This partisan division is certainly a departure from America’s past. Yet, this does not appear to be solely a Trump-induced phenomenon.
“In 1960, a mere 5 percent of Republican parents would have objected to [a child marrying someone of a different political party], according to a 2014 Vox article (citing research published in a 2012 paper by Shanto Iyengar, Gaurav Sood, and Yphtach Lelkes), “but by 2010, 49 percent said they’d be displeased.”
Comparing parents’ preferences regarding their children’s spouses with college students’ preferences doesn’t map perfectly, but the trend is clear. What also seems clear is that this trend did not begin with Trump’s 2015 escalator ride announcing his presidential candidacy.
Once again, Trump seems to be as much of a symptom of this trend as he is a cause or accelerant of it.
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