Most Americans Happy, New Poll Says

A new poll conducted by the Gallup Organization finds that American citizens are generally happy with their lives. According to a survey of more than 1,000 Americans at least 18 years of age, a majority of Americans characterized their lives as "generally happy," while slightly more than half said they were "very happy." More than 80 percent of those polled expressed satisfaction with their personal lives while a slight majority said their lives were "very" satisfying. Gallup notes that the poll's findings differ significantly from the opinions of Americans when asked about the state of the union as a whole.

When asked if they were satisfied or dissatisfied with their personal lives, 84 percent of respondents answered "satisfied," with nearly 60 percent of those further characterizing their personal lives as very satisfying. A full quarter of satisfied respondents said their personal lives were "somewhat" satisfying. According to Gallup, the percentage of satisfied Americans represents a small increase over last year's result.

The Gallup findings contradict a study earlier this year by three Italian researchers who concluded that Americans were less happy now than they were three decades ago. The Italian study attributed decreased satisfaction among American citizens to increased hours at work and a degradation in social relationships. The findings of the study were presented this past summer at Siena University in Italy. Stefano Bartolini, one of the authors of the Italian study, told Reuters, "The main cause is a decline in the so-called social capital-increased loneliness, increased perception of others as untrustworthy and unfair."

The Gallup poll asked those interviewed to choose from either "very happy," "fairly happy," or "not too happy." According to the findings, slightly more than 50 percent selected "very happy" while 40 percent characterized their lives as "fairly happy." A very few, only 6 percent, chose the "not too happy" option. Gallup says that over the past few years, people in America were most happy at the end of 2003, while they were least happy just after terrorists attacked the United States on September 11, 2001.

In summarizing the findings, Gallup says that Republicans tend to be happier than Democrats, higher income families are happier than lower income families, married adults are happier than unmarried adults, and white Americans tend to be happier than black Americans.

The Gallup poll was conducted from December 6 to December 9, 2007 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. The poll consisted of 1,027 telephone interviews.

Sources: Gallup Poll Results for December 31, 2007, Reuters web site