A Happiness Gap: Doomacrats And Republigrins

Wow, do Democrats need to get a life?

The data, alas, do not account for those furious Republicans at McCain-Palin rallies. Are they happy in their anger?

None of this proves being Republican causes happiness, Taylor cautions. Do happy people get married, attend weekly religious services and vote for John McCain? Or does devotion to marriage, God and McCain cause them to be happy?

The study does identify a series of characteristics found in many people who call themselves happy. Good health is a key factor. Marriage and religion are big, too, and so is wealth. (If money doesn't buy happiness, it appears to help with the down payment.)

When you control for all the other variables, Taylor says, a Republican is 13 percent or 7 percent more likely to be very happy than a Democrat, depending on which regression analysis model you use.

It turns out the happiness gap is not just an American phenomenon. In country after country, happiness studies find that "conservatives" are happier than "liberals."

They seem to be two species, with differently encoded DNA. The unequal balance-of-joy conjures hoary stereotypes: The jolly conservative, self-satisfied in his success, a doer not a doubter. The angst-ridden liberal, guilty in his success, a searcher not a finder.

"The question is not whether Republicans are happier than Democrats, or conservatives are happier than liberals," says Arthur Brooks, the incoming president of the American Enterprise Institute and author of "Gross National Happiness: Why Happiness Matters for America -- and How We Can Get More of It." "That's unambiguously true. The question is, why?"

Brooks says a lot hinges on the answer to this question: Do you believe that hard work and perseverance can overcome disadvantages? Conservatives are more likely to say yes.

Pew found that Democrats are more likely to say that success in life is mostly determined by outside forces. Republicans lean toward thinking that success is determined by one's own efforts.

The hypothesis: Those who think they can control their destinies are happier.

Also: Extremists are happier than moderates, Brooks has concluded. Hard-core liberals are the happiest liberals and hard-core conservatives are the happiest people on Earth. Self-certainty is like a happy pill. The bumper sticker may declare, "If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention" -- but the guy behind the wheel is overjoyed.

The thing about happiness is how subjective it is. Happiness researchers like Taylor and Brooks don't claim to say whose worldview is more empirically correct, Norquist's or Lehane's.

Of course, being correct doesn't make you happy. But being right may help.