{"id":8744,"date":"2021-11-22T09:59:30","date_gmt":"2021-11-22T14:59:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/both-republicans-and-democrats-prioritize-family-but-they-differ-over-other-sources-of-meaning-in-life\/"},"modified":"2025-04-23T23:56:20","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T03:56:20","slug":"both-republicans-and-democrats-prioritize-family-but-they-differ-over-other-sources-of-meaning-in-life","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2021\/11\/22\/both-republicans-and-democrats-prioritize-family-but-they-differ-over-other-sources-of-meaning-in-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Both Republicans and Democrats prioritize family, but they differ over other sources of meaning in life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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(Pew Research Center illustration)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the United States, even the meaning of life<\/a> can have a partisan tinge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In February 2021, Pew Research Center asked 2,596 U.S. adults the following open-ended question: \u201cWhat about your life do you currently find meaningful, fulfilling or satisfying? What keeps you going and why?\u201d Researchers then evaluated the answers and grouped them into the most commonly mentioned categories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both Republicans and Democrats are most likely to say they derive meaning from their families, and they also commonly mention their friends, careers and material well-being. But Republicans and Democrats differ substantially over several other factors, including faith, freedom, health and hobbies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In fact, even some of the words<\/em> that partisans use to describe where they draw meaning in life differ substantially. Republicans, along with independents who lean to the Republican Party, are much more likely than Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents to mention words like \u201cGod,\u201d \u201cfreedom,\u201d \u201ccountry,\u201d \u201cJesus\u201d and \u201creligion.\u201d Democrats are much more likely than Republicans to mention words like \u201cnew,\u201d \u201cdog,\u201d \u201creading,\u201d \u201coutside,\u201d \u201cdaughter\u201d and \u201cnature.\u201d (Democrats are most likely to mention \u201cnew\u201d in the context of learning<\/em> something new. But some also mention it in the context of new experiences, meeting new people or other forms of exploration.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Below, we explore these partisan differences in more detail and look at how attitudes in the United States compare internationally, based on surveys conducted among 16 other publics in spring 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n

How we did this<\/div>