They’re happily married, they just can’t stand each other’s candidates

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Politically mixed marriages are a dwindling species in America. And this election season, these couples are finding it even harder to avoid a blowup.

Irwin and Denise Weinberg were sure the neighbors could hear them yelling at each other one recent evening. Denise, a lifelong Republican, was trying to convince her husband, a Democrat-turned-independent, to vote for Donald Trump. “I don’t want to talk about it!" Irwin shouted at his wife.

“I’m going to bed," she fired back. Welcome to divided marriage in 2024. Some couples are trying, unsuccessfully, to avoid discussing politics.

Others are attempting to defuse the tension with humor or shared interests. Many are counting the days until Nov. 5, hoping the drama will dissipate.

There isn’t a lot of data on politically mixed marriages, but researchers believe the numbers are declining in the U.S. According to the most recent analysis from the Institute for Family Studies, a conservative think tank, just 21% of American marriages were politically mixed in 2020, down from about 30% in 2016. Of the current mixed pairings, just about 4% were between Democrats and Republicans—most couplings included an independent.

This shift mirrors a larger trend: Like increasingly marries like. In recent years, a growing share of American husbands and wives are roughly the same age and earn about the same, according to the Pew Research Center. The move toward political homogamy doesn’t seem likely to reverse itself any time soon.