"In a survey of 1,433 people, political conservatives reported being more satisfied with life than liberals. But researchers found another pronounced trend else among conservatives: They were more likely to judge themselves and their circumstances in an overly positive way.
[...]
... liberals were more intense and genuine smilers. “We saw greater activation of the muscles around the eye,” says Wojcik. “That typically indicates more genuine feelings of happiness and enjoyment.” The same held true in non-politician liberals, according to an analysis of the profile photos of liberally and conservatively aligned LinkedIn users." -- http://time.com/3744433/liberals-cons...

Abstract of the research cited above on AAAS Science here:
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/347...

Right wing authoritarians seem self-satisfied:
"Conservatives tend to be married and religious, two traits that correlate to happiness. Conservatives possess an “ideological buffer,” to quote New York University’s Jaime Napier and John Jost, that immunizes them against the world’s depressing inequality. This latest Canadian study goes further, suggesting that a strong sense of order and hierarchy makes people happy -- even when that order and hierarchy appear to disadvantage other people." -- here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/th...

Abstract of that study:
"Although authoritarianism can negatively impact others (e.g., by predicting prejudiced intergroup attitudes), implications for the self are mixed and require clarification. Extending previous research, we examined the association between generalized authoritarianism (GA, indicated by right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation) and subjective well-being (SWB, indicated by positive affect, negative affect, and life satisfaction) by testing simultaneously the general-level association between GA and SWB as well as specific residual associations between GA and SWB components, independent of basic personality dimensions. We observed a significant general-level association between GA and SWB whereby heightened authoritarianism predicted greater SWB. No residual associations were found between specific GA and SWB components. Despite being “bad” for others, generalized authoritarianism may be “good” for the self." -- from Elsevier "Science Direct" here: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/...

I must add a personal footnote from a class in world history in 1967. Progressive Britons complained about the complacency of Labour: "Sod you, Jack, I've got mine." That may be the conservative American view today.