The latest report from the Life, Liberty and Happiness Project reveals that 78% of Americans agree with the statement, “I am happy in general.” As expected, one’s household financial situation is related to one’s happiness, but the survey shows other factors affect happiness such as approval of President Donald Trump’s job performance, whether one is proud to be an American, and attitudes regarding hard work and success.
Among the findings:
- Those who rate their household’s financial situation as good or excellent are more likely to report being happy than those who rate their household financial situation as fair, poor or very poor: 92% to 67%.
- Whether a person is proud to be an American also is related to happiness, even among citizens who rate their finances as fair to very poor. Among those, 70% report being happy if they are proud to be an American compared to 56% who say they are happy and do not report that they are proud to be an American.
- Approval of Trump’s job performance is associated with happiness even for those in fair to very poor financial situations, with 81% who report being happy if they approve of how Trump is doing as president. The number fell to 60% for those who disapprove of the president’s job performance.
- Among the less financially well-off, 77% report being happy if they believe that most people can succeed if they are willing to work hard. Only 53% are happy if they believe that hard work is no guarantee of success.
For more, see: https://news.ecu.edu/2019/07/01/life-liberty-and-happiness-2/