You may need a little more cheering-up as the next year's presidential election gets closer. But why?
New analysis of a polling suggests the presidential campaign may be putting us all in a bad mood.
The presidential campaign may be high-adrenaline and exciting for candidates but for the rest of us, it could be harmful to our emotional well-being and the political climate may be to blame.
A November CNN/ORC international poll showed 52 percent of respondents considered the overall state of the country to be "very well" or "fairly well" almost a year ago. That number rose to 53 percent by this past March.
Then -- we saw that rate drop as the presidential campaign started to heat up this summer. In May, the percentage of people who felt things were going relatively well dropped to 47 percent and just last month, that number wasn't much better -- coming in at 48 percent.
This pessimistic downturn in our collective mood happened during an improving economy, better job numbers and lower prices at the pump. It could be because some of the candidates are spreading a message that things are just terrible, saying that the country needs a fix.
But the biggest slump in the country's mood occurred among republicans. In March, 33 percent told CNN they believed things were going "fairly well.” By August that number dropped to 21 percent.
