Median Voters’ Happiness Cycles in the United States Along the Nation’s Principal Political Fault Line

Data from the General Social Survey are used to examine the political polarization in the United States, by examining presidential periods from 1972 to 2018. Our findings indicate that there has been an increased correlation between party identification and ideological identification, resulting in a steady shift towards the extremes. Furthermore, we explore how subjective wellbeing plays a role in driving this polarization. American politics is polarized between happy conservative Republicans and unhappy liberal Democrats. Oscillating in the “happiness gap” between these extremes are median voters whose happiness, low on average, falls the longer in power the party of the opposing ideology. It is the rise and fall of median voters’ unhappiness that drives the regime change between the two major political parties in the United States.