Steve Ward, a Philly native and the 36-year-old CEO of the national matchmaking firm Master Matchmakers, said dating has become “much more polarizing” since the 2016 presidential election. He said these days, it’s more often that politics takes precedence over traditional dating criteria like physical chemistry, religion, and geography.

“There was always a rule that you shouldn’t talk about politics on a first date, but now it’s almost impossible for people not to express themselves and not know what the other person believes,” Ward said. “People on opposite sides at this point have lost the civility of being able to agree to disagree.”

There are some data to support this, according to Melissa Hobley, the chief marketing officer of OKCupid. She said the app prompts every user to respond to the question: “Do you enjoy discussing politics?” In the last year, OKCupid saw a more than 50 percent increase in those who marked the question as important to them.