American Pulse™: Majority of Americans Happy With Life in General
Women, Adults 55+ and Republicans Happier Than Their Counterparts
COLUMBUS, OH – (MARKET WIRE) – 9/29/09 – Now that the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh
is over and the UN completed its one-day global warming summit, many are saying
that measuring economic vitality should have more to do with people’s overall
happiness. Based on that, BIGresearch asked 6,976 Americans in their September
American Pulse™ Survey to rate how happy they are with their life, their job and
their health.
56% of Americans say they are happy/totally happy with their life, while 21.7%
are unhappy/totally unhappy (22.2% are neutral). Demographically speaking, women
tend to be happier than men and Americans 55+ are happier than the younger sets.
All
things considered, how happy are you with your life in general?
Men Women 18 – 34 35 – 54 55+
Unhappy/ Totally Unhappy 25.5% 18.1% 28.4% 23.2% 13.2%
Neutral 22.5% 22.0% 24.5% 23.7% 18.3%
Happy/ Totally Happy 51.9% 59.9% 47.1% 53.2% 68.5%
Source: American
Pulse™, September 2009
People who report a
household income of $50K+ (67%) are happier than those with a household income
less than $50K (48.2%). From a political perspective, Republicans (64.3%) top
Democrats (54.9%), while Independents (59.4%) are in the middle on the overall
happiness scale.
When it comes to their jobs, 34.6% of Americans are happy/totally happy and
29.4% are unhappy/totally unhappy. Americans appear more content with their
health: 49.7% are happy/totally happy while 22.8% are unhappy/totally unhappy.
For full complimentary report on overall happiness, job and health (segments
include age, income, gender and political party):
http://americanpulse.bigresearch.com.
What Americans
are Saying on the BIGresearch/Artafact Online Blog...
“I have
been absolutely shocked in the past ten years to realize that I am happier with
my life in general than at any time in my life.”
“I am relatively happy in my life but it could be better...due to the economic
mess we are in I have no choice but to continue on doing what I am doing, not
for happiness, but for survival.”
“...I am happy with
my Medicare and secondary insurances and with the ability to make my one choice.
I do not want anyone else to choose for me.”
“...My job is what it
is. I do not love it, I do not hate it. It's a job that pays the bills. Would I
give it up for another job? Yes, in a heartbeat.”
About American
Pulse™
The American
Pulse™ Survey is collected online by BIGresearch every
month exclusively utilizing Survey Sampling International’s (SSI) U.S. panel
covering topics such as politics, pop culture and the economy. Over 4,000
respondents participate, providing greater insights into how Americans really
feel about issues they currently face. The use of the Artafact online blog as a
listening post to develop the questions posed in the monthly American Pulse
survey is a very effective use of both online qualitative and quantitative
research.
http://www.bigresearch.com
About Survey Sampling International (SSI)
Survey Sampling International is the premier global provider of
sampling solutions for survey research. SSI offers access to more than 6 million
consumer and business-to-business research respondents in 54 countries via
Internet, telephone, and mobile. Additional client services include custom
profiling, survey programming and hosting, data processing, sampling consulting,
and survey optimization. SSI serves more than 1,800 marketing research clients,
including nearly three-quarters of the top researchers worldwide. Founded in
1977, SSI has an international staff of 400 people representing 50 countries and
36 languages. The company is based in Shelton, CT with 14 additional offices
worldwide.
http://www.surveysampling.com
Contacts:
BIGresearch
SSI
Chrissy Wissinger
Diane Urso
chrissy@bigresearch.com
diane_urso@SurveySampling.com
614.846.0146
203.567.7236