A new YouGov survey on political views and personal relationships finds that the adage is mostly true, at least politically: Birds of a feather flock together. Americans are much more likely to say they agree with their romantic partners, their friends, their families and their coworkers politically than to say they disagree with them.
Among Americans who are in romantic relationships, 27% say they and their romantic partner completely agree about politics. 42% say they mostly agree, 23% say they sometimes agree and sometimes disagree, 3% say they mostly disagree, and only 2% say they completely disagree with their partner about politics.
Democrats (33%) and Republicans (29%) are more likely than Independents (19%) to say they completely agree with their partner politically.
Republican women are more likely than Republican men to say they and their partner completely agree about politics (36% vs. 23%).
Republicans in relationships are less likely now than they were in October 2025 to say they and their partner completely agree about politics (29% vs. 45%).
Few Americans (6%) say they and their friends completely agree about politics. 36% of Americans — including 50% of Democrats and 41% of Republicans — say they mostly agree with their friends about politics. 45% of Americans say they sometimes agree and sometimes disagree with their friends about politics. Only 4% say they mostly disagree with their friends about politics and a mere 1% say they completely disagree with their friends about politics.
Americans who have a college degree are more likely than those without a college degree to say they and their friends completely or mostly agree about politics (50% vs. 38%).
12% of Americans say they and their immediate family members completely agree about politics and 33% say they mostly agree. 34% say they sometimes agree and sometimes disagree. 8% of Americans say they mostly disagree with their immediate family about politics and 4% say they completely disagree.
Democrats (59%) and Republicans (52%) are more likely than Independents (29%) to say they completely or mostly agree with their immediate family members about politics.
7% of Americans say they completely agree with their extended family members about politics. 22% mostly agree, 42% sometimes agree and sometimes disagree, and 10% mostly disagree. Few (4%) say they completely disagree with their extended family members about politics.
Democrats are about twice as likely as Republicans to say they mostly or completely disagree with their extended family about politics (17% vs. 7%).
Among people who are working full- or part-time, 6% say they and their coworkers completely agree about politics. 20% — including 28% of Democrats and 18% of Republicans — say they and their coworkers mostly agree about politics. 45% say they sometimes agree and sometimes disagree about politics. 6% say they mostly disagree with their coworkers about politics, and 1% say they completely disagree about politics. 20% say they are not sure to what extent they and their coworkers agree or disagree about politics.
Many Americans don’t often have in-person or online political discussions with people who have different political opinions. One-third (33%) say they very often or somewhat often have an in-person political discussion with someone who has different political views than their own. About twice as many (63%) say this happens to them not very often (33%) or not at all often (31%).
It’s slightly less common for people to have political discussions online with someone who has a different view: 25% say they do so somewhat or very often and 70% say this happens not very or not at all often.
Overall, 55% of Americans say they rarely have both kinds of political discussions with someone with a different view: not very or not all often online and also not very or not at all often in person. Only 40% have regular political discussion very or somewhat often with someone with different political views, either online or in person.
In October 2025, fewer Republicans said they often have a political discussion online with someone who has views different from their own (20% then, 31% now).
Related:
- Americans generally agree about politics with the people closest to them — and don't talk politics much with people they disagree with
- Nearly half of Americans would be totally unwilling to date someone with opposing views on transgender rights
- How Americans’ personal relationships affect their voting behavior
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 July 23 - 27, 2026 among 1,113 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 4 percentage points.
Image: Getty (J Studios)
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