Because it’s a fantastic view into the world of professional survey research, I jumped at the chance to be a part of the Gallup Panel when they offered it last year. (Note to Gallup – show a progress bar on your survey pages. They’re too long not to have them.)
Occasionally, they’ll send an email with a summary of some of their findings, and we thought this one was worth sharing:
During an ongoing assessment of Americans’ health and well-being, Gallup asks panelists to reflect on a list of nearly a dozen feelings they experienced a lot of the day before the survey. Of the nine feelings Gallup asks respondents to identify, panelists are most likely to report experiencing happiness (74%) during a lot of the previous day. Likewise, 71% of respondents say they experienced enjoyment.
About half of panelists say they felt stress (49%) and 42% say they experienced worry a lot of the day before the survey, whereas 30% say they felt physical pain and 21% were sad. Panelists are least likely to experience anger (16%), depression (16%), and fear (14%).
Considering how insistently our mainstream media is hammering the doom and gloom buttons, isn’t it great to know that, as a nation, we seem to be much happier than the nightly news suggests?
It’s not a Pollyanna thing – obviously, a lot of people are worried/stressed, and for good reasons – but there’s even more joy and good feeling present, and we’ve gotta start tapping into that more as a nation and a people.
Off my soapbox now. 
