Do you have opposing political views from your partner? How does that affect your relationship?

11 comments

1. Typically we do- it doesn’t affect our relationship at all tbh we just don’t bring politics into our conversation-and if we do than we respect each other’s view points

2. Depending on the political topic, they would most likely no longer be my partner. That’s a deal breaker for me.

3. I used to only date people who had opposing views about everything. Not consciously. I was just drawn to difference. At 40 I will never do that again. It might be alright to have slight differences but if those views affect your life e.g. how to raise your kids or even your wellbeing in a relationship, why would you do that to yourself?

4. Sort of. We agree on domestic/social issues, but disagree on some international/foreign policy issues, due in part to us being from different countries.

   It only affects our relationship when he gets his information from a news outlet that’s known to be authoritarian propaganda. Then I just ignore his rants.

5. Depends on the topic. We have different opinions on the details: pro or con a certain trade agreement, or if a certain interest should be taken into account. That’s fine and good conversation.

   If we had opposing views of the bigger issues: pro or con abortion, believing in climate change, social rights etc, that would have been a deal breaker even before I’d considered calling him ‘partner’.

6. Nope, and I would never date someone whose political views were significantly different from mine, because the bulk of my political views are about wanting basic civil rights and protections for me and the people I love.

7. Yes, but not drastically and we can usually find common ground if we talk it through. I’m a little left leaning and he’s a little right leaning. It doesn’t affect our relationship.

8. I’m pretty liberal myself, but I prefer men who are on the slightly conservative side. They tend to be more masculine and assertive, which is what I find attractive.

9. Current partner and I have the same political views. I’ve had partners where we’ve had opposing views and that has never worked for me. Differing could work so long as you’re not on opposing sides of issues that are important to either party.

10. Not at all. Our views are mostly aligned. He’s more of a “let’s change society using the current structure” and I’m more “burn it all to the ground”. There is no way in hell I would date or even befriend someone who wasn’t a leftist.

11. In our case, it wasn’t an opposing view. Been with my husband going on 10 years. He never voted before meeting me, in fact, he didn’t vote in 2016 and I had to twist his arm to vote in 2020. He was very apolitical, and I would get annoyed because shit is going on that he’s not paying attention to.

    Until the Dobbs ruling this year, and that part in the ruling where Clarence Thomas said certain landmark rulings should be reconsidered (my husband and I are interracial and I use contraception).

    He actually heard the breaking news alert before I did, he was live streaming a podcast, and they announced it. He immediately texted me and told me. He then started asking what that meant, as I’ve had two miscarriages before. I told him we’re now in Pennsylvania, I would be ok, but it would have been a different story if we still lived in South Carolina. He then asked me who were the democrats running for the midterms and the Governorship. He voted blue down the ticket, actually filled out his mail in ballot before I did. He’s now so politically engaged, and I was a little annoyed something had to impact us directly to get his attention, but better late than never, right?