Arguments over politics linked to relationship breakups

On Behalf of | May 26, 2017 | Divorce

Most pundits agree that the political divide in Minnesota and around the country has grown wider since Donald Trump won the presidency in November, and hopes that the country would come together and heal itself after a contentious election campaign have largely been dashed. While most of the nation’s media outlets are focusing on how partisan bickering is affecting the economy and America’s place on the world stage, a Virginia-based research and polling company decided to look into how the current divisive political climate is impacting relationships.

Wakefield Research asked 1,000 married and unmarried Americans how their relationships were weathering the current divisive political climate, and they found that arguments over partisan issues had caused one in 10 of them to break up. Younger couples seem to be finding it especially difficult to see past each other’s political differences. The research firm says that 22 percent of the millennials it polled said that they had separated because of arguments over Trump or other partisan issues. The poll was conducted between April 12 and April 18.

About a quarter of the couples who said that they had stayed together told Wakefield Research that they were arguing over political issues more often, and the research also suggests that the truculent political climate is indirectly affecting couples who see eye-to-eye on major issues. More than one in five of those polled said that they knew someone who had divorced or ended a long-term relationship in recent months over political disagreements.

Couples in love often try to look past their political, religious or ideological differences and concentrate instead on what they have in common, but their hopes to remain above the fray rarely withstand the day-to-day reality of marriage. Experienced family law attorneys may have encountered situations where differences over deeply-held beliefs made divorce negotiations extremely difficult, and they could suggest prenuptial agreements to engaged couples with differing views who would like to avoid such unpleasantness.