Swiping for Political Compatibility: Dating Apps in a Polarised Landscape

Published 26 June 2023

Author

2 min read

As societies become more polarised and ties to political ideologies strengthen, romantic hopefuls are adjusting their relationship desires. We explore how politics influence modern dating and how brands can respond to a politicised dating sphere.

Key Stats

Swiping for Political Compatibility

65%	In the US, both Democrats (65%) and Republicans (62%) avoid dating people with opposing views in 2023
59%	In the US, 59% of women with liberal views and 41% of women with conservative beliefs wouldn’t date someone who disagreed with their opinion on abortion in 2023
50%	In the UK, 50% of Labour voters wouldn’t date someone who votes Conservative, compared with 24% of Conservative voters who wouldn’t date a Labour voter in 2021
50%	In the UK, 50% of Remain voters wouldn’t want a partner who voted Leave in the 2016 Brexit referendum, while 28% of Leave voters wouldn’t date a Remain voter in 2021

Cross-Political Caution: In 2022, only 7% of American relationships straddled political lines (American Family Survey, 2022), and 60.5% considered differing views a dating dealbreaker (Innerbody, 2022). In the UK, 50% of Labour voters wouldn’t date someone who votes Conservative, compared with 24% of Conservative voters who wouldn’t date a Labour voter (YouGov, 2021). Brazil’s dating scene was similarly shaken up by the country’s 2022 presidential election.
Testy Topics: Opinions on contentious political issues matter just as much – or even more – than party affiliation when dating. This holds true across ideological lines. Take the 2016 Brexit referendum: 50% Remain voters wouldn’t want a partner who voted Leave, while 28% of Leave voters wouldn’t date a Remain voter (YouGov, 2021). In the US, 59% of women with liberal views and 41% of women with conservative beliefs wouldn’t date someone who disagreed with their opinion on abortion (American Perspectives Survey, 2023).
Dating Apps Respond: Emerging dating services help people find others with shared political beliefs. Right-wing dating app The Right Stuff (US) lets users specify their religion – but not pronouns – in their profiles. For its “patriotic” right-wing audience, French app Droite au Coeur ensures a connection with someone “who looks like you” by manually checking every profile. Meanwhile, Brazilian dating app Lefty targets progressive singles who value social welfare, diversity and sustainability.

Mainstream apps must also address politics. Bumble offers a voter profile badge for registered voters in the US, OkCupid questions users on their political views to construct profiles, and both Hinge and Match let romantic hopefuls display their political alignments.

See Dating’s New Intimacy Equation for more.