Party poopers: Less than 10% of American friendships cross political lines
Researchers at Wellesley College looked at 971 adult friend pairs and found that most Americans are not willing to agree to disagree.
The study, published July 5 in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, analyzed two separate friend samples, one in-person and one online.
Advertisement
5 Researchers found that in real-life samples from New York and Boston, only 3% of friendships paired a Democrat and a Republican, a sign of deepening political silos.
Jacob Lund – stock.adobe.com
One study surveyed 537 friend pairs in deep-blue cities like New York and Boston, plus three liberal campuses — Wellesley, Amherst and Babson — and found just 3% of friendships crossed party lines.
Nearly half of participants were Democrats. Only 7% were Republicans.
Advertisement
The second group, 434 friend pairs surveyed online, was more politically balanced — and the number of cross-party friendships more than doubled. With 42% Democrats and 31% Republicans, 8% of friendships spanned the aisle, hinting conservatives may be more willing to mix than their liberal peers.
Even when friendships did cross the aisle, they scored lower on trust, emotional support and mutual understanding, the study found.
5 The study surveyed more than 970 friend pairs and found that almost all shared similar views on hot-button issues like abortion, gun control and immigration.
fizkes – stock.adobe.com
But there was one silver lining: the rare few who crossed party lines regarded the other side with less hostility.
Advertisement
'Part of what is destroying our social fabric is that we have set an expectation that to be a good Democrat or Republican, you have to unconditionally hate the other party,' said Sean Westwood, a political scientist at Dartmouth College. 'There is evidence that this social pressure to hate makes the state of partisan conflict seem worse than it actually is.'
That pressure only grows, he added, when people don't have personal ties to someone on the other side.
'If you don't know a Republican or Democrat, it is easier to assume that they are unpatriotic, evil or immoral,' Westwood told The Post. 'Without a personal connection you can get lost in the nonsense coming from social media, cable news and Washington DC.'
5 Even when friendships crossed political lines, participants rated them as less close and less satisfying compared to ideologically aligned relationships.
lesslemon – stock.adobe.com
Advertisement
Only about a quarter of friend pairs said they disagreed on major issues like abortion, immigration or gun rights, suggesting most people befriend those who already see eye to eye.
And when politics entered the chat, things got even rockier — a quarter of those who disagreed said the conversation damaged the friendship.
Some simply obliterate the friendship entirely, a 2024 study found
One in five adults have cut off a close relative over politics, and half said the break happened in 2024 leading up to the election, a 2024 survey from The Harris Poll found.
5 Despite the tension, those with politically opposite friends showed more tolerance toward outgroups, suggesting some benefits to bipartisan bonds.
be free – stock.adobe.com
Among those still in contact, a third said they felt uncomfortable at a family gathering because of someone's political views, and just as many feared future events could turn ugly.
'It is rewarding to be around people who validate your views of the world and of the moral order, and from mildly stressful to absolutely intolerable to be around people who disagree with beliefs and values that are important to us,' Dr. Peter Ditto, a psychology professor at UC Irvine, told The Post.
And it's a vicious cycle.
Advertisement
'The more people hear about polarization, hostility and how few Democrats and Republicans are friends, the more they become convinced that they should also keep quiet,' said University of Michigan political communications professor Yanna Krupnikov.
5 In a more balanced national sample, 8% of 434 friend pairs crossed party lines — slightly higher than the 3% found in liberal strongholds.
rawpixel.com – stock.adobe.com
Ditto warned that as politics becomes more central to people's identities, it's taking a toll on their personal lives.
'I worry as I see more and more evidence that politics is getting personal … that the corrosive political polarization in contemporary U.S. politics is seeping into people's everyday lives in ways that impact their well-being,' he said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
6 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Hochul hosts Texas lawmakers in Albany, proposes New York redistrict again to counter GOP plans to gain seats
Aug. 5—ALBANY — Gov. Kathleen C. Hochul is opening the door for New York to redraw its congressional district lines, for a third time since 2022, in a Democrat-backed bid to counter plans to add Republican seats in GOP-controlled states. In Texas, GOP lawmakers are forging ahead with a rarely done mid-decade redistricting process, done at the behest of the Trump administration. The map being put up for a vote in Texas would eliminate up to five Democratically held districts, redrawing the map to split up primarily Democratic voting precincts into new, largely Republican districts. Lawmakers were called back to Austin for a vote on the bill to advance the maps, expected to pass in the majority-Republican state legislature, but most of the state's Democratic lawmakers left the state and have denied their chambers the quorum of members necessary to conduct business. Texas Gov. Gregory W. Abbott and the state's Republican legislative leaders have moved to arrest those lawmakers and forcibly return them to the state Capitol. Six of those lawmakers came to Albany, and dozens of others have traveled to Democratically controlled states like California and Illinois. Texas state troopers lack the power to arrest the legislators outside of Texas, and while other state leaders can opt to comply with the Texas orders and arrest them themselves, that likely won't happen in a Democrat-run state. In the state Capitol on Monday, Hochul and some of her top leadership team, alongside New York Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie, D-Bronx, met with the six visiting Texan legislators and pledged to back up their efforts to resist the GOP redistricting effort. "These public servants are taking a stand — a strong stand — against a blatant power grab that's happening in their state as we speak," Hochul said. "And this will have implications not just in Texas, but for our entire nation and its future." Hochul said that breaking quorum is a legally valid form of resistance that does not break the law. The Texas arrest orders do not allege a specific crime, accusing the legislators of "dereliction of duty." Even after arrest, the lawmakers will only be taken to the state Capitol, and won't be incarcerated after that. Hochul said the new map being proposed in Texas presents a "radical, radical redrawing of the congressional lines that were already adopted," and said the clearly partisan focus of the plan requires a firm response where Democrats can muster one. Redistricting efforts are state-led across the entire nation, and each state has its own approach. While some Democratic-led states keep the basic approach of letting their legislatures draw the maps themselves, others including New York, Illinois and California have adopted nonpartisan systems that assign the drawing of maps to an independent, bipartisan or nonpartisan commission. In New York, that's the Independent Redistricting Commission, formed in 2015 as a result of a state constitutional amendment agreed to by a majority of voters in 2014. The commission, with an equal panel of Republicans and Democrats, is tasked with redrawing the state legislative and congressional district lines after each 10-year federal census. Its first test was in 2021, and it failed to advance bipartisan maps for state legislature or Congress. Lawmakers redrew the maps themselves under the terms of the constitutional amendment, and those maps were tossed by the state's top court, which created the current congressional map with the help of a court-appointed "special master." The state constitution requires that district lines be drawn in a nonpartisan way, intent on keeping "communities of interest" intact and respecting the racial and ethnic makeup of the state. On Monday, Hochul said it may be time to abandon that approach and use the control the Democratic Party has in New York to secure more seats for itself in Congress. "If Republicans are willing to rewrite these rules to give themselves an advantage, then they're leaving us with no choice, we must do the same," Hochul said. "There's a phrase, 'you have to fight fire with fire.' That is a true statement of how we're feeling right now." Hochul said New York's state legislators are supportive of rethinking how they approach redistricting, evidenced by Speaker Heastie's presence. Heastie floated voting on another amendment to the state constitution, although he didn't lay out specific ideas. Hochul, responding to reporters' questions after the main event, said she would support an amendment that would disband the Independent Redistricting Commission. In New York, the state constitution can be amended two ways. One way that's rarely been used involves a once-every-20 year vote to call a constitutional convention, but the most common way requires that two separate meetings of the state legislature, with at least one election between, vote on the amendment, sending it to a popular vote the next November. If a majority of voters approve the measure, the constitution is amended. "What we're proposing that — maybe what we bring before the voters in 2027, hope not to have to use it, but sometimes the best way to get a bully to stop being a bully is to remind them that they could also be bullied," Heastie said. "So perhaps the Republican members of Congress here in New York could say to their Republican colleagues in Texas, 'hey, slow down on this because this can also affect us.'" Heastie bemoaned the New York press and popular editorial boards, which he said have urged Democrats to follow the rules. "I say to all of you, to all of the press here, your editorial boards keep asking us to 'be fair' and 'play fair' and I think that's the wrong thing to ask us to do," he said. After the meeting, New York's Republicans fired back and called the suggestion that New York should redraw its maps to respond to another state doing the same hypocritical. "Governor Hochul and Albany Democrats are once again trying to rig the redistricting process in their favor to preserve their own political power at the expense of the people," said Senate Minority Leader Robert G. Ortt II, R-North Tonawanda. "Governor Hochul has described mid-decade redistricting as 'undemocratic', yet her and other New York Democrats are willing to destroy democracy under the guise of 'saving democracy'. Voters know what this is really about — political power." In a statement from her campaign, Rep. Elise M. Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, the most senior New York GOP lawmaker, slammed the governor for pitching a plan to undo a constitutional amendment. "In her own words, Kathy Hochul is hell bent on angrily spiting the New York state constitution, the will of New York voters, good government groups and the courts by dismantling fair and legal district lines," Stefanik said in a statement. "The worst governor in America needs to be reminded that she conveniently forgot to tell the unlawful out-of-state radical Democrats at (Monday's) desperate press conference that she lost not once but twice in her efforts to illegally draw gerrymandered lines in New York to rig our Congressional elections and suppress the will of the voters." If Democrats do put up another amendment to dissolve the Independent Redistricting Commission, it could come before voters as early as 2027 — but state Democrats' recent record on voting-related amendments on the ballot hasn't been shining. In 2021, Democrats put five proposals on statewide ballots but only two passed — one related to civil courts in New York City, another on confirming a right to a clean environment. The three failed proposals were related to voting, one that would change some rules related to the Independent Redistricting Commission, one to allow for same-day voter registration and another to allow excuse-free absentee mail voting. A strong GOP counter-argument, in part led by Stefanik, and a somewhat laggardly Democratic pitch on those efforts, helped to flip the expected balance of support, and each failed proposal lost by at least 9 percentage points. Solve the daily Crossword
New York Post
7 minutes ago
- New York Post
Biden ‘Politburo' aide Bruce Reed blames ex-prez's debate fiasco on his stutter
WASHINGTON — A member of former President Joe Biden's so-called 'Politburo' testified that his ex-boss's infamously bad debate performance was the result of his stutter during a closed-door transcribed interview with House Oversight Committee lawyers this week. Bruce Reed, 65, Biden's former deputy chief of staff for policy, delivered a spirited defense of the 46th president's cognitive abilities during his roughly six-hour-long transcribed interview Tuesday, The Post has learned. 'Mr. Reed claimed in his transcribed interview that Joe Biden's debate performance was the result of his stutter,' a source familiar with Reed's testimony told The Post. Advertisement 'When asked whether Americans' concerns about Joe Biden's mental acuity were legitimate, Mr. Reed responded that he believes Americans should not have had any concerns about the President's mental faculties.' 3 Bruce Reed has been described as a policy wonk and was seen as a driving force behind much of former President Joe Biden's domestic agenda. Bloomberg via Getty Images Reed, who is now the ninth ex-Biden aide to appear before the panel, did not take questions from the press before his closed-door testimony. Biden struggled with a stutter during his youth, but he participated in numerous public debates over the past five decades where he seemed much more coherent. Advertisement Biden, 82, agreed to debate President Trump in late June of last year, far earlier than presidential verbal bouts have typically taken place during recent decades, usually in the fall. Reed, who has been described by Democratic operatives as a policy wonk, was among the advisers who helped prepare Biden for the notorious fumbling debate. Biden appeared on the debate stage borderline stonefaced at times and struggled to complete some of his thoughts, with his mouth agape during portions. The stunning display sparked a Democratic mutiny against Biden that led to him dropping out of the 2024 race. Advertisement 3 Former President Joe Biden has ripped into Republicans for questioning whether he actually made the decisions on how autopen was used. POOL/AFP via Getty Images 'During his interview, Mr. Reed stated that the decision to hold the debate early was a deliberate strategy to get ahead of early voting and the Olympics,' the source recounted. 'He emphasized that the campaign's push for the early debate was unrelated to concerns about President Biden's age.' The bombshell book 'Original Sin' described Reed as one of what the authors called Biden's 'Politburo,' the core inner circle of 'ultimate decision-makers' around the 46th president. He is now the last of the non-family 'Politburo' members described in the book to testify before the panel. Advertisement The 65-year-old has been a key figure in the Biden team and Democratic politics for years. In addition to his time as deputy chief of staff for policy during the Biden administration, Reed also served as Biden's chief of staff during the first half of his vice presidency and held key roles in the 2020 and 2024 campaigns. He also worked in the Clinton administration as the director of the Domestic Policy Council, a deputy campaign manager for policy during the 1992 Clinton campaign for the presidency, and a speechwriter for former Vice President Al Gore during his Senate days. Back in May, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) revived his probe into whether there was a 'cover-up' of Biden's mental cognition that he had opened last Congress. 3 Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer revived the probe into Joe Biden's acuity back in May. Getty Images The Kentucky Republican also expanded the probe to look at Biden's use of autopen to sign official documents after revelations emerged that the 46th president used the device very frequently. No lawmakers were present for Reed's transcribed interview. Biden has publicly ripped into aspersions from Republicans over his use of the autopen and insisted that he made every decision. Advertisement Other ex-Biden aides who sat before the Oversight panel, include former White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain; former senior adviser Mike Donilon; former counselor Steve Ricchetti; Jill Biden's powerful former chief of staff Anthony Bernal; former presidential physician Dr. Kevin O'Connor; Ashley Williams, former special assistant to the president and deputy director of Oval Office Operations; and Neera Tanden, the former White House director of the Domestic Policy Council. Some of those ex-Biden aides who came before the powerful investigatory committee had been subpoenaed and opted to plead their Fifth Amendment, refraining from answering questions. Reed had agreed to a transcribed interview before the Oversight Committee and, therefore, wasn't able to plead the Fifth. The powerful investigatory panel is slated to hear from former senior adviser Anita Dunn on Thursday. There are at least four more ex-Biden aides scheduled to appear before the panel after Dunn.
The Hill
7 minutes ago
- The Hill
Heated Redistricting Battle SPREADS Across The Country: How Did We Get Here?
The congressional redistricting battle is turning up the heat as California and New York are signaling they will move forward with plans to redraw congressional lines as Democrats look to counter the Texas GOP.
