Did you vote for Kamala Harris while your partner voted for Donald Trump? Or maybe you and your partner agree on big-picture policy topics, but when it comes to the details the squabbling starts.
In my circle of family and friends, politics tends to be a dividing line for relationships. My Republican friends are married to other Republicans; my liberal friends have paired off with other liberals. But even in my own home, where my partner and I align on things like taxes, zoning ordinances and not infringing on other people’s human rights, we still find ourselves in fraught political conversations from time to time.
Being single doesn’t make it any easier. Some of my friends are out there swiping left and right on apps. A few of them have found they’ve started screening for political similarities early in those DMs. But when you’re buying a drink for a stranger in a bar it gets a little more complicated. “Do you come here often? Oh and by the way, who did you vote for?”
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So, how do you navigate that? In our politically charged social climate, how do you deal with relationships where you believe in something strongly and they believe the exact opposite? Ignore it? Debate it? Discuss it – to a point?
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Janessa Hilliard is the director of audience for Opinion at Gannett.