Why Do Politics Matter?
As you start to think about where political differences fit into your relationship’s dynamics, it might strike you that it’s not just your partner’s views that can come into play, but also the views of your partner’s family and friends. Even if your partner shares completely opposite positions from these individuals, you may find it distasteful if not upsetting to be around them even if politics (thankfully) never comes up as a topic of conversation. A part of you might wonder, additionally, how your partner can stand to be around them, especially if it’s the friends, not the family, whose views are so radically different from the two of you.
According to University of Michigan’s Amie Gordon and colleagues (2024), it’s more likely that people who form a committed relationship actually do agree with each other, in a phenomenon known as “assortative mating.” People who agree with each other politically will also find each other more attractive (a vote of confidence for those dating apps). As reported by Gordon et al., a survey of Match.com users reported that only 59 percent of respondents believe that politics play an important role in finding a partner. However, as the authors note, “the majority of people … may just prefer that politics stays out of the bedroom.”
Read the full article at Psychology Today
