They say opposites attract, but new data from YouGov suggests that might not always be the case.
In a poll of more than 13,000 US adults, we asked Americans if they considered themselves to be more introverted or extroverted, and the same question about their romantic partner.
One-third of Americans (32%) consider themselves more on the extroverted side of the spectrum, with 9% of these saying they are “completely extroverted.” Around half of Americans (52%) say they’re more introverted, with 12% calling themselves “completely introverted.”
As for their partners, extroverts tend to flock together. Among those who describe themselves as “completely extroverted,” 43% say their partner is too. Nearly one in five of these extreme extroverts say their partner is “more extroverted than introverted” (17%), or “more introverted than extroverted” (17%), and fewer (7%) say their partner is the complete opposite, that is to say, “complete introverted.”
Among those who consider themselves “more extroverted than introverted”, only 8% say their partner is “completely extroverted.” About one-third (32%) of this group says their partner is the same level of extroverted as they are, but just as many (31%) say their partner is on the other side of the line, meaning they are “more introverted than extroverted.” Just 6% say their partner is “completely introverted,” and one in five (20%) say they do not have a partner.
Americans who consider themselves “more introverted than extroverted” tend to have a partner who is the same as them (30%). But about a quarter (26%) say their partner is “more extroverted than introverted.” Fewer members of this group have a partner who is either “completely introverted (7%)” or “completely extroverted (6%),” and about three in 10 (28%) do not have a romantic partner.
As for those who describe themselves as “completely introverted,” a higher percentage (42%) say they do not have a partner. One in nine complete introverts (11%) says their partner is the opposite of them: a “complete extrovert.” Another 16% say their partner is “more extroverted than introverted,” while a similar number (15%) say their partner is “more introverted than extroverted.” Among those who self-describe as “complete introverts,” 14% say their partner is too.
See full results here.
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Methodology: 13,507 US adults were surveyed June 16 – 23, 2021. The responding sample is weighted to be representative of the US population.
Image: Gender Spectrum Collection
