Chapotraphouse

I was curious how long this "recording of happiness" goes back, and apparently its to the 70's. The GSS conducted these surveys.

"Are We Happy Yet?" https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2006/02/13/are-we-happy-yet/ this article talks about this more in depth and seems to be responsible for the "happiness gap" reporting.

Some 45% of all Republicans report being very happy, compared with just 30% of Democrats and 29% of independents. This finding has also been around a long time; Republicans have been happier than Democrats every year since the General Social Survey began taking its measurements in 1972. Pew surveys since 1991 also show a partisan gap on happiness; the current 16 percentage point gap is among the largest in Pew surveys, rivaled only by a 17 point gap in February 2003.

There seems to be a lot of speculation questioning why this gap exists. There are many studies and articles written about it. This takes it at face value; of course hexbears were never asked how they feel!

Edited for clarity :3