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After climbing for several consecutive months, the collective emotional well-being of the nation tumbled to a low not seen since February of this year. Ongoing tracking by the CivicScience Well-Being Index (WBI) indicates that well-being declined 19% from June, reaching an average monthly score of 56.5% in July.
July has been a month of extremes: the attempted assassination of Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania rally, a global internet outage, record-breaking temperatures, and President Biden dropping out of the presidential race after repeated pressure from Democrat leaders. While Americans have been feeling remarkably better about their economic outlook, the same can’t be said about their emotional well-being.
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A week-by-week reading of the WBI shows that well-being fell significantly the week of July 15 to 55%, which was the week following the shooting at the Trump rally and culminating with President Biden announcing he would not seek reelection.
The drop in well-being can be more easily understood when looking at the WBI by political affiliation. While Republicans reported a slight decline, Democrats and Independents reported substantially lower well-being from month to month, with the largest drop occurring among Democrats. Well-being reached the lowest point among Democrats in nearly a year, likely related to the uncertainty surrounding the Democratic party presidential nominee.
However, well-being improved in the following weeks among Democrats, which could suggest the endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris as the party’s new candidate is having a positive effect. The Paris Olympics could also help to lighten the mood and give Americans something else besides politics to follow on a national scale.
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In a broader perspective, data show that among all groups, emotional well-being is down compared to a year ago. In the general population, this is mostly driven by increased reports of worry and decreased reports of excitement.
For more key insights about well-being and consumer sentiment surrounding the rapidly unfolding events of the 2024 election – as well as the impact those events are having on consumers – subscribe to the monthly CivicScience Election Mindset Tracker.
