In the days leading up to the election, a lot of relationships went sour as couples found themselves divided over politics. But now that, for better or worse, the election is behind us, we should be able to continue with our dating lives as normal, right? Not so much.
Dating service Match surveyed 1,800 members and found that since Trump's inauguration, there's been a downturn in dating activity among liberals and a spike in dating activity among conservatives. It seems that our interest in finding love is connected to our mood about the current state of politics, with liberals experiencing an all-out depression and conservatives feeling just great — and ready to date.
However, even if you are interested in dating, research shows that we're as divided in the bedroom as we are politically. Match found that 60 percent of singles are less open to dating across party lines than two years ago. That makes it even harder to meet someone (which is hard enough already). But it gets worse.
Generally, people get pretty opinionated during election season, and then things calm down after the new president takes office — whether or not your party happened to win. Four years ago, after Obama was reelected, Match saw an increase in dating activity of liberals and conservatives. That’s not the case this season.
More: 19 Signs You're In a Strong Relationship
“When you look at the emotion involved in the political debate right now, it’s not surprising that people are distracted from their dating lives. We know that love and relationships often emerge as the antidote to chaos and uncertainty, so history tells us that these numbers will bounce back as singles seek that stability,” said Mandy Ginsberg, Match Group North America CEO, in a media release.
We're a lot more political than we used to be, which may play a role in this trend. According to Match, 67 percent of singles have moved away from the political "center" in the past two years, and 72 percent say they care about politics more than they did two years ago. In other words, if politics came up over first date drinks a few years ago, it may not have led to the night ending early — but now, there's a good chance it would.
This is especially true for liberals: 91 percent of left-wingers think less of a date if they voted for Trump and more than half will bring it up to confirm which way that person’s vote went. However, conservatives are less stuck on the matter: 57 percent are likelier to date across party lines (if they can find a liberal to date them — ha!).
But ultimately, it can't matter who your date voted for if you're not dating at all. And that's the case for 29 percent of liberals, who feel less like dating since Trump's inauguration. Pretty dire, huh? Let's all hope that our country can withstand the pressure it will be under for the next four years — for a million far more serious reasons, but also for the sake of our sex lives.