If you're happy and you know it, vote McCain (Nixon, Ike, Bush, etc.)

A Happiness Gap: Doomacrats And Republigrins

It seems Republicans have polled happier than Democrats for decades, in "good" times and "bad", since the pollsters first thought to ask. Everyone has an idea as to the reason why, it would seem, but there has not been a study to confirm any of the guesses.

Says the article,

Government-funded researchers identified the happiness gap in 1972. [Guambat reckons the Repubs would be unhappy about that, too, but maybe not.] Since then, the Democrats have been comparatively more bummed out not just during the tenures of GOP presidents Ford, Reagan, Bush and Bush. They were noticeably less joyful than Republicans even during the GOP fiasco of Watergate, and during the Democratic Carter and Clinton administrations.

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.

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

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.

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.

So, if you wanna be happy for the rest of your life, ...