Feeling satisfied with your life? If you answer “no” then you have plenty of company. Less than half of Americans say they are “very satisfied” with the way things are going in their personal lives, a Gallup poll released Thursday revealed, with the disappointment level in Biden’s America hitting such a low figure for just the third time in more than two decades.
The 47 percent of U.S. adults expressing high satisfaction with their lives has edged down three percentage points over the past year and is only one point higher than the 2011 record low for the trend under then President Barack Obama.
The Gallup numbers show the previous low tide in Americans’ personal satisfaction have occurred on the back of economic uncertainty.
The 46 percent reading in 2011 came when the country was still recovering from the 2007-2009 recession, and the other sub-50 percent reading (47 percent) was in December 2008 during the global economic crisis.
The mood also reflects a lack of hope in the nation’s economic circumstances, Gallup states:
The current data are from Gallup’s Jan. 2-22, 2024, Mood of the Nation poll that also finds Americans’ views of the national economy are largely negative. Gallup has asked Americans whether they are satisfied or dissatisfied with their personal lives since 1979. Gallup added the question measuring degrees of satisfaction in 2001.
The combined 78% of U.S. adults who are now satisfied (very or somewhat) with their lives is well below the trend average of 84% since 1979 and is also the lowest since 2011. It is down five points over the past year and comes just four years after hitting a record high of 90% in January 2020, when economic confidence was at a 20-year high shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic forced widespread closures that resulted in an economic collapse in the U.S.
Overall, the Gallup poll findings state majorities of Americans across all key demographic subgroups are at least somewhat satisfied with their lives, but only a few groups have majorities saying they are very satisfied.
This includes those with annual household incomes of $100,000 or more, married adults, those who attend religious services regularly, college graduates, Democrats and those aged 55 and older.
The poll results were made public on the same day loneliness was declared a public health emergency in San Mateo County, California, with an estimated 45 percent of residents reporting difficulty with isolation and loneliness, as Breitbart News reported.
Find the full results of Gallup’s Jan. 2-22, 2024, Mood of the Nation poll here
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