money being blown on something assinine like $300,000 heated bus stops or when politicians start playing games with my guns.

Other than that I'm a happy happy man.

Nice thread. Yeah I think conservatives tend to be happier on the whole, since their outlook is essentially that the world is a decent place and should be kept as such, while only changed with considered policies.

Liberals tend to see injustice continually and have a more pessimistic outlook.

Im not sure it really matters though, in the end a person's mood will have a bigger effect on their bearing than their political views!

reply to post by Frogs


I think that the drive for wealth and safe places like religion make a lot of people happy, but what I have seen is that happiness demands that you not look out into the world and see the problems...it interfers with that happiness. If wealthy people were affected by the distress around them and lent a helping hand their wealth would suffer.

Liberal minds tend to be more troubled because they are the ones that leave self behind and forge out into the uglier parts of the world to lend a hand or affect change.