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Poll: Americans are the unhappiest they've been in 50 years

Evie Altman, Satch Orbach
Posted at 10:56 AM, Jun 16, 2020
and last updated 2020-06-16 13:56:06-04

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — (AP) — Americans are more unhappy today than they’ve been in nearly 50 years. That's according to the COVID Response Tracking Study, conducted in late May by NORC at the University of Chicago.

The survey finds that just 14% of American adults say they’re very happy, down from 31% who said the same in 2018. The survey draws on nearly a half-century of research from the General Social Survey, which has collected data on American attitudes and behaviors at least every other year since 1972.

No less than 29% of Americans have ever called themselves very happy in that survey.