A new YouGov survey finds that Americans are much more likely to agree than to disagree with the political views of their partners, friends, family, and coworkers. The agreement is strongest between romantic partners: About three-quarters of partnered Americans say they and their partner completely or mostly agree about politics. Americans don't talk often about politics with other people — especially those they disagree with.
Among Americans who are in romantic relationships, one-third (33%) say they and their partner completely agree about politics. Slightly more (39%) say they mostly agree with their partner about politics, 33% say they sometimes agree and sometimes disagree, 3% mostly disagree, and 3% completely disagree.
Fewer Americans with the following relations in their lives say they completely agree about politics with their immediate family members (16%), friends (8%), extended family members (6%), and coworkers (4%).
60% of Americans who describe their political viewpoint as liberal say they and their friends completely (15%) or mostly (46%) agree about politics. 36% of moderates and 46% of conservatives say the same. Only 2% of liberals, 6% of moderates, and 8% of conservatives say they completely or mostly disagree with their friends about politics.
People who identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual are more likely than those who identify as heterosexual to say they and their friends agree about politics (67% vs. 42%).
YouGov polling from October 2019 found similar results: 13% said they and all of their friends had similar political views and 37% said most of their friends had similar political views to their own.
Among Americans who are in romantic relationships, 72% say they and their partner completely or mostly agree about politics. Republicans are more likely than Democrats to say they and their partner completely agree about politics (45% vs. 34%).
Among Americans with romantic partners, those over 65 are more likely than younger adults to say they and their partners completely agree politically (44% vs. 30%). 22% of adults under 30 say they and their partners agree completely; the majority (55%) say they mostly agree with their partners politically.
Around half (48%) of Americans say they and their immediate family members completely (16%) or mostly (32%) agree about politics. 31% say they sometimes agree and sometimes disagree. Only 12% say they mostly (8%) or completely (4%) disagree about politics, and 3% don't have any immediate family members.
Conservatives are slightly more likely than liberals to say they and their immediate family completely agree about politics (57% vs. 51%). 43% of moderates say the same.
Americans are less likely to mostly or completely agree with their extended family about politics than with their immediate family (29% vs. 48%). Conservatives (40%) are more likely than liberals (25%) and moderates (24%) to say they and their extended family members agree about politics.
26% of employed Americans say they completely or mostly agree with their coworkers’ political views. 33% say they sometimes agree and sometimes disagree; 10% say they mostly or completely disagree. About one-quarter (23%) are not sure of their coworkers’ political views and 8% don't have coworkers.
Many Americans don’t often have in-person or online political discussions with people who have different political opinions. One-third (33%) say they very often or somewhat often have an in-person political discussion with someone who has different political views than their own. About twice as many (65%) say this happens to them not very often (33%) or not at all often (32%). It’s even rarer for people to have political discussions online with someone who has a different view: 22% say they do so somewhat or very often and 76% say it’s not very often or not at all often that this happens.
Democrats are very slightly more likely than Republicans to say they often have online political discussions with people who have different political opinions (26% vs. 20%). Democrats and Republicans are similarly likely to say they have in-person political discussions with people who have different views (37% vs. 33%).
Hispanic Americans (44%) are more likely than white Americans (32%) and Black Americans (29%) to say they often have political discussions with someone who has views different from their own. Hispanic Americans (30%) are also more likely than white Americans (21%) and Black Americans (18%) to have online conversations with people who have different political views.
More Americans are often having political conversations with people who have the same views, but it’s still not widespread. Online, 13% say they’re having these conversations very often and 17% are having them somewhat often. In person, 25% say they very often discuss politics with people who have the same political views and 33% do this somewhat often.
Democrats are more likely than Republicans to very or somewhat often have political discussions with people who share their views online (41% vs. 27%). The same is true for in-person interactions, though the gap is much smaller (69% vs. 61%).
Related:
- How do Democrats and Republicans feel about the two parties?
- Fewer than half of Americans would date across party lines
- Republicans are more willing than Democrats to date someone from the other party
See the results for this YouGov survey
— Carl Bialik and Taylor Orth contributed to this article
Methodology: This article includes results from an online survey conducted on October 14 - 16, 2025 among 1,131 U.S. adult citizens. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of adult U.S. citizens. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2024 presidential vote, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. 2024 presidential vote, at time of weighting, was estimated to be 48% Harris and 50% Trump. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given around November 8, 2024, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (31% Democratic, 32% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 4%.
Image: Getty
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