Increased optimism about the economic conditions in the United States today is related to higher levels of personal happiness, and Americans who are satisfied with the current state of affairs in the country are personally happier than those who are dissatisfied with the U.S. Americans living in the southern and western United States are slightly happier than those living in other regions. City dwellers are slightly happier than their rural and suburban counterparts. As with happiness, marital status significantly impacts optimism, particularly for women. Those who classify their political ideology as moderate are more optimistic about the future than are conservatives or liberals and, while Republicans are happier than members of the other political parties on a personal level, Democrats are somewhat more optimistic about the future of the country than are Republicans or independents. White Americans are slightly less optimistic about the future of the U.S. than are nonwhites.
Optimism increases with income and education.
Eighty-four percent of those with postgraduate degrees are optimistic. The impact of religious habits on optimism levels about the future is the reverse of their impact on happiness. Those who rarely read the Bible are more optimistic than are those who read it daily or weekly and those who attend church infrequently are more optimistic than are those who attend weekly or almost weekly. While optimism decreases slightly with age and men and women tend to express comparable levels of optimism, these patterns change when the two variables are considered simultaneously. Men grow slightly more optimistic with age, while women grow slightly less optimistic.