Peony
Rookie
- Mar 10, 2016
- 31
- 41
- 3
Ah, love. Wonderful, elusive, beautiful love, longed for, lived for, fervently sought after by most all human beings- including conservatives and liberals. Unfortunately, the differences between conservatives and liberals muck up romance- at least half the time.
OKCupid, an online dating service, conducted a survey to see if they could measure the effect politics have on love.
“Whether we’re aware of it or not, our political beliefs influence how we advertise ourselves romantically. To dig into this, we looked at words used on tens of thousands of OkCupid profiles to see which ones best distinguish liberals and conservatives, and then compared those words to OkCupid match questions.
Why? Because today, the amount of OkCupid users who couldn’t date someone with opposing political views is at 50% — a number that’s been rising since 2008. It turns out your vote really does count.”
Words and Politics
According to OKCupid’s survey results, more and more people looking for a love match won’t even consider a person who does not share their political outlook. Maybe there’s a good reason for that. Survey results hint that character traits and interests and values just may be influenced by politics.
For instance, conservatives tend to prefer activities like grilling and shooting a gun at a gun range, while liberals tend to prefer dining at a vegetarian restaurant and looking around a museum. What does this suggest? Conservatives prefer to do things themselves, while liberals prefer to partake of what someone else has done.
Let’s look at more study results. Liberals indicate a fondness for crying, while conservatives indicate an admiration for Marines. You might describe this difference as liberals blubber while conservatives keep a stiff upper lip.
When it comes to influential voices, conservatives look to Jesus, while liberals choose NPR. In other words, God vs Government.
Americana? Conservatives use descriptive words like faith, old fashioned, loyalty, family. Liberals use words like sex, social justice, atheist, feminist.
One thing conservatives and liberals seem to agree on is that it’s nice to be outside under the sky. Still, there’s some contrast. Conservatives call it being outdoors, liberals call it nature.
OkCupid: Liberals More Likely to Cry Than Conservatives
What does all this mean? Is refusal to love outside of one’s political persuasion replacing refusal to love outside of one’s faith or race? Or is it simply that conservatives and liberals really are so different that the likelihood of them falling in love with one another is as likely as a feminist celebrating manhood or a Christian embracing social relativism?
What do we learn from the way people describe themselves to get a date? Is there something deeply meaningful here? How deep is unclear. It does however, point to the likelihood that political identity drives -or at least supports- other identity factors.
It is reasonable to conclude that to a large extent, our political beliefs mirror our core beliefs. Nonetheless, some important qualities one seeks in a potential lover are not governed by political affiliation. For instance, surely conservatives and liberals are equally concerned with important stuff like attention to personal hygiene and basic manners.
Perhaps another survey is in order! After all, in dating, as in all life’s challenges, it’s vital to know what you’re up against.
OKCupid, an online dating service, conducted a survey to see if they could measure the effect politics have on love.
“Whether we’re aware of it or not, our political beliefs influence how we advertise ourselves romantically. To dig into this, we looked at words used on tens of thousands of OkCupid profiles to see which ones best distinguish liberals and conservatives, and then compared those words to OkCupid match questions.
Why? Because today, the amount of OkCupid users who couldn’t date someone with opposing political views is at 50% — a number that’s been rising since 2008. It turns out your vote really does count.”
Words and Politics
According to OKCupid’s survey results, more and more people looking for a love match won’t even consider a person who does not share their political outlook. Maybe there’s a good reason for that. Survey results hint that character traits and interests and values just may be influenced by politics.
For instance, conservatives tend to prefer activities like grilling and shooting a gun at a gun range, while liberals tend to prefer dining at a vegetarian restaurant and looking around a museum. What does this suggest? Conservatives prefer to do things themselves, while liberals prefer to partake of what someone else has done.
Let’s look at more study results. Liberals indicate a fondness for crying, while conservatives indicate an admiration for Marines. You might describe this difference as liberals blubber while conservatives keep a stiff upper lip.
When it comes to influential voices, conservatives look to Jesus, while liberals choose NPR. In other words, God vs Government.
Americana? Conservatives use descriptive words like faith, old fashioned, loyalty, family. Liberals use words like sex, social justice, atheist, feminist.
One thing conservatives and liberals seem to agree on is that it’s nice to be outside under the sky. Still, there’s some contrast. Conservatives call it being outdoors, liberals call it nature.
OkCupid: Liberals More Likely to Cry Than Conservatives
What does all this mean? Is refusal to love outside of one’s political persuasion replacing refusal to love outside of one’s faith or race? Or is it simply that conservatives and liberals really are so different that the likelihood of them falling in love with one another is as likely as a feminist celebrating manhood or a Christian embracing social relativism?
What do we learn from the way people describe themselves to get a date? Is there something deeply meaningful here? How deep is unclear. It does however, point to the likelihood that political identity drives -or at least supports- other identity factors.
It is reasonable to conclude that to a large extent, our political beliefs mirror our core beliefs. Nonetheless, some important qualities one seeks in a potential lover are not governed by political affiliation. For instance, surely conservatives and liberals are equally concerned with important stuff like attention to personal hygiene and basic manners.
Perhaps another survey is in order! After all, in dating, as in all life’s challenges, it’s vital to know what you’re up against.
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