Feb. 8 (UPI) — Less than half of Americans said they feel “very satisfied” with the current state of their personal lives, according to the latest “Mood of the Nation” Gallup poll.
The survey, taken between Jan. 2-22 and released on Thursday, shows only 47% of U.S. adults are highly content with their daily lives, down from 50% this time last year, while the current measure nearly eclipsed the all-time low.
This year’s lower trend is just one tick higher than the record low of 46% in 2011, Gallup said.
It marked the third time in more than two decades that less than half of Americans expressed satisfaction with the way things are going.
In the poll, most Americans expressed some level of satisfaction with their lives, but only certain demographic groups reported feeling very satisfied, Gallup said.
These include individuals with annual household incomes exceeding $100,000, married couples, churchgoers, college graduates, and people above the age of 55.
The poll also found that many Americans harbored an overall negative outlook on the national economy amid poor consumer confidence.
Participants were asked “In general, are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the way things are going in your personal life at this time?”
For either answer, subjects were given the option to say if they felt “very” or “just somewhat” satisfied or dissatisfied.
The poll found that 31% of Americans are somewhat satisfied, 11% are somewhat dissatisfied and 9% are very dissatisfied.
Historically, Americans have reported lower personal satisfaction during periods of economic instability, like in 2011 following an economic recession, while a reading of 47% satisfaction was also recorded in December 2008 amid a global economic crisis.
