We’ll find out this year if new research is borne out by reality when Britain and America go to the polls
What makes us happy? I don’t mean in general – this isn’t a column about the good life, your plans to escape to the country or the latest mindfulness app. This is 2024, a year of elections stretching from India to Britain and the US, so let’s focus on what polls do for our perkiness.
Clearly, campaign length, with Britain almost certainly joining the US in an autumn vote, won’t make anyone happy. But let’s get more scientific, with the help of a new study digging into US presidential elections between 2008 and 2020. The researchers surveyed voters’ happiness on a one (extremely unhappy) to eight (extremely happy) scale before and after election.