Romance and Politics: How to Keep Your Love Alive with Political Differences

2020-08-29

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This week we were inspired by an article in The New York Times by Nicole Pajer called “Can Love Survive This Election?” Nicole’s article confirmed our sneaking suspicions about how romantic relationships may be suffering in the current political climate. She points out how divorces due to political affiliation are on the rise and reports that people using dating sites are searching on political affiliation of potential partners – now more than ever. So, we decided to look more closely at the topic through...

This week we were inspired by an article in The New York Times by Nicole Pajer called “Can Love Survive This Election?” Nicole’s article confirmed our sneaking suspicions about how romantic relationships may be suffering in the current political climate. She points out how divorces due to political affiliation are on the rise and reports that people using dating sites are searching on political affiliation of potential partners – now more than ever.

So, we decided to look more closely at the topic through a behavioral science lens.

One of our first questions was about whether the social norms around relationships and political identity might be changing. A decade ago, people with different political perspectives could successfully be in close relationships – but what about now?

We hope you enjoy the episode and share it with a friend.

Resources

“Can Love Survive This Election” by Nicole Pajer in The New York Times August 25, 2020: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/25/fashion/weddings/can-love-relationships-survive-this-election.html

Howard Lavin, PhD: https://cla.umn.edu/about/directory/profile/lavine

Eli Finkel, PhD, on “The All or Nothing Marriage”: https://elifinkel.com/allornothingmarriage

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