Republicans are happier....

[RedskinsDave]

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 (http://pewresearch.org/social/chart.php?ChartID=39) 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.

http://pewresearch.org/social/pack.php?PackID=1

It's not being in power:


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.


And it's not based on income:

If one controls for household income (http://pewresearch.org/social/chart.php?ChartID=8), 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.

We're just happier. :lol1:

[Ibleedburgundy]

You know what they say....ignorance is....aw that was too easy. :)

[CNYSkinFan]

You know what they say....ignorance is....aw that was too easy. :)
ok...that was pretty funny

[CNYSkinFan]

http://pewresearch.org/social/pack.php?PackID=1

It's not being in power:



And it's not based on income:



We're just happier. :lol1:
next you are going to talk about having joyful sex like Ann Coulter (which I doubt anyone has had joyful sex with....ever...that's her problem)

[RedskinsDave]

Talk to the Pew people if you have a problem with the results. I can totally understand why the average republican would be happier. This would exclude the evangelical folks but, for the most part, we spend less time fretting over what everyone else is doing.

[Keino]

Talk to the Pew people if you have a problem with the results. I can totally understand why the average republican would be happier. This would exclude the evangelical folks but, for the most part, we spend less time fretting over what everyone else is doing.

Interesting, because my take is that you all spend too much time trying to tell people what to do and how to do it........

[CNYSkinFan]

Interesting, because my take is that you all spend too much time trying to tell people what to do and how to do it........
thats mostly the evangelical....the true conservative does not care about anyone.

[Fathead]

How happy are the people who've realized that democrats and republicans both suck?

[RedskinsDave]

thats mostly the evangelical....the true conservative does not care about anyone.

There ya go! A true liberal makes sure everyone "cares" the way they think others should "care".

[Spence]

This study shouldn't surprise anyone and I tend to think its results are pretty accurate. They are generalizations, of course, and I'm sure we've all known unhappy righties and very happy lefties [not too many of those, though]. In some ways, I'd suspect that many evangelicals have higher rates of unhappiness for the same reason many liberals do: they think the world is going to hell in a handbasket and they're tired of holding the handle. If you think the poverty in a rich country like ours is a disgrace [liberals], you might tend to report lower levels of happiness. If you think legalized abortion is the "American Holocaust," you might tend to report lower levels of unhappiness. The most ambitious people are often not the happiest.

Of course, there is personal happiness and political happiness and general happiness. I think for many liberals and right-wing evangelicals, political unhappiness is dragging down their general happiness. In my own case, for example, I'm very happy with my personal life. Love the new wife, enjoying marriage, live near my family, nice house and yard and a dog I love more than I should, Redskins winning more often -- not much to complain about. Politically, however, I'm often quite miserable. Average 'em out and you get a person who could be a lot happier. And hopes to be...this November. ;)

[Agrawog]

Come on it is quite clear what this survey reflects. Republicans wanted to come off as the 'winners' here (they always want to win') and so EVERY republican in the U.S. is under orders to answer that they are happy whenever a surveyor calls them.

We all know how efficient the jack booted th..er Republican base is when it wants to get something done and this is just another example. The coded message went out on the liberal media of Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity and foot soldiers fulfilled their mission perfectly.

I do fear, however, for those Republicans that did not meet their political (and therefore patriotic and religious duty - they are all the same right?) duty. I mean only 45% are happy. What will happen to those 55% who did not 'follow orders'.

I shudder to think of the consequences, really I do.

[CNYSkinFan]

There ya go! A true liberal makes sure everyone "cares" the way they think others should "care".
Dave,

That is true of a conservative as well. Welfare Reform at it's base was more of an extension of tough love then anything else. I am sure true conservatives think they are being compassionate by teaching people self reliance.

In politics there is either Apathy or wanting people to care they way you want them to care, on both sides of the aisle.

[Patrick]

How happy are the people who've realized that democrats and republicans both suck?

We are VERY BITTER people ............ but thanks for asking!!! ;)

[CNYSkinFan]

We are VERY BITTER people ............ but thanks for asking!!! ;)
They are the worse off because then they have to hang out with either the hippies in the Green Party and get worked up over the government doing nothing or the far right Libertarians and get worked up about everything the government is doing.

It is a no win situation.

[Ibleedburgundy]

We are VERY BITTER people ............ but thanks for asking!!! ;)

Greenspan seems to think the door is wide open for a third party, good luck with that. :)

[Spence]

The system has been rigged by the two big parties to strangle alternatives. The American polity has a way with third parties and it isn't pretty. The country has a big problem that the two big parties are either ignoring or not handling -- usually because they both played a big part in creating the problem in the first place and are worried that solving the problem will offend critical constituencies. The third party comes along, focused obsessively on that one issue. The public, which has been worrying about that issuse and growing increasingly frustrated with the two big parties for not addressing it, falls in love with the candor and directness of the third party. The other two parties notice this. Then one of the two parties decides to stop fighting against the issue and steal it, thus making themselves stronger at the expense of the third party and taking its votes. This strategy works, at least for a time, and the more aggressive of the two big parteis wins an election. The third party goes away.

The most recent example of this was the exploding budget deficit of the late 1980s-to-early-1990s. It played a big part in crippling President George H.W. Bush, with much of his support fleeing to H. Ross Perot. Clinton, the Democrat, saw this happening and decided to make deficit reduction a more important part of his campaign. [He had paid little attention to it previously.] Fortunately for Clinton, Perot turned out to be a paranoid weirdo who appeared to enjoy the spotlight more than actually answering the sort of questions one is expected to answer when running for the highest office in the land. Perot self-destructed and half of his people turned to the new Democrat, who -- unlike the rest of his party and his Republican challenger -- seemed to take the deficit issue seriously. You know the rest.

Contra Mr Greenspan, I don't see much room for a third party challenge right now. That one issue such a party would need, just isn't there right now. Opposition to the war in Iraq could have been it, but the Dems have taken almost all of the oxygen of that issue for themselves. World record budget deficits could be the issue, but the war is overshadowing the deficits right now. In any case, the case against the budget deficits is already being made by the Democrats and by a small portion of the Republican party. [They're making that case very quietly, for fear of antagonizing a famously vindictive Bush White House.]

[Fathead]

They are the worse off because then they have to hang out with either the hippies in the Green Party and get worked up over the government doing nothing or the far right Libertarians and get worked up about everything the government is doing.

It is a no win situation.



You forgot the third option. Those who think politics suck, but in reality don't care.