Political conversations over Thanksgiving dinner may be fraught for many American families, especially after a tense midterm election season. But people in both major parties at least agree on the value of getting together.
Pew Research Center conducted this survey to explore various sources of meaning and fulfillment in Americans’ lives. For this study, we surveyed 10,156 U.S. adults from April 11 to 17, 2022. All respondents to the survey are part of the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national random sampling of residential addresses. This way nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education, religious affiliation and other categories. For more, read the ATP’s methodology.
Here are the questions used in this analysis, along with responses, and its methodology.
More than eight-in-ten U.S. adults (83%) say spending time with family provides them a great deal or quite a bit of meaning and fulfillment, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted earlier this year. This includes large majorities of Republicans and independents who lean toward the GOP (85%) as well as Democrats and Democratic leaners (82%).
Similar but smaller majorities of Republicans (64%) and Democrats (68%) say the same about spending time with friends.
The share of Republicans and Democrats who say they draw a great deal or quite a bit of meaning and fulfillment from being outdoors and experiencing nature is also nearly identical (72% and 70%, respectively). Republicans are substantially more likely to say they draw meaning from their religious faith, however (56% vs. 39%).
Previous research has found that beyond family, partisans differ over other sources of meaning in life.
Note: Here are the questions used in this analysis, along with responses, and its methodology.
