Some couples don’t see eye-to-eye on everything. A new YouGov survey finds that most Americans can tolerate differences in preferred music or TV shows, but many are not willing to date someone with opposing views on political topics such as transgender rights or the January 6, 2021 Capitol attack. Among Democrats, women, adults under 45, and people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or another orientation, the greatest shares say that if they were single and dating they wouldn't date someone with opposing views on Donald Trump — more than for any of the 14 other topics asked about in the poll.
44% of Americans say if they were single and dating, they would be not at all willing to date someone who held opposing views on transgender rights. 43% would be not at all willing to date someone who had opposing views on Donald Trump. Many say the same for the Capitol attack (39%), diversity, equity and inclusion (37%), abortion (37%), and gender roles (37%).
Among the biggest gaps between Democrats and Republicans: 68% of Democrats and 24% of Republicans would be not at all willing to date someone with opposing views on Trump, if they were single and dating. 57% of Democrats and 28% of Republicans would be not at all willing to date someone with opposing views on the Capitol attack. 44% of Democrats and 18% of Republicans would be totally unwilling to date someone with opposing views on vaccines.
Women are more likely than men to say they would not be willing to date someone with opposing views on Trump (51% vs. 34%), abortion (44% vs. 29%), and gender roles (43% vs. 30%), if they were single and dating.
Americans 65 and older are more likely than younger Americans to say that, if they were single and dating, they’d be unwilling to date people with opposing views on many topics, including Trump (55% vs. 39%), the Capitol attack (53% vs. 35%), gun control (41% vs. 27%) and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (31% vs. 21%).
People who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or another orientation are more likely than people who identify as heterosexual to say they would be not at all willing to date someone with opposing views on Trump (62% vs. 40%), if they were single and dating. They’re also more likely to say they wouldn't willing to date someone with opposing views on abortion (56% vs. 35%) or diversity, equity, and inclusion (54% vs. 35%).
Americans are more willing to compromise in their dating on more leisurely topics, such as sports, music, and food. Majorities say that if they were single and dating, they would be very or somewhat willing to date someone who held opposing preferences on TV and movies (78%), music (76%), sports (73%), and food (73%). Far fewer (48%) would date someone with opposing preferences on pets; nearly as many (46%) say they would be not very (26%) or not at all (20%) willing to date someone who had opposing preferences on pets. 6% or fewer say they would be not at willing to date someone with opposing preferences on TV and movies, music, sports, or food.
Americans 45 and older are twice as likely as younger adults to say they would be not at all willing to date someone with opposing views on pets (26% vs. 13%).
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- What do Americans think are the keys to a successful relationship?
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 March 27 - 30, 2025 among 1,109 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 (Paul Bradbury)
