I don't agree 100% with any of my social circle, but I would say it's probably 75% liberal, 5% conservative and 20% moderate. A lot of that has to do with my industry, my grad school friends tend to be much more liberal than my other friends.
Our friends are all over the map with how they identify themselves (Rs, Ds, Libertarians, Independent, Moderate, etc.), but for the most part we all agree on certain things, which is probably partially due to our age (gay marriage, for example). And the things we disagree on are more that we disagree on the solution, not so much that there is an issue, if that makes sense. I would say that more of us tend Libertarian than anything else.
Upwards of (I'd guess) 40% of people who I see on the regular, who I consider 'friends' (and not just people who I run into at PTA (if you KWIM) are conservative. And not just "compared to me" conservative...
One of our closest friend couples, she's a very liberal British expat, he's intensely conservative (like, posting a "now we know who the RINO's are" rant, post standoff).
Our best 'family friend' is rural-WA conservative... I guess kinda 'redneck Conservative'. Her husband is military and also very conservative. Her kids and their friends are all very conservative (like, many of the crazy racist anti-Obama stuff I get on FB is from that group).
etc.
...but it's offset by the remainder of my IRL friends... commie socialist greenie types.
ETA: for a huge percentage of my lefty friends, I'm not lefty enough. I drive a minivan and have a Keurig, so I obviously hate the earth. Seriously. I've had the conversation.
My friends, probably 80-90% moderate to liberal, similar to me, though with many friends, we don't even talk about it, so I can't be sure.
Family is a different story. In my extended family, most of who live nearby, I am one of the most liberal. I even have a tea party aunt that hosts Thanksgiving. My dad and mom came of age as republicans and stayed that way, my brother leans somewhere independent but slightly more con than me.
Post by EloiseWeenie on Nov 6, 2013 22:12:24 GMT -5
A little bit of everything. Most of my friends work in ministry, and they're still all over the place- some don't give a rip about politics, most are moderate, few are FAR right, one is the daughter of a democratic state senator (recently retired).
About 60% are traditional republicans, 30% are traditional democrats, and 10%, mostly Facebook friends, are libertarian (the real ones, not the tea party wannabes that don't understand what the word libertarian means). Unfortunately, about 85-90% of my friends disagree with me on noninterventionism, which is one of the leanings I feel most strongly about. I keep quiet on that.
Post by EllieArroway on Nov 6, 2013 22:25:12 GMT -5
Probably around 60-70% of my friends and almost all of my family are conservative. However, most of my friends are socially moderate or liberal, even if they vote R. I can't think of anyone that I hang out with in real life regularly (other than family) who is against gay marriage, for example. At least not anyone who has admitted it. Our real disagreements are about the size/role of government and how it should collect & spend money.
It's roughly 50/50 mix of dems and repubs. Everyone more or less sits along the RATIONAL political spectrum and our conversations are quite civil.
If you add family in, the balance trends more 70/30 republican/democrat with the spectrum swinging much more heavily to the wingnut right and conversations on politics are to be avoided at all cost.
Not sure. Most of my circle isn't political and we don't discuss politics. I can tell from certain FB posts where some do them they lie, though. Definitely have friends who are different from me politically based on that alone. But again, it doesn't spill over IrL.
My very closest friends and I do discuss politics often but we are all liberal (save for one Republican who is socially liberal)
"Not gonna lie; I kind of keep expecting you to post one day that you threw down on someone who clearly had no idea that today was NOT THEIR DAY." ~dontcallmeshirley
About 46-46 even between con and lib, with the remaining 8% being indies like myself. I like the balance as it makes for critical thinking and assessing arguments from all sides.
I'm a bit more liberal than many of my friends. I know my friends in the Baby Boomer generation tend to lean Republican and we have a silent agreement not to discuss certain topics. But there are also difference between my friends here on the east coast and those back home on the west coast.
Hmmm. I don't think anyone disagrees with me 100%. I have some staunch republican and libertarian friends (probably about 20% of my local friend group), but they're all socially liberal and agnostic/atheist.
Across friends throughout the last 10 years? It's skewed more liberal as I've aged, but I have many extremely close and extremely conservative friends. I just don't see myself in the place to make friends with people like that post-college b/c I feel our paths won't necessarily cross, nor will we feel as comfortable challenging and debating each other the way college kids do.
In my family, I'm the damn liberal. My sister is moderate which, in my family, makes her a damn liberal, too. She's just quieter than I
I'm not opposed to diversifying, but I don't even know where I'd meet one. There just has not ever been Republicans anywhere that I've worked, and almost none where I've studied. My husband's path is not unlike mine - liberal schools, career in liberal area, etc.
My BFF from law school was a Republican, like campaigning for Bush in 2004 Republican, but slowly switched to independent during law school. Judging by her facebook statuses from the last couple years, she is now an Obama supporter.
And my very liberal BFF from college is married to an uber-conservative guy. Among other things, he's anti-gay marriage and has been published in prominent conservative publications. They live in NYC though, so I have only met him three times. We have gotten along well when I've met him, so I guess if I lived closer, then him.
That's all I've got, at least to the right of me. I know plenty that are to the left, but I'm guessing that's not what you were asking.
Now when I say, "I'm not close-minded, some of my best friends are Republicans", you will know I am lying. LOL.
I really don't know. I dislike talking politics with friends, for fear I'll disagree with them. For example, we had some good friends years ago. When I was pregnant with Ben, they busted out the rabid pro-life rhetoric. "Now that you're pregnant, don't you agree abortion is MURDER?!? Here, look at some pictures of aborted fetuses and agree with us!" I don't think we've hung out with them since. Recently, I discovered that a potential mom friend is an antivaxxer. She's no longer a potential friend. I much prefer not knowing what people really think about certain issues. I like them better that way.
That makes me seem kind of snotty, huh? I'm really not. I have friends that I'm sure are conservative, but I don't want to get into political arguments that will fundamentally change the way I think about them. Like the Vice President of my former employer who revealed he was a birther. I can't respect someone like that.
I have no idea because I don't like discussing politics with my friends or neighbors. Passing references are made to current events and one or two individuals post things on FB, but that is all. I honestly couldn't even tell you the political affiliation of my two best friends; we never once discussed politics* in all the years we've known one another.
*ETA: this isn't quite right. We have discussed politics but in neutral terms, usually involving stupidity that is offensive to persons of any political persuasion. Philadelphia politicians and their general inept, corrupt nature provide ample fodder in this regard.
The people I hang out with regularly are overwhelmingly conservative. Of my acquaintances, or less close friends like play date people... maybe 40% are non-conservative. Family is about 50/50 but most of them live out of state so I don't see them often.
Ha, a surprising amount. My brothers both trend toward the conservative side of the spectrum (the one because he hates government across the board, so he does not like Republicans either, and I think he voted for Obama because of the social issues, because he thinks all politicians suck when it comes to things like privacy, economics, etc, and the other because he is a doctor in a very conservative area in a practice where one of the docs is the head of the committee for tort reform or something for md. he hates medicare and medicaid).
I am also really really liberal, so usually I am the most liberal person in the room, even here in Maryland (where people are all Dems but not necessarily liberal). My parents are fairly liberal but skew conservative in some areas, and we have a lot of friends who are pretty liberal but are very pro-gun rights, for example, or oppose abortion, etc. So when we are all together it's not some liberal echo chamber. One of my best friends is married to a very conservative guy (who is one of H's best friends) so that makes for interesting dinner conversations.
I only have a handful of friends (maybe 2 or 3?) with whom I align politically across the board.
I'd say about 80% of my social circle is liberal to some degree. Another 10% are fiscally conservative but socially conservative. The remaining 10% are my mom.