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Gen Z is perhaps surprisingly open to dating someone of an opposite political opinion, according to a recent eHarmony report. Roughly 28 percent of Gen Z said different political opinions could lead them to turn down a date, only slightly higher than the 21 percent of millennials who said the same. Why It Matters Dating culture has been deeply impacted by politics today, with some Democrats and Republicans alike vowing to never date across party lines. This could potentially cause issues among younger Americans looking to date, as Gen Z women largely skew liberal as younger men increasingly move toward the right In the last presidential election, women aged 18 to 29 favored former Vice President Kamala Harris over President Donald Trump by 38 points, while men in the same group favored Trump by 13 points. In this photo illustration, the dating app Tinder is seen on the screen of an iPhone on August 14, 2018 in Miami, Florida. (Photo illustration by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) What To Know Across the board, 23 percent of Americans in the eHarmony survey said different political viewpoints could cause them to turn down a date. For millennials, that rate was 21 percent, while Gen Z was a bit higher at 28 percent. And just 13 percent of Gen Z said similar political views could persuade them to travel a greater distance for a date, whereas 14 percent of millennials said the same. This data contrasts with another recent survey from the SheKnows Teen Council that revealed some of the youngest, teenage age Gen Z feel uncomfortable dating someone with different views. Over half of female respondents said they’d feel somewhat uneasy, while a third said they’d feel very uncomfortable. Across the male respondents, 57 percent would still be comfortable. Meanwhile, a Coffee Meets Bagel report found that 37 percent of women across the Gen Z, millennial and Gen X age cohorts would not consider dating someone with different political views. Only 15 percent of men said the same. What People Are Saying Clinical psychologist Dr. Hannah Holmes previously told Newsweek: “Gen Z grew up hearing stories about couples—or even seeing their own parents or family members—separating due to differences in political and social beliefs. Many of them see it as a serious sign of lack of compatibility, rather than a minor difference in opinion.” “Politics aren’t just abstract concepts for many Gen Z-ers, but instead ways of understanding reality, with real-world consequences. Understandably, this means that a misalignment in politics is understood as a misalignment of core values, which is typically considered a relationship deal-breaker.” What Happens Next If more Gen Z-ers decide to refrain from dating those with different political viewpoints, that could dramatically lower their range of dating partners. Still, for those who don’t keep this as a dating deal-breaker, more potential life partners could be found that still offer some compatibility, depending on the level of difference in viewpoints. “Young voters don’t like aligning themselves too closely with political parties in general, because they tend not to trust institutions … Which, to me, further suggests that many under-30s may not have hard and fast rules when it comes to the ideological allegiances or political affiliations of the people they date—and ultimately marry,” New York Times writer Jessica Grose wrote last year.
