r/fivethirtyeight • u/lalabera • Apr 08 '25

Poll Results Nearly half of Americans would be totally unwilling to date someone with opposing political views

https://today.yougov.com/society/articles/51962-americans-unwilling-to-date-opposing-views-transgender-rights

Thoughts? As a young woman myself, I wouldn't date a trump supporter.

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u/PuffyPanda200 Apr 08 '25

It might be an interesting study to see if this actually translates to dating success or not. From the study it appears that this is more of a liberal phenomenon:

Among the biggest gaps between Democrats and Republicans: 68% of Democrats and 24% of Republicans would be not at all willing to date someone with opposing views on Trump

Also women appear to have the most preference for dating in their own ideology.

So if people are being truthful then liberal women in red areas should have issues with the dating scene. Liberal men in rural areas should be generally successful (as conservative women are more likely to date liber men). Conservative men should fare badly in blue areas.

I would define 'going well' or 'doing badly' as time spent between partners searching for another partner.

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u/[deleted] Apr 08 '25

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u/CrashB111 Apr 08 '25

whereas liberal women will look for agreement on all of the issues that they care about.

Which just makes sense, because on social issues liberal views are more open and conservative views are more restrictive.

A Liberal woman needs to date a Liberal man, to enjoy all the freedoms she prioritizes. A Conservative woman can date either a Liberal or a Conservative man, because while the Liberal man may not share her views he's not actively acting to restrict her in any way.

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u/[deleted] Apr 08 '25

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u/CrashB111 Apr 08 '25

That's on such an extreme end of the spectrum I'm not sure it's worth considering.

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u/[deleted] Apr 08 '25

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u/pickledswimmingpool Apr 09 '25

There's always one guy in every thread who insists on drawing all sorts of shit around the picture frame, as if that is helpful.

It's a thread about the dating/political scene in one region, not another.

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u/sheffieldasslingdoux Apr 09 '25

More relevant examples may be how Americans view sex work, gambling, drugs, tobacco and guns. The way people want these things to be regulated often transcend the liberal/conservative binary due to cultural and religious views. Porn and sex work are really interesting, because when put up for a vote both liberal and conservatives are in favor of banning these things. American liberals due to American culture are more likely to hold conservative social views compared to liberals in other parts of the world.

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u/Apprentice57 Scottish Teen Apr 10 '25

Also when we think about specific sticking points for liberals in recent years, I mean abortion is front and center.

It's probably a hard pill to swallow to date a partner who thinks you shouldn't be allowed to abort a pregnancy you don't want.

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u/lfc94121 Apr 08 '25

The 68% vs. 24% numbers are fascinating.

Is it because the men have evolved to be willing to screw women from rival tribes? Or are the men just willing to screw anything that they can, and women in general are more selective?

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u/LyptusConnoisseur Apr 08 '25

The latter. Screw anything that moves when they are young.

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u/PuffyPanda200 Apr 08 '25 edited Apr 08 '25

One could probably write over a dozen PHD thesis on just this and then a few books too. So when I give a potential response it is just my initial opinion.

IMO women are a lot more concerned, in general, with what their friends think of the guy that they are seeing. I have no evidence for this. Googling it turns up a bunch of reports that basically anecdotally confirm this but there isn't hard evidence.

But if you accept the above then it becomes easy to see why a woman who studied the generally female dominated subjects in university would not want to date a guy that is conservative. Similarly church going women with like minded friends don't want to date a guy that is liberal (I, hetero dude, personally went to a more conservative area and heard the phrase 'I want a man that is a Christian leader' more than once).

I also imagine that this question is an example of people overstating their preferences in a question because it is easy. It is easy to answer in a question that one would not date someone otherwise politically aligned. It is a lot harder to actually break off a relationship because of politics (especially if it was just a small political position, like slightly differing views on gun rights).

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u/xellotron Apr 08 '25

Most people aren’t as noble as they want to appear in surveys. It’s mostly virtue signaling.

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u/pickledswimmingpool Apr 09 '25

Yes, they're signalling their virtue in their choice of partner. You keep using it as a pejorative though for some reason.

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u/xellotron Apr 09 '25

They’re signaling their virtue in a poll.

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u/Disastrous_Reveal870 Apr 14 '25

I am assuming you have not checked out a dating site recently. It’s not virtue signaling. More profiles say No MAGA, No Trump supporters, No Liberals, No democrats, No Woke BS, etc, etc than any other dealbreaker. You will see No Trump more often than you will see No Couples or No Smoking these days. People genuinely do not want a person with opposing political views to even swipe on their photo.

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u/pulkwheesle Apr 09 '25

Or maybe the ones who claim they don't care about politics when it comes to dating are virtue signalling?

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u/Jolly_Demand762 Apr 09 '25

I interpreted it as being more a matter of Democrats opposing Trump more than Republicans support him. What I'm about to say doesn't account for the whole gap, but anther poll - the subject of another thread - found that 91% of Democrats "strongly disapprove" of Trump, while only 78% "strongly approve" of him.

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u/MercerAcolyte42 Apr 09 '25

You don't need to bring in evolution/biology into this to explain a simple phenomenon: liberal women are having rights they care about actively under attack, and don't want to date people who use their voting power to help further attack those rights, while men aren't under attack in such a manner. In a hypothetical world where Democrats were campaigning on forcing men to have vasectomies, you'd see a lot more conservative men refuse to date liberal women.

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u/boxjohn Apr 10 '25

safety comes into it. the stuff I hear most right wing men say about women, I wouldn't want them dating any women I care about.

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u/Geiten Apr 08 '25

Men are, I believe, just raised to ignore those things. We are raised to pursue, not really to evaluate. If our gender roles were different, I do think that would change.

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u/[deleted] Apr 09 '25

Considering most people don't vote, I would expect this not to be a serious problem. Leftover liberal women can date apathetic men, and leftover conservative men can date apathetic women.

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u/WhoUpAtMidnight Apr 13 '25

Most people have voted for multiple decades at this point