| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"atheist@home" |
| Date: |
25 Feb 2006 11:48:58 AM |
| Object: |
Happy Republicans, Sad Democrats |
I'm Independant, the saddest of all.
Woe is me...woe is me ;-)
http://pewresearch.org/social/pack.php?PackID=1
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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| User: "Rune B" |
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| Title: Re: Happy Republicans, Sad Democrats |
25 Feb 2006 02:33:21 PM |
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On Sat, 25 Feb 2006 17:48:58 GMT, "atheist@home" <atheist@home.com>
wrote:
I'm Independant, the saddest of all.
Woe is me...woe is me ;-)
http://pewresearch.org/social/pack.php?PackID=1
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
In other words, proof positive that ignorance is bliss.
--
WWJD! What Would Jack (Bauer) Do?
.
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| User: "atheist@home" |
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| Title: Re: Happy Republicans, Sad Democrats |
25 Feb 2006 04:13:29 PM |
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On Sat, 25 Feb 2006 21:33:21 +0100, Rune B <nobody@nowhere.net> wrote:
On Sat, 25 Feb 2006 17:48:58 GMT, "atheist@home" <atheist@home.com>
wrote:
I'm Independant, the saddest of all.
Woe is me...woe is me ;-)
http://pewresearch.org/social/pack.php?PackID=1
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
In other words, proof positive that ignorance is bliss.
Lol!
Believe it or not I knew that was coming :-)
atheist@home#1554
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| User: "Rune B" |
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| Title: Re: Happy Republicans, Sad Democrats |
25 Feb 2006 06:35:56 PM |
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On Sat, 25 Feb 2006 22:13:29 GMT, "atheist@home" <atheist@home.com>
wrote:
Lol!
Believe it or not I knew that was coming :-)
Nooo, surely not... <evil grin>
--
WWJD! What Would Jack (Bauer) Do?
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