Does your current (or most recent) spouse or partner share ALL of your political views?

[Oopsie Daisy]

Discussion topic: Could you ever see yourself in a politically "mixed-marriage" wherein your spouse or committed partner is a member of the GOP or full-on MAGA? Or would that be legitimate grounds for divorce? --- Or... if you are currently in a politically mixed marriage, how do you make it work?

32 votes, 3 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	Spouse/partner is apolitical.
	2 (6%)
	Spouse/partner is more liberal.
	2 (6%)
	Spouse/partner shares my views exactly.
	21 (66%)
	Spouse/partner is more conservative.
	4 (13%)
	I don't have a spouse or partner.
	3 (9%)
	3 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
Show usernames Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll

[TheFarseer]

1. We share almost identical views except

She’s pro-life. I have the old Howard Dean position on it. We have agreed to just not talk about it.

[Mossfern]

2. We have the same views

However he likes to shout at the TV, and I get out and do things although my health issues have had curtailed that.
Very frustrating. My husband will get very angry reading or watching the news - I tell him "You're really pissed off- what are you going to do about it?"

[Oopsie Daisy]

5. Oh lord... I feel for you. My husband is the same way. I have to leave the room

... or find something else to do in another part of the house.

[yardwork]

3. We're very close but not identical.

I chose "other" because none of the options really fit.

[Ritabert]

4. Identical liberal Democrats

[JanMichael]

6. I am slightly more to the Left.

[Shrek]

7. It depends on the issue

Aligned on most things but on others we diverge, and not always on the same axis.

[bottomofthehill]

8. My wife is slightly more moderate than I am

She is a normal old North East urban Democrat. Oddly, on this board, I would be thought of as a right wing nut and she would be a Neanderthal, reality, she is slightly to the left of the American public and I am a little further left than she is and DU is way left.

[Ninga]

9. Share about 95% . Try to keep each other

grounded and from climbing the tree. Love
my Mr Ninga to bits…

[Trueblue1968]

10. You need a selection for ..... MOST. He does not share ALL.

[Oopsie Daisy]

11. Thanks. Next time.

I take your point, but fortunately this is just a fun poll, for giggles and laughs, and as a vehicle for discussion... not a scientific poll. Precision isn't completely necessary.

[jfz9580m]

12. I am amicably divorced

My ex and I make better friends than a couple. We have very similar views but we used to endlessly bicker over trivial differences reproducing the dynamics of the left in general ;-/. A lot of it was also due to cultural differences..what’s acceptable culturally versus apparently a right wing or inanity red flag..

I read a piece by this left leaning (but not pompously) Indian author, Oindrila Mukherjee years ago which captured it:

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Clear-Orf-Political-Correctness/articleshow/1717438.cms

There’s a type of right wing person (Ayman Al Hirsi comes to mind) who exploits that dynamic to portray the left as stupid and pc...I think of it as confusing the South Park receptive part of the politically neutral or even left-leaning brain. I grew up reading Richmal Crompton which was what SP reminded me of..so I took to the show even though I didn’t agree with some of their politics back then (manbearpig specifically).

We get along very well now as friends. I was always too left leaning to be forced rightwards.
And I learnt a lot from my ex who has a far more sophisticated worldview than I do.

All any intraleft bickering it does is make me separate things into: 1) left but not my style (very serious or humorless ;-/ or too needlessly belligerent..I dislike and resent having had to become as reflexively antagonistic as one has to be these days..but it’s non-optional), 2) “left” bullshitter/right wing plant/useful idiot (low priority fluff or shit stirring, attacking more important left issues-the bullshit left counterpart of the IDW crap), 3) left and incomprehensible (my ex) and 4) finally left/comprehensible. My left views were clear, but not very organized. Couldn’t weather the last decade without coming up with a more exact idea of what it is I think..lol. Beyond a vague soup of “which way to go?” but without a clearly articulated “why?” and “how”.

For someone with no interest in any formal engagement with politics, media etc this was a lot of time to have to expend thinking about politics, but it was unavoidable. I still crib views shamelessly from my ex. He and my best friend from grad school are two of the most reliable people I have come across on politics..and neither of them have any formal connection to politics and wouldn’t..not the personality that does..overt politics is rare among scientists in the hard sciences, though the reality has a liberal bias thing is unavoidable. It’s usually private and separate from work entirely (as it should be). This right wing hoax of defunding the hard sciences using political bs is the worst crap I have ever seen. It’s classic inversion. The RW specialty. I hope I am never connected with anyone I knew. That would suck for them.

I keep hoping my ex meets someone nice…he is not any place ultra liberal so it’s not easy..

[LeftInTX]

13. Most. He has different interests than I do, so some of his views are different.

[IzzaNuDay]

14. My spouse won't discuss their political leanings with me

I don’t have a clue how they vote. They will shut down if I ask a question. After decades of marriage, IDGAF.