Loneliness epidemic? The "destruction of community and local institutions" leading people to despair?
Here's some relevant data: Americans' satisfaction with personal life highest in four-decade trend. pic.twitter.com/AnAQvtPtyt
— Michael R. Strain (@MichaelRStrain) February 7, 2020
America certainly has problems — economic problems, important institutions on the decline, and social problems like the very troubling increase in suicides. But on the whole, people seem to be pretty satisfied with their lives.
The chart in the tweet above comes from Gallup. They find a four-decade high in the share of Americans who are satisfied with their personal life: 90 percent. Moreover, 65 percent are very satisfied with their personal life. The same survey found a 20-year high in Americans’ confidence in the economy. No surprise that those two are highly correlated.
The message: It is not midnight in America.