The Pursuit of Happiness:

Who is happy and who isn't?  Today's post delves into that area.  Are Conservative more happy than liberals?  Or the other way around?  How about the connection between happiness and religion?  Consider...

To bemused conservatives, it looks like yet another example of analytic overkill by the intelligentsia -- a jobs program for the (mostly liberal) academic boys (and girls) in the social sciences, whose quantitative tools have been brought to bear to prove the obvious. A survey by the Pew Research Center shows that conservatives are happier than liberals -- in all income groups. While 34 percent of all Americans call themselves "very happy," only 28 percent of liberal Democrats (and 31 percent of moderate or conservative Democrats) do, compared with 47 percent of conservative Republicans. This finding is niftily self-reinforcing: It depresses liberals. Election results do not explain this happiness gap. Republicans have been happier than Democrats every year since the survey began in 1972. Married people and religious people are especially disposed to happiness, and both cohorts vote more conservatively than does the nation as a whole. People in the Sun Belt -- almost entirely red states -- have sunnier dispositions than Northerners, which could have as much to do with sunshine as with conservatism. Unless sunshine makes people happy, which makes them conservative.  Read the rest of the story here.

 Also consider religious people.  Did you know:

If you believe in the existence of a Supreme Being, a research suggests you will live a more contended life. I agree to this discovery because we will no longer aspire for material riches alone since true happiness can not be seen at them. At the same time, it would be easier to cope with life struggles as religious individuals depend to a Higher Being who will support and guide the weakening souls of the believers. Frustration, anger, grief and sorrow become too lightly to handle for people who believe in God. This has been shown in a study presented at the Royal Economic Society conference. According to the study, Europeans who believe in God experience a higher level of life satisfaction compared to those who merely depended on themselves. By yourself, you are always burdened of thinking ways to survive the challenges of life. Unlike if you lay down your worries and anxieties to someone whom you feel is the greatest in the universe, all fears become too easy to solve. For researcher Professor Andrew Clark of the Paris School of Economics, other factors of religious upbringing that may not necessarily be dependent on belief may promote future happiness. There is a sense of satisfaction to every blessing and a gratitude of thanksgiving for the little good things being achieved every day. People who believe in God, especially among Christians and Protestants, have a longer tenacity of handling pressures. They never give up to disappointments and continue life even at risk with grace and poise. On issues of unemployment, according to Dr. Orsolya Lelkes from the European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research, religion serves a "buffer" to protect people from sudden shifts of attitudes resulting in manic depressions and disappointments.  Read the rest here.