Polarization in the Wedding Chapel?

Chapter 9 discusses the political parties in America and their growing polarization. It discusses the importance of the political parties for citizens’ political sovereignty, in that they can choose to be a part of a party that best represents their political ideology. However, the growing political polarization in today’s society has become so severe that it seems our government is constantly running into problems of gridlock and refusal for any compromise. In the American public, people tend to surround themselves with people and news that supports their political ideology. This is due to the fact that people’s political views are tied up in their social identity. Simply, people enjoy hearing that they are right and receiving validation rather than having to argue or defend their beliefs.

http://www.people-press.org/2014/06/12/political-polarization-in-the-american-public/

In our age when approval ratings of same-sex marriageas well as interracial marriageare at an all-time high, it is shocking to discover that approval ratings of “interpolitical marriage” has actually decreased. The Gallup organization took surveys from a sample of random Americans and asked the simple question: Would you want your son/daughter to marry a Democrat or a Republican? In 1958, only 28 percent of people specified a specific party, while 72 percent of people answered that they would not mind either party. When this survey was redone in 2016, it was found that only 45 percent of people said they did not have a preference, while 28 percent said they preferred Democrat and 27 percent preferred Republican. This drop of 27 percentage points shows how politically polarized our country has become, to the point that people do not even want their children associating with people of the other political party. Gallup also did this survey with a population of Americans that identified strongly as either Republican or Democrat. In 2016, 60 percent of Democrats wanted their child to marry a Democrat, while 63 percent of Republicans wanted Republicans.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-many-republicans-marry-democrats/

This is a reflection of how politically polarized our country has become, to the point where it has spilled over to the realm of ‘romance.’ To add onto this, online dating has further fueled this political divide in how people choose their mate. With online dating, you can easily select your political preference and the sorting mechanism on the website will only pair with you people of similar ideologies. There are also an increasing number of dating sites that base themselves completely off political identification, such as websites like RepublicanPeopleMeet.comor liberalhearts.com.

I find it highly concerning that someone can just click a button and then completely shut out any potential romantic partners or new friendships based solely on political preference. I believe that tools like these lead to the further polarization of our country, as it easily allows people to refuse to interact with people of different ideologies. If this trend of dating only in one’s political party continues, “there will be more individuals at the ideological extremes over generations” (springer.com). While it is highly unlikely that it will happen, I believe that dating sites should not take into account political party identification and should match people based off their compatibility in other matters, rather than just political ones. What do you think about the trend in dating in the same political party? Do you think there can be something done about it or is it an inevitable part of the growing polarization of our country?

Sources:

http://news.gallup.com/poll/210566/support-gay-marriage-edges-new-high.aspx?g_source=link_newsv9&g_campaign=item_224717&g_medium=copy

http://news.gallup.com/poll/163697/approve-marriage-blacks-whites.aspx

https://www.voanews.com/a/mixed-political-marriages-an-issue-on-rise/3705468.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/31/upshot/are-you-married-to-your-party.html

https://www.ozy.com/opinion/interpolitical-dating-the-romeo-and-juliet-story-of-our-times/79649

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11109-012-9207-z?null=&version=meter+at+null&module=meter-Links&pgtype=Blogs&contentId=&mediaId=&referrer=&priority=true&action=click&contentCollection=meter-links-click

6 Responses to "Polarization in the Wedding Chapel?"

Joanna Briand says:

April 23, 2018 at 9:36 pm

Thank you so much for your post. I think it’s extremely interesting how you connected relationships to political polarization because I would have never thought about it that way. I agree it reflects exactly how much stronger polarization has become. Over the years, our partisanship has started to affect who we choose to associate ourselves with. I believe this has to do with the fact that, in our contemporary society, partisanship has become an important part of our social identities. It goes farther than supporting certain politicians or specific policy beliefs. Partisanship has become a way to form a judgment about someone else, and therefore shaping big life decisions, such as marriage. It is becoming more clear that the power of partisanship is not limited to politics.
Sophia Harrison says:

April 23, 2018 at 11:53 pm

Bella,
Thanks for your post! I think you did a really great job at showing how party identification and polarization ties into our everyday lives. While I agree that people shouldn’t shut other’s out due to their party affiliation, I do believe that one’s political preferences has a profound impact on relationships and is a clear indicator of compatibility. If dating apps were to remove someone’s party identification, should they also remove other standard attributes that define a person? Political affiliation extends beyond issue positions and disagreements over policy and is linked to other values, behaviors, and habits that bring people together. I feel like this research does not definitively tell us whether this pattern reflects a preference for those who are politically similar or instead a side effect of partner choice on the basis of other factors that are correlated with shared political orientations.
Elizabeth Curland says:

April 24, 2018 at 1:23 pm

Isabella,
I enjoyed your post. In regards to the online dating trend, I unfortunately think this will continue to be an issue that we can’t prevent. There are hundreds of new dating sites that cater to specific groups of people — for example, very popular sites like “Christian Mingle” and “JDate” exist so people can find a match based on a certain religion. So though I agree with you that we should aim to explore all types of matches, regardless of certain political/religious/social characteristics, the sad reality is that people are pretty set on their ways. This is just yet another example of how the media creates this type of cyberbalkinization and people are able to block out other ideological views from their internet searches / blogosphere.
Hannah Grow says:

April 24, 2018 at 3:46 pm

Dear Isabella,

Thank you for this interesting post on polarization in the dating world. I can honestly say I never thought about the effects of increased polarization from this perspective and I think provides great evidence for exactly how divided our nation is becoming with regards to political parties. However, I think what we see here has less to do with the fact that individuals associate with certain political parties and more to do with the candidates that they support. An article by NPR pointed out that women are more concerned with the fact that men support a candidate that has famously degraded women than they are with the fact that the man is a Republican. Thats why we see more websites like TrumpSingles.com, which provides a place for people who support a particular candidate, rather than websites dedicated to only Republicans or only Democrats.
Chloe Blond says:

April 24, 2018 at 8:16 pm

Hi Isabella,

Thank you for your post! I found the connection you made between the political divide and relationships to be extremely interesting. Through your post, it is obvious that what political party people identify with has an impact on people’s lives beyond just the voting ballot. In addition to seeping into the dating world, the political divide has also impacted football and the Super Bowl.

The New England Patriots faced the Atlanta Falcons on February 5. Trump’s friendship with Brady was fodder for sports talk radio and local news in New England since September of 2015 when a “Make America Great Again” hat was seen in Tom Brady’s locker. In addition, more than 1 million people voted for Trump in Massachusetts. On the other hand, most of Atlanta is represented by long time Democratic U.S. Representative John Lewis who does not consider Trump to be a legitimate president because of intelligence reports of Russian involvement in the election. Furthermore, some fans in the northeastern states that supported Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election said they were having a hard time reconciling their football loyalties with their distaste for Trump.

I think it is ridiculous that political opinions have managed to work their way into the Super Bowl and football. Fans should want a specific team to win for normal sports fans reasons, not for political reasons.

Is there any limit to what the political divide can impact?

https://www.voanews.com/a/us-political-divide-seeps-into-super-bowl/3695127.html
Austin Marsilia says:

April 25, 2018 at 12:25 am

Isabella,
Thank you for the post. I agree that refusing to date someone due to their political preferences is extremely shallow. However, humans look for partners that possess similar values. For example, a woman who is a Democrat may believe a man who is a conservative Republican lacks respect for women solely based on his political preference. This is due to the stereotype surrounding conservative men in the 21st century and will keep the pair from ever engaging in a legitimate conversation. The saying, “never judge a book by its cover”, is one we are taught from a young age. However, the data you show clearly states that people often do the opposite and make irrational judgements about someone based on their political affiliation. Your post is interesting and brings up a topic that I have never personally given much thought to. However, I would have liked to see people’s reasons for not dating someone of a different political affiliation rather than raw data.

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