Conservatives Are Happier Than Liberals

Jillian Bandes | December 23, 2009 12:30 PM

Arthur Brooks isn't the first to make this claim, but he's the latest --

Despite the stereotype of grim conservatives and happy-go-lucky liberals, the truth is that people on the political right are nearly twice as happy as those on the left.

It's part of his overview of happiness in America, which he lays out in his book, Gross National Happiness. He also makes this other claim:

Marriage makes people very happy, but children have the opposite effect: The happiness of couples, and the quality of their marriage, falls after the birth of the first child.