There is a link between party life-rating scores and control of the White House. | REUTERS Poll: GOPers have bleak outlook

Life in the GOP is gloomy.

According to a Gallup Poll released Wednesday, Republicans have never have had such a bleak outlook for the future compared to Democrats. The Gallup survey of life rating asks respondents to evaluate their lives now and five years from now on a scale of zero to 10, which are then averaged out on a zero to one hundred scale. In November, the Democratic life rating was 56.9. The average GOP score was only 40.3, marking the biggest gap between the parties in the history of Gallup’s polling.


Ratings for independents also dipped slightly to 43.8, leaving the overall American life evaluation score at 47.2, the lowest in 13 months.

There is a correlation between which party controls the White House and life rating scores. Throughout 2008, GOP scores were often 10 points higher than Democratic ones, as George W. Bush wrapped up his second term in office. Over the past four years, Democratic and Republican scores have closely tracked each other, before beginning to diverge at the beginning of 2012.

Republicans are also less likely to approve of Congress, with only 14 percent doing so. Twenty-one percent of Democrats approve, according to a separate Gallup Poll released Wednesday. Overall congressional approval, at 18 percent, remains unchanged from the previous month.

The life rating poll was conducted throughout November, with a random sample of more than 30,000 adults. The margin of error is plus or minus 1 percentage point. The congressional poll of 1,025 adults was conducted Dec. 14-17 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

This article tagged under: Republicans

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