A new YouGov survey explores which topics are most likely to be the subject of Americans' arguments with their romantic partners and how they feel about their sex lives.
The topic that Americans in relationships are most likely to say they argue about, among 22 included in the poll, is tone of voice or attitude — 36% say they sometimes argue with a partner about this. Other common topics of disagreement include communication styles (29%), money (26%), emotional needs (23%), life decisions (21%), and household chores (21%).
Women are more likely than men to say they and their partner sometimes argue about tone of voice (41% vs. 29%), household chores (27% vs. 15%), and amount of quality time spent together (23% vs. 11%).
Unmarried Americans who are in a relationship and living together are more likely than married Americans to say they and their partner sometimes argue about emotional needs (43% vs. 18%), money (40% vs. 28%), household chores (37% vs. 21%), and the amount of quality time spent together (29% vs. 12%).
People who are in serious relationships but don’t live together are much less likely than married or cohabitating people to argue about money (9%) and household chores (9%).
Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say they and their partner sometimes have arguments about life decisions (32% vs. 17%) and work or careers (14% vs. 8%). Republicans are more likely than Democrats to say they and their partner argue about politics (15% vs. 6%) and drug or alcohol use (12% vs. 6%).
Among Americans in relationships, 21% say they have arguments or disagreements with their partner at least once a week. About as many (22%) say they have arguments a few times a month, 10% say this happens once a month, 22% say it happens a few times a year, and 22% say it happens less often than a few times a year — including 5% who say they never argue.
Among people who are in romantic or sexual relationships, 57% say they have sex at least a few times a month, including 29% who say they have sex a few times a week or more. Among Americans who are not in romantic or sexual relationships, 11% say they have sex at least a few times a month.
About three-quarters (76%) of 30- to 44-year-olds who are in a romantic or sexual relationship say they have sex at least a few times a month. Smaller shares of the adults under 30 (62%) and 45 or older (47%) who are currently in relationships say the same.
A majority (57%) of Americans say they are somewhat satisfied (27%) or very satisfied (30%) with their current sex life. Among people currently in romantic or sexual relationships, 69% say they’re satisfied with their current sex life, including 36% who are very satisfied. Men and women in relationships are equally likely to be satisfied with their sex life (70% vs. 68%), as are men and women not in relationships (38% vs. 40%).
Among people who have sex at least once a week, the vast majority (92%) say they are somewhat or very satisfied with their sex life. Most people (70%) who have sex a few times a month or once a month say they're satisfied, as do 46% of people who have sex a few times a year or less often. One-third (32%) of people who never have sex say they’re satisfied with their sex life.
43% of Americans — including 51% of men and 36% of women — say they would prefer to have sex more often. Only 5% say they would like to have sex less often, and 34% say they’re content with the amount of sex they're currently having.
Among people who say they have sex at least once a week, 38% would prefer to have sex more often and 56% are happy with the amount of sex they’re having. Among people who have sex a few times a month or once a month, 54% would prefer to be having sex more often. About half (54%) of people who have sex a few times a year or less often would like to do so more often.
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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 January 29 - February 1, 2026 among 1,114 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, 33% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 4 percentage points.
Image: Getty (Tara Moore)
