Strong views on 2020 politics a dating dealbreaker

Survey digs into love amid crazy election year

Log on to Tinder and soon enough you’ll see a bio that includes a version of the line: “Trump supporters, swipe left.”

Most people are open to dating someone who doesn’t share their political beliefs, but views on specific issues and personalities (such as President Donald Trump) can be dealbreakers. The American Enterprise Institute, a conservative- leaning think tank in Washington, released a survey of U. S. adults taken in January on how politics has changed dating and relationships in the Trump era. Here are five fascinating takeaways.

• Among political issues, abortion is the biggest dealbreaker.

When given a list of issues and asked “how difficult would it be to date someone who does NOT share you own views on the following?” 24 percent said it would be “impossible” to date someone with differing views on abortion. Another 44 per

cent said it would be either “somewhat” or “very” difficult, and 32 percent said it wouldn’t be “too” difficult or wouldn’t be difficult at all. The issue is more of a dealbreaker for women than for men, and more so for Republican women (38 percent) than it is for Democratic women (27 percent).

Other issues that were dealbreakers were religious freedom (20 percent said it would be impossible to date someone who didn’t share their views) and LGBT rights (19 percent). Slightly fewer said the same about gun rights and gun control (16 percent), climate change (15 percent), immigration (13 percent), and affirmative action (12 percent).

• Large majorities of strong Trump supporters — and strong opponents — won’t date someone with a different view of him.

Republicans are more open to dating someone who disagrees with them on Trump than Democrats are, the AEI survey, conducted by Yougov, found. However, Trump is mostly an obstacle for those with strong feelings about him. Of those with very unfavorable views of the president, 83 percent wouldn’t date someone with a different view. Among those with a very favorable view of Trump, 59 percent wouldn’t date someone who disliked the president.

• Aligning on whether to have children (and whether someone smokes) are bigger concerns than sharing politics.

For most American adults, sharing political views with a romantic partner isn’t a priority; less than one-third said politics is one of the most important things or very important to have in common. The two most important traits in significant others were that they have similar views on having children (59 percent said it was at least “very important”) and that they do not smoke (58 percent).

The rest of the characteristics, ranked from most to least important were: shares religious beliefs or views about religion (39 percent); shares political views (31 percent); shares racial or ethnic background (25 percent); pays attention to politics (19 percent); and has at least a four-year college education (16 percent). However, if someone highlights their politics in their online dating profile, that’s a big signal: About 6 in 10 online daters who mentioned their political views in a dating profile say that it’s important to date someone with similar views.

• Most Americans who are married or in a committed relationship didn’t know their partner’s politics before they started dating.

If you met before dating apps, it’s likely you didn’t know where a first date fell politically. Only 14 percent of those married or in committed relationships said they were aware of their partner’s politics before they started dating — but nearly half did learn this information early on. The survey found that younger adults, ages 18 to 29, are more likely than older adults to know a potential partner’s beliefs before they start a relationship.

• Once you’re married, politics is rarely a source of contention.

Most married Americans — 69 percent — said their partner has the same political affiliation. And even if they don’t, there are plenty of other, more pressing things to fight about: The survey found that American couples are more likely to argue with their significant other about money (21 percent) and household chores (20 percent) than they are to fight about politics (7 percent).