politics
Definition
Politics refers to the processes through which governmental power is exercised, contested, and experienced at the individual psychological level, encompassing partisan identity, policy outcomes, and citizens' support for or opposition to state actions. Government policies and actions shape the distribution of resources, rights, protections, and opportunities, thereby influencing subjective well-being in measurable ways. During periods of democratic backsliding, such as the early months of President Trump's second term in 2025, the psychological consequences of political alignment became especially pronounced: Republicans who supported the administration's actions reported higher life satisfaction and happiness, while Democrats who opposed those actions reported lower well-being, with group differences yielding effect sizes of d ≥ 0.50 for life satisfaction and d ≥ 0.59 for happiness across five weekly waves. These associations held after controlling for political affiliation and demographic variables, indicating that dissatisfaction with government actions carries psychological weight independent of partisan identity. Support for oppositional actions correlated negatively with well-being even among those who shared the same party affiliation, suggesting that the psychological costs of political opposition operate through mechanisms beyond group membership alone.
Sources: Wu et al. (2026)
Related Terms
- democratic backsliding (1 shared article)
- partisanship (1 shared article)
- polarization (1 shared article)
- subjective well-being (1 shared article)
Applications
Politics and Subjective Well-being
Political conditions, including partisan affiliation and alignment with government actions, are directly associated with self-reported happiness and life satisfaction. In a longitudinal study conducted February through March 2025, Republicans consistently reported higher well-being than Democrats across all five measurement waves, while support for the Trump administration's actions correlated positively with well-being regardless of party, and support for oppositional actions correlated negatively.
Sources: Wu et al. (2026)
Politics and Democratic Backsliding
Democratic backsliding creates an asymmetric psychological environment for citizens depending on their political orientation. The early months of Trump's second presidency, marked by sweeping executive orders, mass federal firings, and widespread concerns about authoritarian drift, provided a real-world context in which alignment with a backsliding government offered short-term psychological comfort while opposition carried measurable costs to happiness and life satisfaction.
Sources: Wu et al. (2026)
Politics and Partisan Affiliation
Partisan affiliation structures how individuals perceive and respond to political events. Within the 2025 longitudinal data, Republicans reported greater subjective well-being than Democrats across all measurement waves, and ideological alignment with the administration's actions predicted higher well-being, while Democrats' opposition to those same actions was associated with psychological strain that persisted above and beyond the baseline partisan gap.
Sources: Wu et al. (2026)
