They say "opposites attract".
And indeed, when love is strong enough, two people can learn to live with each other in spite of their differences.
Sometimes, however, a difference of opinion or lifestyle may prove too strong, and even if there is abundant love, remaining together is just untenable.
Particularly in this divisive, partisan world in which we are currently living.
Redditor No-Volume7623 was curious to hear more stories of couples whose relationships ended owing to political differences, leading them to ask:
"Have you ever heard of a relationship that ended mainly because they had different political views? What happened?"
No Details Needed
"2nd hand knowledge of a relationship between a Russian guy and a Romanian girl that ended after Russia invaded Ukraine."
- ConcentrateVast2356
It's The Bigger Picture That Matters
"You don't have to agree on every single issue, but you have to share a similar worldview and set of values."
"I assume there are couples who can be together regardless, but I can't imagine my significant other would see the world in a completely different light than me."- Sugar_lipssx
As If The Fork In The Road They Hit Wasn't Bad Enough!
"Yeah, I heard it through the wall."
"My neighbor was arguing with her husband about politics."
"I ended up walking out the door and saw her husband running out of the flat with a fork in his shoulder."
"He ran out of the entryway and was never seen again."- Natural-Hold-7259
The More You Know...
"Yeah! Mine!"
"First girlfriend was religious, I knew that going in."
"However, over three years we never really talked about religion or politics."
"It just didn't come up and we were more interested in each other than worrying about all that."
"Then, I guess sometime around 2016, Obama's name was brought up."
"Not even a judgement call, more of a 'he exists' kind of thing."
"Well she then gives me a 'Ugh, Obama.... that terrorist'."
"Excuse me?"
"'Yeah, his middle name is Hussein, he's a terrorist'."
"And then from then on we just COULD not have a conversation that didn't devolve into an argument."
"And so so many of our arguments ended with her going 'well the bible says _____, so....'"
"Things finally came to a head when she started fishing around the idea of marriage."
"Now, we were arguing practically every convo, so obviously, I wasn't feeling that."
"So it came down to me saying I wouldn't consider marriage until we live together, and she wouldn't consider living together unless we were married."
"At that impasse we decided to break it off."
"She then went off the Alt-Right deep end, so it was probably for the best."
"So now, I tend towards finding out someone's politics and religious beliefs way earlier than most say is normal."
"Oh well."- Claymorbmaster
Same Side, Different Beliefs
"Slightly different than the other ones here, but:"
"A friend of mine’s parents divorced partially because of her dad cheating on her mom, but partially because of political differences."
"They were actually both conservative, just different kinds of conservative."
"He was an atheistic libertarian who wouldn’t hire black people for his business because 'the statistics show they’re more prone to crime',” while she was a deeply religious evangelical Christian who thought fantasy was satanic and evolution was made up by scientists trying to undermine God."
"Even though they had overlapping political beliefs (like, they’d likely vote for the same person in a given election), he thought everything he believed was grounded in reality and facts and logic, and she believed hers were by divine mandate."
"I’m a leftist, but I could see a similar thing happening with, say, a tankie and an antifa leftist: even though your beliefs allegedly align, they’re coming from different values."- boopbaboop
The Sooner, The Better
"Politics and religion are two things that I make sure we're in agreement on before even the first date."
"Saves everybody a lot of time and strife down the line."- spidermanngp
Hannah Disagree GIF by HannahWittonGiphy
Her Body, Her Choice.
"My Mother's friend was always a vocal Feminist, and her Husband was always 'Quietly Conservative' until his partner had to have an abortion for medical reasons."
"He brought her home the day after the procedure, and he left to 'Go to the Shops' and never came back and left her a letter saying how he couldn't be with a murderer, and he hopes she lives a long painful life and that she burns in hell for what she did to his child."
"He tried to reconcile after he finally let someone explain to him what a medical abortion was, and I believe she told him to f*ck off and die."- UsagiJak
You Think You Know Someone
"Only about 4% of marriages have are between a Democrat and a Republican."
"So most of these stories are about finding out you disagree with a partner, not living with a partner you’ve disagreed with."- Metallic52
Sometimes, There Is Definitely A Right Side And A Wrong Side
"I wouldn't say 'broke up' really because it was only a few dates, but I definitely ended things with a guy who revealed his white supremacist and fascist leanings."
"Like actually talked about the 'great ideas' of the Nazi regime, and how we should basically have a white supremacist Christian theocracy in the country."
"To add icing on that cake, I'm mixed race."
"Also not religious."
"He knew those things (I'm obviously not white, plus he met my dad in passing, who is even more obviously not white."
"Religion had briefly come up on the 2nd date)."
"3rd date he had a few drinks and goes full on Nazi loving, misogynistic, theocratic rant."
"Yeah I'm out."- InannasPocket
There's A Time And A Place For Everything
"I'm left, but what would probably be far left on some specific issues but moderate left overall."
"She was pretty far left overall but very into identity politics specifically (having been raised by a 1st gen immigrant family)."
"We didn't really fundamentally disagree on much, but the degree to which our lives revolved around politics was the deal breaker."
"For me it came down to every discussion devolving into politics and there being absolutely no option to disagree or even change the topic bc to her the politics and her idea of herself were the same thing (her own words)."
"We could be talking about the new burrito place and it would end up in a lecture about systemic oppression of people of color."
"It just isn't enjoyable to be unable to talk about anything else or relax a bit."- scmrph
Angry Over It GIF by Team CocoGiphy
2nd Amendment People!
"I saw a relationship like that, from the inside."
"She thought everyone should be forced to be Christian."
"I thought otherwise."- Idiot_Savant_Tinker
No Room For Hatred
"A friend of mine dated this girl for a couple months and she seemed pretty cool."
"One day she wore a MAGA hat to a party."
"We all thought it was an ironic joke (this was before Trump got elected, and a lot of people didn't take him seriously as a candidate... Plus we are Canadian)."
"When people talked to her about it it became very clear that she was dead serious."
"The next day my friend and her had a serious talk about politics."
"He's not an ultra-leftist by any means, and in some ways, he is right-leaning."
"The final straw was when it came out that she had a fake Facebook profile that she used to harass Muslims."
"He broke it off, and she was shocked."- SvenBubbleman
Communication Is Key
"More religious than political."
"She was a Buddhist and believed all was transient and temporary."
"She used this as an excuse to avoid putting in any effort past the honeymoon period and wouldn't commit to an adult relationship where both parties plan for the future."
"This manifested itself as a political difference as well as a religious one, but, really, she was a free love hippie who hadn't grown up enough to cultivate genuine communication skills."- GimpboyAlmighty
saturday night live dancing GIFGiphy
He Literally Ruins Everything!
"Dude I know of at least five women that have gone through divorce after their husbands were radicalized when Trump came on the scene."
"My girlfriend is one of them."
"That's how hard they are to live with once their internal thoughts are externalized because they feel vindicated."- saltymcgee777
We Did Fight For Independence, After All
'I was in the 'talking phase' with someone when I made a comment about how I didn't care about the Royal Wedding between Will and Kate."
"She ghosted me after that and was supposedly horrified at my opinion."
'"We'd have been incompatible, and I'm now very happily married."- FatRascal_
The right to vote and express our opinions is not a universal privilege, so those who have it should not take it for granted.
Just always be prepared that someone might not see eye to eye with you on every issue.
AND DON"T FORGET TO VOTE!!!!!
