Should people from different political parties date?

But indicate that on average, political and social attitudes are as strong a predictor of whether two people will get together and stay together as religion or drinking habits, and a stronger predictor than things like personality types.

Political preferences seem to come packaged with a whole set of other kinds of tastes, with liberals and conservatives having separate preferences when it comes to things such as humor, food and even whether they want poetry to rhyme, according to John Hibbing, coauthor of the forthcoming book Predisposed: Liberals, Conservatives and the Biology of Political Difference.

“It’s not like people sit down and give their mate a political quiz,” he says. “It oozes out as part of this entire life package. If you’re a liberal on social issues, you’re very likely to choose a liberal on social issues as your mate.”