Unhappy with the news? Less likely to vote.

Michael Barone has found that when your side does poorly, you like the news less. And you’re less likely to vote.

Here’s what Barone says:

Enthusiasm is not aroused simply by a stirring speech. It’s aroused by seeing your ideas and policies work out the way you expected. Or. . .by seeing your political adversaries’ ideas and policies fail to work out the way they expected.

Democrats in the past 20 months have seen Barack Obama fail to produce the hope and change they expected. [No] withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan. . . shuttering Guantanamo. . . end[ing] the ban on openly gay men and women serving in the military. . . Meanwhile, the vast increases in government spending . . . have[n’t] produce[d] economic recovery, and the health-care bill [hasn’t generated] the widespread gratitude that Obama said we should expect.

So, [Democrats have stopped paying attention]. . .the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. . . found that in 2008, 67% of liberal Democrats said they enjoyed the news a lot, while just 45% say so today. In contrast, 57% of conservative Republicans say they enjoy the news a lot today.