Profile of ‘The Unhappy American’
Given the circumstances, it would be astounding if Americans were not in a sour mood.
Public opinion polls show that on a long list of subjects Americans are angry, pessimistic, disillusioned and fed up. They fear for themselves, their children, the economy, the United States’ role in the world and for their happiness.
We know this because Karlyn Bowman, the public opinion guru at the American Enterprise Institute, has done us the favor of collecting a long list of statistics that describe the national mood. Here are some of the most interesting, gathered with the help of Samantha Goldstein, her research assistant:
Right Track, Wrong Track: The Roper Organization first asked the question in 1973 during the Vietnam War and Watergate era, when 74% of respondents said the nation was on the wrong track. A new CBS News poll is almost as high, at 67%.
Happiness: NORC at the University of Chicago regularly asks people about their personal happiness. In 2020, the share saying they’re “very happy” fell to 14%, the lowest on record. The share expressing unhappiness (“not too happy”) jumped to 23%, the highest on record since 1972. The remainder are in a group of just over 60% who are “pretty happy.”
Race Relations: Though they’re in flux, they may be stronger than you think, according to surveys. A poll just taken found 35% of Americans think relations are “generally
good.” That’s way down from 66% registered during the Obama presidency, but near the 41% recorded in 1990.
Patriotism: Here, the apparently good news is actually bad. For two decades, Gallup has asked about people’s pride in being an American. In a June survey, 63% said they were “very” or “extremely” proud to be an American. Sounds solid. It isn’t. In the early 2000s, feelings of strong pride were as high as 92%. They’ve fallen for six years, especially among Republicans.
The Economy: Collapsing consumer confidence has undermined the recovery. In April, the University of Michigan’s Index of Consumer Sentiment experienced the largest drop in its history.
The Future: A May/June poll reported that only 28% of respondents felt that the next generation would do better than present generation, while 47% expected it to be worse. About 20% thought it would be the same.
As with many polls, there are inconsistencies and variations. There still seems to be fairly wide support for democracy, as reflected in a 2019 survey from the VoterStudy group. Threequarters (77%) found democracy preferable to other forms of government. Similarly, an April 2020 NBC News/Wall
poll found that 61% of registered voters were mainly optimistic about the future.
Americans also continue to support an active role in world affairs. That position registered a 69% approval rating in 2019, according to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. “We’re internationalists,” writes Bowman, “but often reluctant ones.”
Are there lessons to be drawn from this tsunami of gloom? The answer is yes.
The connecting threads of these pessimistic surveys is the coronavirus and its devastating impact on the economy. Nearly everyone is affected. There’s a clash between America’s individualistic culture (“You can’t make me wear a mask.”) and the need for a collective response (“If we don’t respond collectively to the pandemic — wearing the masks, practicing social distancing — then the virus will explode and make many more of us worse off.”).
Under the best of conditions, this is not an easy message to convey to the public. We need to surrender some of our individual choice to minimize the damage to us as individuals and as a society. Or, to say the same thing backward, if we insist on maximizing individual choice by refusing to follow the advice of doctors and scientists, then we lose control over our destiny. The resulting sense of helplessness and loss of control are deeply discouraging.
The role for leadership in a situation like this is to persuade most of the public about the nature of the paradox — that we protect individuals better when we act together, rather than asserting an artificial freedom that ultimately harms more of us as individuals. This is, in short, a central reason for having reliable presidential leadership.
It has not been forthcoming, as by now almost everyone knows. President Donald Trump not only rejects this model but also worsens our situation by embracing the selfdestructive alternative. If people weren’t pessimistic, you’d have to question their sanity.