Are the republicans you know generally happy people?

[NightWatcher]

In my limited scope of family and friends, more often than not those who watch Fox, ooze republican talking points, and despise all things liberal and progressive are some of the most hateful, miserable, gleefully ignorant, and scared people I know. Also I've noticed that the ones who say the most vile things and harbor the most hate are also the ones who exhibit the most religiosity. (Side note: it's this mix of hate and religiousness in my own experiences that has pushed me away from wanting to have anything to do with any religion.)

However, the friends of mine who are more Progressive seem to be generally happier in their daily lives. They also appear to be smarter and open to new ideas, or at least open to reevaluating their own positions on a topic without seeing it as a weakness. Maybe it's because they are not driven by fear and hatred to always be on the attack.

Have a good week.

[RagAss]

1. I agreee..all the repugs I know are miserable fucks.

Hate keeps them breathing. But never happy.

[CentralMass]

26. Same here.

[SoapBox]

35. Ditto.

Totally misinformed, angry, hateful and self-centered (all about "me&quot .

Opps forgot...HOLY!

[bigwillq]

2. I know some that seem to be happy.

But most of them are moderate republicans.

And some progressives I know are whiny brats. lol

I guess it depends on the person. I try not to judge based on their political viewpoint.

[Brickbat]

3. I know many Republicans who don't watch Fox or parrot talking points, nor do they

despise all things liberal and progressive. They're all as happy as any of us. The people you're describing sound like they wouldn't be happy no matter what their political outlook was.

[RKP5637]

4. I find some republicans carry quite a chip on their shoulder and an attitude of a right of

entitlement to everything. I view most of them as people who wander in the lower orbs of life. I often find the same with some religious people. There is a mean spirit about them.

I do find progressives more bright and happy!

I find much the same as you.

[customerserviceguy]

5. Some of the well-off ones seem to be that way

I guess when you don't have to worry about a roof over your head, clothes on your back, and food on your table, that tends to improve your mood.

[Oktober]

6. Even spread across all groups short of fringe folks...

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

7. I don't know many.

The two most teabaggy ones I know (a couple who, unfortunately, are in-laws) are very angry people, and I can't figure out why. They are retired, live very comfortably and don't want for anything, but they are furious at "the government" because it is too oppressive and at the same time it doesn't do enough for them. And just about everything else pisses them off, too. They're just angry all the time.

[hunter]

8. No. They think others want to take their stuff.

It's projection because they work so hard to take other peoples' stuff.

A community where everyone is looking out for the best interests of others is incomprehensible to them.

[yeoman6987]

9. I have seen many happy Republicans and families

I think that Fox News does an injustice to Republicans because it dumps them all into that thought process which of course is absurd. I know Liberals who are happy as can be and liberals who are miserable. I know Republicans who are happy as can be and some who are miserable. I have seen some really happy religious people and some miserable ones. We are not able to put any one group into a nice box with a bow. Just impossible and good for it quite frankly.

[JaneyVee]

10. I agree. And for such an anti-PC crowd, they sure...

Seem to be so sensitive, play the victim card, feel oppressed about everything. I.E. If you stand by separation of church/state they say their religious freedom is being oppressed. If you don't bend to their attempts at revisionist history in schools they cry that conservatism is being oppressed. They get it from perpetual victim sarah palin.

[rurallib]

11. the few Republicans I know are surly, suspicious and unfriendly

My democratic friends are friendly, confident and generally happy.
Can't say I have any Republican friends - can't stand to be around them and their attitude.

[Nye Bevan]

12. Conservatives are happier than liberals.

WHO is happier about life — liberals or conservatives? The answer might seem straightforward. After all, there is an entire academic literature in the social sciences dedicated to showing conservatives as naturally authoritarian, dogmatic, intolerant of ambiguity, fearful of threat and loss, low in self-esteem and uncomfortable with complex modes of thinking. And it was the candidate Barack Obama in 2008 who infamously labeled blue-collar voters “bitter,” as they “cling to guns or religion.” Obviously, liberals must be happier, right?

Wrong. Scholars on both the left and right have studied this question extensively, and have reached a consensus that it is conservatives who possess the happiness edge. Many data sets show this. For example, the Pew Research Center in 2006 reported that conservative Republicans were 68 percent more likely than liberal Democrats to say they were “very happy” about their lives. This pattern has persisted for decades. The question isn’t whether this is true, but why.

Many conservatives favor an explanation focusing on lifestyle differences, such as marriage and faith. They note that most conservatives are married; most liberals are not. (The percentages are 53 percent to 33 percent, according to my calculations using data from the 2004 General Social Survey, and almost none of the gap is due to the fact that liberals tend to be younger than conservatives.) Marriage and happiness go together. If two people are demographically the same but one is married and the other is not, the married person will be 18 percentage points more likely to say he or she is very happy than the unmarried person.

The story on religion is much the same. According to the Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey, conservatives who practice a faith outnumber religious liberals in America nearly four to one. And the link to happiness? You guessed it. Religious participants are nearly twice as likely to say they are very happy about their lives as are secularists (43 percent to 23 percent). The differences don’t depend on education, race, sex or age; the happiness difference exists even when you account for income.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/08/opinion/sunday/conservatives-are-happier-and-extremists-are-happiest-of-all.html

[alp227]

19. Chances are they're not the types who obsessively rant online about "THE LEFT".

Happy people whether left OR right tend not to be very confrontational/evangelical about politics on the internet.

[Half-Century Man]

29. I will point out that

We have been under greater conservative control for decades. It might be that liberals are expressing their overall dissatisfaction at the stagnation of the advancement of civilization.

[defacto7]

36. Isn't this what we call an "opinion"?

That's what they call it. And sighting PEW reports kind of blemishes any realistic analysis. The others.. well.. it takes research these days to be able to discern research from... research.

[lolly]

37. Those who are well-to-do seem happy to me

I mean, Mitt Romney seems pretty happy.

They're convinced that the reason they are wealthy is because they deserve everything. Feeling superior to everyone else can do that.

Some middle-class types seem happy because they feel a sense of certainty--they know what G-d wants, that G-d has a plan for them, etc. It seems very comforting, and I don't begrudge them that.

[stillwaiting]

65. I wonder if these studies accounted for a phenomenon I have witnessed in my life often.

Many conservatives that I know (and this includes way too many family members unfortunately) always "put on a happy face". What I mean by this is that when asked, "How are you doing?" many conservatives will reply "Great" or "Well" and put a smile on their face even when they are not. Some of these people are truly miserable. They are master pretenders. They seem to always present a "happy face" to the world, and I think many of them do this because of their professed Christian faith. For, if they have Jesus, then surely they are happy and blissful. Why wouldn't they be? They are socially reinforced (brainwashed) in many churches that they are saved and "happy" when, in fact, they are hateful and miserable creatures. But just ask them and they'll tell you: They are happy!

In my life, liberals tend to be more honest (duh!) about life in ALL of its aspects, and I would think this might include happiness levels in general. Conservatives pretend (and lie) about many things in life.

Also, if someone is a liberal that has been politically aware over the past 3 to 4 decades then it surely would be quite difficult to see what has been happening in this country. A lot of the unhappiness I feel in my life stems from that awareness. This is not to say that I am unhappy and do not experience happiness. It is to say that I sometimes feel unhappy because of the state of the nation and the state of the citizenry (apathetic and ignorant) of the United States of America.

Edited to add: To boil it down: I bet the entire Phelps clan from Westboro Baptist would state in a psychological study that they are all blissfully happy. That would not necessarily make it true and absolute.

[edgineered]

69. Nicely stated.

When considering things on a base level the answers are simple. No need to think about the specifics; like leaves on a tree.

[treestar]

70. Say they are happy

Of course they are going to claim that, as soon as they see the question, they know it is about valuing one viewpoint over the other.

Usually they are miserable, because some poor person out there is getting some help and won't be miserable enough for them to gloat over. They are upset at the number of Latino migrants, unhappy that there is a Black President, and unhappy that nonwhite people don't keep their place generally. They are miserable that people have sex outside of marriage and quite angry about the advances women have made.

They are pissed off that the majority don't live by the rules they think everyone should live by.

Single people could be as happy as married people. Another conservative wish, that single people would be unhappy. They want to feel like they have it better. This is all there is to it.

[ieoeja]

74. Exactly. Every Republican I know claims to be happy while complaining very angrily about everything.

Maybe being angry makes them happy?

[SheilaT]

84. Good point.

It's somewhat like those who are heavily invested in being ill all the time.

[WhiteAndNerdy]

13. My observations

My observations are the same as yours, except when it comes to religion. Most of the religious people I know are politically liberal.

Fox deliberately keeps its viewers in a state of perpetual anger and hostility, so it's not surprising. What does surprise me is how little self-awareness the Fox audience has. They really don't see how they're being manipulated, or how they've allowed themselves to be led to increasingly extreme positions over the years. I do notice when a writer or speaker is trying to steer me in a certain direction, and I'm smart enough and stubborn enough not to let it happen.

I think part of what's going on is that conservatives manipulate people's emotions. They've given up on supporting their positions with facts or reason, and go straight for the fears, sense of group loyalty, and nostalgia in their audience. It's funny, because some of them still accuse liberals of being motivated by feelings rather than facts when precisely the opposite is true. The facts are on our side. Ethics are on our side. The liberal position is rational; the conservative position is so irrational that emotional manipulation is all they have left.

[RKP5637]

15. Agree! n/t

[arcane1]

18. That's exactly what it was like dealing w/family recently. Well-said.

I'd add scorn and ridicule to the list of emotions that are presented. My dad seemed to spend my whole visit looking for some topic that he could use to make fun of me, of California, and of liberals in general.

[mnhtnbb]

60. The last time I went to visit my brother's house--then living in Northern CA--

it was fall 2007. I hadn't been in the door 5 minutes before he started up with Hillary jokes,
(he's a Republican), knowing I wouldn't think it was funny.

Strange, isn't it?

[lolly]

40. Yes, they're very manipulative

Find people who are emotionally vulnerable--they feel disappointed, or lonely.

Find a way to get them to believe YOU have the answer.

Find a way to get them to blame other people--weaker people, who are easy and comfortable to attack.

Feed their anger. They will get addicted to the rush and the excitement of hating on other people.

[BlueJazz]

14. Your post pretty much echoed my views.

[NYC_SKP]

16. Ignorance is bliss. nt

[tularetom]

17. I've sort of lost touch with most of them because they were so miserable

Convinced that Obama was trying to help black people get all their hard earned tax money. Every conversation eventually got around to racial jokes, crude text messages or rumors courtesy of fox news so we more or less just didn't bother to respond to invitations. The worst of them were my late sister's two sons who are now in their 50's and walking around with a 2x4 size chip on their shoulder. They're so obnoxious we disinvited them from holiday dinners.

[Seeking Serenity]

20. My husband is very happy

And, his politics notwithstanding, I love him with all my heart.

[Rex]

21. Nope. Not even the millionaire Foxnews types I know are happy.

There is no inner tranquility for a Republican. They live on fear/anger alone.

[Prophet 451]

22. Not generally

Most of the Republicans I know are hateful and angry. Their constant hatred for foreigners and anyone/anything remotely liberal, their constant feeling of being embattled makes them miserable. I suspect the religious ones you know are mostly fundie. Fundamentalism is a glorified revenge fantasy o everyone the believer dislikes getting sent to hell while the believer can rejoice in smug superiority. It's best summed up by a line from the Weird Al track Amish Paradise: "I'll be laughing my head off / as you're burning in hell". That's the core of fundamentalism, that belief that the greatest joy of heaven is watching everyone else in hell (which is also why I'm a Luciferian). Of course, the modern form of fundamentalism (which I call Republianity) also exists to give divine approval to a fringe-right agenda.

Republianity is a mixture of lip service to Jesus (while jettisoning virtually everything he actually taught), Nieztchian will-to-power, Randian beliefs to justify psychotic anti-tax beliefs, Nazi-level nationalism and worship of the military and Rapture beliefs that were invented wholesale out of a few twisted-from-context Bible verses about a century ago. It has it's own high priests (Pat Robertson, Limbaugh, Beck), it's own messiah figure (Reagan), it's own devil figure (Obama although really, it's whoever the most high-profile liberal of the time is), it's own designated scapegoats (liberals) and it's own versions of history, economics, psychology, theology and jurisprudence.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

34. good reading, there!

[Populist_Prole]

50. +1

I'll have a post of my own down-thread, so your words will preclude many of mine. But you are right-on.

[treestar]

71. And the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton

seem to really bother them and fall into the devil category.

[840high]

23. Some are happy. Some are not.

[kimbutgar]

24. My brother in law is a fox business addict

He is a hateful jerk who I will not deal with again. He's a miserable bastard. My sister is emotionally being abused. My brother in law has a lot of money. My sister has the showpiece condo, housekeeper, mercedes , world cruises etc. she would not be good on her own.

Fox has made people more angry and hateful.

[DrewFlorida]

25. Most that I know are not so much unhappy, but blissfully, stubornly ignorant.

They listen to the republican misinformation machine and are not intelligent enough to question it! Yet they think they are very intelligent because they are full of republican bull shit talking points, which they have no understanding of what-so-ever!

It's very frustrating, which is why I rebut every false political facebook post with logic, statistics and common sense.

[goldent]

27. I haven't noticed a difference

but a lot of people I know are not outwardly political. I would say that the people who are outwardly political complain a lot, but they probably like it!

[CANDO]

28. They seem quietly giddy lately

What with them potentially taking over the Senate. If that does happen, this Presidency is essentially over. Well, it practically has been over since the 2010 midterms. I'm just sick to death of it all. Living through the absolute hell of 2001-2008 and considering we may see round 2 of complete Republican control makes me say fuck it. I'm tired of giving a shit. Let them burn it to the ground. We will never return to the great promise of America that once was. The oligarchs in charge will burn it down and blame it on liberalism and the masses will buy it just like they buy it now.

[Half-Century Man]

30. The few in my life seem less happy overall to me.

The ones who I know are heavy Faux viewers are extremely unhappy people. Their hatred of the President for visual reasons enables them to heap blame without thinking. They suffer (as we all do) under the effects of forty years of Reaganomics, and yet still believe the spew from False News.

One of them vomited hatred and bile over socialized medicine, and is so grateful she finally has health care via the ACA. And the Irony fairy being an asshole, she accredits the health care to Jesus.

Family.......ya just gotta deal sometimes.

[Nye Bevan]

31. What I am getting from this thread is that

Last edited Mon Sep 29, 2014, 08:49 AM - Edit history (1)

while it is known that conservatives are happier than liberals in general, conservatives tend to be much more unhappy when associating with DUers. Perhaps because they do not enjoy the political arguments that tend to spring from such encounters?

[defacto7]

43. Well...

It isn't known... but your opinion is cool anyway.

[hatrack]

67. Cool survey, bro - thanks for reposting it!

.

[Dawson Leery]

32. The minority of Republicans that do not watch Fox (hate media) are more

amiable than those who do. That is my experience.

[Union Scribe]

33. I think the more political a person is

(of whatever persuasion) the less happy they are likely to be. The happy people I know aren't focused on the minutiae we are. They aren't even aware of most of the things that keep us up at night worrying about the state of the nation and world.

[NCTraveler]

87. Nailed it.

Change a couple of words in the op and post it on FR. The responses would mirror the responses here.

[Marrah_G]

38. I know a few and they seem like happy people

I think religion and the geographical region of the country plays a part too.

[KentuckyWoman]

39. A mixed bag.

A few positive sorts but mostly miserable people who pretend to be happy.

[CaptainTruth]

41. No. Thankfully I only know two, friends of my wife's family.

The first time I met them some months ago we went to dinner & they spent the whole evening complaining. Not about the food or anything in their immediate environment, all of it was about the government & society. By the end of it I was ready to suggest that perhaps they'd be happier living in another country. And of course they (in their minds) were RIGHT about everything & everyone else was WRONG, even though pretty much everything they said had already been shown to be untrue (Republifaux talking points).

As for the study claiming conservatives are happier, I'll say 1) I believe they THINK they're happier because of their smug sense of being "right" about everything, even though they're not really happier in terms of what most people would consider happiness, & 2) I believe they define happiness differently than liberals. I'm sure the two I met for dinner were quite happy that they had the opportunity to spend an evening complaining & criticizing. To them that was a happy evening. To me? Not so much.

[Populist_Prole]

51. Major Bingo for your first paragraph

And welcome to DU

[SheilaT]

85. The core thing, as you've pointed out

so eloquently, is that some people are happiest when complaining about things. I've known people like that all of my life, since long before the Tea Party, and when I recognize that someone is simply a chronic complainer, I try to exclude them from my life.

[defacto7]

42. Who's to know who is happy and who is not?

With a general passing glance across my landscape, Republicans seem considerably more unhappy than the liberals I know. As a matter of perception, most conservatives I know seem more unhappy. But liberals seem more aware and awareness has it's downside. I choose awareness over blindness in any case.

[LibDemAlways]

44. I don't know how happy they are in general. I do know

that those who intensely and irrationally hate Obama, positively revel in it.

[ErikJ]

45. So happy......... that they are mass suicidal. Praying for the Rapture

THey not only believe in the Rapture but are hoping and praying for it. And even worse they are VOTING for it.
I believe that most of them DO believe in Climate change and they are actually trying to happen faster by voting Republican.

[glinda]

46. The few I have spoken to in depth are very ignorant and lack skills to

reason and use logic. As far as happy they seem to be either very unhappy at the wrong people or walking with blinders on.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

47. They also brag about the times they screwed someone over as if it proves their superiority.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

48. They're angry at the world.

My stepson is very immature and gullible. He spouts right wing talking points. i told him he was spouting right wing horseshit from Fox. These angry guys come out with anything like it's a definite statement, and they have no idea what they are talking about.


I told him he was spouting right wing crap and that it was wrong for him to spread hate speech. I told him it was not acceptable. His girlfriend immediately misunderstood me and said "You're saying he's a bad person." I said no such thing.


I have not contacted them in two years because they are unpleasant. His father sent him an innocent email recently asking him how he was doing. Stepson went into a sick psychotic tirade. He told us our family was all losers for the two generations before him, including his father and grandparents and aunt and including me for marrying into the family, and also that his little brother was a piece of shit. And blamed his father for crap that happened nearly 30 years ago dredging it up from the past. The girlfriend is an alcoholic and shit stirrer. I believe nothing she says, because she promises to do things with all her money she allegedly earns, and does NOTHING.

He said we were both "arrogant" and had accomplished NONE of our goals in life. He's making shit up. I have a daughter that got a good education, likes her job and is a happy healthy person. She has a bright future. I think she's one of my greatest accomplishments. I've also earned three college degrees. His father has earned three college degrees. The guy is totally toxic and full of shit.

I had a health crisis at stepson's house in another state in 2011. I was extremely ill and could barely breathe. I had pulmonary emboli, blood clots that traveled from my legs through my heart and lodged in my lungs, and uncontrolled diabetes. Stepson said "I wish you had died that night." I went to the hospital to ICU for over a week, and definitely would have died within 24 hours. The fact that he said "I wish you had died that night" is just sick and psychotic and evil. I had to live in their downstairs floor for two months recuperating. I was unable to go upstairs for weeks.


This is the first time in my life I have gotten a death threat. It's not immediate enough to get a restraining order. I feel like a battered woman because of this death threat. He said we were both (me and his father) dead to him. We have done nothing to provoke this. That is fine with me. I will live a good life and enjoy myself without his evil hateful horseshit.


The guy is big enough (Six foot four) that he could kill me or his father with his bare hands. He also has a gun. I am glad I am one state away from him. He thinks his father told his little brother to get a divorce. His father knew nothing about it until the younger son told him so. He has the maturity of a four year old and is about forty. He thinks "family" is calling your relatives shitheads. I don't know what he's accomplishing but we are ignoring him and staying several hundred miles away.

[Zorra]

49. In general, they are the angriest, unhappiest, most fearful large group of people in the US. nt

[sabrina 1]

52. I know Republicans who are very happy, and very nice people. They don't

watch Fox or hate Liberals, many of them have family members who are Dems and love them.

These stereotypes are stupid. The world isn't made up of just two kinds of people although those in power would like to push that notion.

And the Republicans I have known throughout my life are NOTHING like the morons I have met online or seen on Fox.

They even agree with Dems on some things and many of them are Atheists, support equal rights etc.

If your world is confined to online forums or our Corporate Media or the Political world, you get a very skewed view of the world.

And btw, many of the Repubs I know are even more unhappy with their party than many Dems are with theirs.

[Quackers]

58. +1000000 nt

[Populist_Prole]

53. Well...Only happy "on paper". But jeez almighty let me count the ways.......

By "on paper" I mean only in a "look at my big house" or "look at all my stuff" at sense. But they're still fucking miserable.

Some were former working-class democratic voters before they became comfortably retired and cast economic populism aside and let their prejudices guide them. To talk to them, "white flight" was a big part of their life.

Some were just run-of-the-mill republicans who went on a feeding frenzy of sorts once a black man went into the white house. Also aware that most younger than them don't share their view. They don't like it...not one tiny bit.

Some are/were always hard-ass conservatives: They know they lost the culture war. They know the current system is rigged in their favor. They're worried that the proles will get too uppity: Minimum wage increases, ideologically driven foreign policy being questioned, It will never be 1954 again ( except for the 1954 level of workplace unionization or upper income taxation rate ). They wish it was 1899 with I-phone technology.

I concur with so may other posters so far: Of several dozen conservatives I know, all but a couple are perpetually angry and hateful bastards. Can't count their blessings but can only rail against perceived solecisms against them. Absolutely insufferable to be around.

You know what dismays me most? Several are in my family.

[Major Hogwash]

54. The few that I know well do not seem to be very content people.

So, they generally are not happy people.
They are constantly blaming someone else for their state in life, or their status in society.

On the other hand, the very few rich Republicans that I don't know very well seem to be happy because they simply don't give a damn about anyone else!
They've got everything they want, so why should they worry about anyone else?

[marions ghost]

56. That's how I see it too

Not rich Republicans = Fox brainwashed --unhappy, complaining, angry

Rich Republicans = happy happy ("I got mine"....) arrogant and superior

[Major Hogwash]

55. Do you remember Robert D. Novak?

Did the "prince of darkness" impress you as a generally happy person?

I may be wrong, but I don't think he was a happy person at all.
He seemed to me to be the most angry, most frustrated, most inconsiderate, mean spirited, ignorant, racist piece of pundit shit that I ever saw on tv.

[lamp_shade]

57. A few in my family. Angry people; 24/7 Fox viewers. Here's what's interesting...

My BIL, for example, was always open to civil and reasonable conversations about politics. Always... as long as I've known him. He even considered himself a "sort of liberal republican". That ended the moment Barack Obama was elected. He immediately turned into an angry, hateful old white man. He wasn't like this during the Carter or Clinton admins. He now forwards mass-distribution emails with the most ridiculous, childish, racist and hateful crap... all easily debunked (which I do). He doesn't do any research at all beforehand. He doesn't care... doesn't even try... just laughs. Oh... and he gets really, really pissed when I suggest that many rightwingers are racists and hate Obama because he's black.

[mnhtnbb]

61. I think this is correct. Obama brought a lot of racism out in the open that previously

was fairly well hidden.

[Inkfreak]

59. Yes. (nt)

[madokie]

62. The repubilCONs I know aren't

cause that black man in the white house keeps fucking with them, first one way then the other and they don't like being fucked with by a black man. Never mind that black man was elected President twice with a large margin, that doesn't matter to them as they're in denial. After all denial is not a only a river in Egypt

[IronLionZion]

63. Moderates seem generally happier than extremists on both sides.

And those who are less political seem happier than those with very strong opinions. Some people are determined to always express disappointment.

As for conservatives feeling unhappy in recent years, its often because RW media keeps telling them that our country and economy are badly destroyed and much worse than how it was with W and Reagan. And of course its bad because of Obama, obamacare, the gays, immigrants, feminists, gun control, green energy, etc.

Life is better for liberals and those who live in liberal states when it comes to jobs, healthcare, and education.

[badtoworse]

64. I have not noticed any correlation between happiness and political affiliation.

[hatrack]

66. Generally, no - they're by and large the most fearful people in my life

And the fear is always bullshit - it's Teh Terror, it's Teh Blah People, it's Teh Home Invaderz (preferably black or brown) - and Teh Gayz, who will convert their children.

And when one fear is proven to be bullshit, within days it's gone, and forgotten as if it never happened, and a new one is shunted in to take its place.

[randome]

68. Conservatives make bad comedians and poor lovers.

They are the laziest creatures on the face of the planet.


[hr][font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font][hr]

[eridani]

93. Well, the hookers in convention towns think so

Democrats look for consenting adults among their peers; Republicans give the hookers a lot more business.

[tridim]

72. Happiness is proportional to the amount of Faux Newz being watched that day/week/month.

At least that's how it is with my parents.

They seem to enjoy being unhappy about fake news and strawman Democrats.

[Arugula Latte]

73. I've managed to cut almost all of them out of my life, but

I have to deal with my mom's dumbass religious Republican boyfriend from time to time. He strikes me as a happy idiot. Ignorance is bliss, I guess.

[MadrasT]

75. Honestly among people I know, I can't correlate happiness to political party.

[louis-t]

76. Republicans that are doing well are happy.

The ones that aren't doing well (most of the ones I know) are bitter, angry, and blame Obama and Dems for their problems.

[polichick]

77. The wealthy ones are living fat and the others are blissfully ignorant.

[grahamhgreen]

78. The ones I know are angry with misdirected blame.

[tech3149]

79. Pretty much yes, they are happy because they don't think much beyond the present.

They're happy in their ignorance and don't wish to deal with those that would challenge their ideas. It's so very easy for them to be happy and disregard the suffering of others.
All of those I know who are progressive and even proto-progressives are not happy. We all know that we are being screwn six ways from Sunday. The difference between those who I feel agree with me and the tea partiers is the focus on the cause.

[sakabatou]

80. I have yet to meet a Republican face-to-face

So I can't say. That being said, I don't think they're happy people.

[snooper2]

81. Well, this thread shows liberals are happy telling everyone how miserable conservatives are

LOL...

me crack me up

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

82. Think most of my neighbors are happy Repugs

Honestly, though the unhappiest people I know are very progressive, although well funded so no money problems or health problems. I'd also say the happiest two people I know are progressives, as well. They really know how to enjoy life, including "investing" in other people's lives.

[Islandurp]

83. the happiest people i know aren't political whatsoever

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

89. That, too.

nt

[NCTraveler]

86. The most conservative person I know is just about the most....

centered, intelligent, and happiest person I know. He could not stand Bush. No correlations can be made in this respect. I think it is actually pretty foolish to do so. Most progressives I know are pretty upset right now and that feeds into other areas of their lives.

[haele]

88. Some will define themselves as genuinely happy.

Especially when they're talking about what they hate in a group that they "feel safe" in. There's an orgasmic property to exercising hate when one is in a group. A frustrated person enjoys spreading it around.

And defining "happiness" is very fluid - some people think they are perfectly happy when they're comfortably content; some people think they're only happy when there's a rise in adrenaline and they're "feeling" - excited and thoughtless.
Some people are proactive in their happiness - they like to work towards it; some are reactive - they like their happiness given to them.

It all depends on what sends the dopamine into the areas of any one person's brain where "pleasure" exists.

Haele

[deutsey]

90. I think many I know are more self-satisfied than what I think of as happy n/t

[Douglas Carpenter]

91. I think personal happiness - like personal niceness and personal nastiness cuts across all party

lines and belief systems.

[AnalystInParadise]

92. As happy as the average Democrat, Progressive or Independent

I know some joyful ecstatic social conservatives that see a beautiful world around them, and I know some miserable, pissy hateful liberals that think anyone who thinks differently is a moron. But those are outliers on both sides. Most people I know that are GOPers are as happy or as not happy as the rest of us. This crap that only we are happy and only they are miserable just seeks to divide us. We need to work on paradigms that bring us together as Americans, regardless of political labels. The problem is not the average person on the other side of the political aisle, the problem is the politicians of both sides that seek to alienate us from each other to spread their own message.