Poll: Antecedents of Happiness

Gallup looks at Americans’ happiness and finds demographic differences in those who are and are not happy.

U.S. adults with household incomes under $36,000 per year are more likely than those in higher-income groups to experience daily worry, boredom and loneliness -- and are much less likely to say they experienced happiness during a lot of the previous day.

Democrats report less happiness and more worry and loneliness than do Republicans.

Married and widowed Americans are happier, worry less and are less lonely than those who are single or divorced.

Women are more likely than men to report worry and loneliness.

We’ve observed this pattern before, the GOP is of, by, and for winners. The Democrats represent the not-winners. If you would be happy, you need to be married, Republican and employed at a non-throwaway job.

Later ... I had an afterthought about women being more worried and lonely. I hypothesize it is because they are, on average, more social than men. The lockdown has interrupted their more social lives to a greater extent.