These are screaming times. No matter what time of day or night you turn on the TV, there is some variety of partisan bickering smothering every topic. Watch, not even the weather is going to be safe from political fallout in a couple of weeks. Luckily though, the deafening electoral process will have subsided into a manageable din that can be ignored for another four years. But, what if your partner comes from the opposite side of the political fence? The debate continues no matter who wins the presidency this year... 

We at It’s Just Lunch® wanted to know if generally folks AVOID dating someone with different political views for that very reason. Our recent dating survey showed some interesting results:

60% of men and 68% of women said that they definitely date people who have similar political opinions and beliefs.

Just over 39% of men and almost 32% of women said that they throw caution to the wind and definitely DO DATE people with DIFFERENT political ideals. 

For you brave daters in the 30%-we have some wise advice to make it through election day and beyond, from psychologytoday.com. These are the 8 types of (mis)communications that can make a political discussion push a relationship off a cliff. 

 1. Sarcasm.

2.  Blocked listening

3.  A fixed belief system

4.  Unwillingness to engage (“Let’s not talk politics”) or to allow the other side to speak.

5.  Distortion of what the other side says.

6.  Speaking for the other (“He just think that…”).  

7.  Bad-mouthing opposing perspectives.

8. Escalated emotional intensity.

If you are going to talk about your differences, Dr. Susan Heitler’s advice is;

“If you are going to engage in a political discussion, remind yourself early and often to stay cool. Keep your ears open so that you can listen for what makes sense in what others say.  Treat what others say respectfully, listening in the best possible light to their differing perspective.”*