Note that married men and married women both made up 30% of the electorate. But there are a lot more unmarried women voters, 23% of the electorate, than unmarried men, 16%. …

Surveys show that, after 50 years of feminism, American women are increasingly likely to report themselves as unhappy, a characteristic especially marked in unmarried young liberal women with no religious connection.

Of course, happiness is a subjective condition, perhaps subject to change in definition over time. But it’s hard to avoid the conclusion of economist Tyler Cowen that “current political debate in America cannot be understood without the concept of neuroticism — as a formal concept from personality psychology — front and center.”

[Barone loses the thread a bit here. While one can perhaps speculate that this mainly comes from single women, he doesn’t really show data to support that. Barone’s arguments are about women generally, not single women. One can postulate that single women are more unhappy and more risk-averse than married women, but is that supported in data? I’m not convinced that these patterns are gender specific as opposed to environment specific, such as Academia and the competitive professions. It’s still an interesting read, though. — Ed]