Gallop: Republicans have higher levels of wellbeing than Democrats

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PRINCETON, NJ — Americans who self-identify as Republicans have higher levels of wellbeing than do Democrats, while both Republicans and Democrats have higher wellbeing than independents.

These findings are based on an analysis of more than 400,000 Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index interviews conducted since the start of 2011. Americans’ party identification is based on their responses to Gallup’s standard political party question: “In politics, as of today, do you consider yourself a Republican, a Democrat, or an independent?”

The differences in wellbeing among Republicans, Democrats, and independents are small on an absolute basis, but statistically significant, given the large sample size this research uses, and would occur infrequently by chance alone. The differences are also notable, given that Well-Being Index scores do not vary widely across subgroups of the U.S. population. For example, there is a maximum 5.2-percentage-point difference in wellbeing by racial group, a maximum 3.2-point difference by age group, and a 0.1-point difference between genders.