by John Nolte
Across every possible social characteristic (race, income, age, religion, sex, and even political activity), a 60,000-person survey shows conservatives are much happier than leftists, reports Nate Silver.
When asked about the status of their own mental health, only 20 percent of liberals said it was excellent, compared to 51 percent of conservatives. Meanwhile, 45 percent of liberals said their mental health was poor, compared to just 19 percent of conservatives.
Look at that — nearly half of liberals say they have poor mental health.
And I believe them.
Using these 60,000 people and a 0-100 scale (zero for poor mental health, 100 for excellent mental health), this gap between left and right persisted across every possible demographic.
“The average American self-reports at a 60 on this scale: in other words, somewhere between good and very good mental health. But liberals average a score of 53 and conservatives a 68,” Silver explains. “As you can see, the liberal-conservative gap is fairly consistent across all of these characteristics.”
Here are those characteristics:
All the characteristics you might believe explain this happiness gap, don’t — at least according to this study. Religion? Nope. Marriage? Nope. Income? Nope. Political activity? Nope. Sexual orientation? Nope. Social media activity? Nope.
Does this mean it really comes down to the fact that leftists are just a whole lot more neurotic and unhappy than people on the right?
I think it does.
Silver lays out three theories to explain this, which I believe are completely wrong.
- “Liberals are more conscientious about the suffering of other people or the conditions of the world, whereas conservatives are happy but selfish.”
- “[Liberals are] struggling or oppressed themselves and therefore favor change and a larger role for government.”
- “Liberals may express negative sentiment as a sign of solidarity with a movement that thinks there is profound injustice in the world. But then this can snowball — misery loves company — while attracting some number of people who face serious mental health challenges.”