Liberals Increasingly Cite Trump as a Reason to Reject Matches on Dating Apps

Donald Trump has now become a short cut to rejecting (0r selecting) a potential date online.

According to the Sacramento Bee, 60 percent of singles say they are less open to dating someone whose politics differ from theirs than two years ago. Similarly, Match.com recently found that more than nine out of ten liberals judged potential dates negatively for voting for Trump. more than 50% also said they’re more likely to ask potential mates about political views.

This trend, per relations coach Laurie Davis Edwards, is prompted by people “valuing politics much higher as a preference than they were before.”

More people are also online dating than ever before, according to the Pew Research Center. Dating online has nearly tripled since 2013. Last year, fifteen percent of all Americans reported using an online dating site or mobile app.

Pew also found that while Democrats and Republicans are “afraid” of the opposing party, there is a broad agreement that a person’s political beliefs “say a lot about the kind of person they are.” These beliefs seem to be affecting dating across the country.

Julie Spira, a Los Angeles-based online dating coach who created cyberdatingexpert.com says that she has seen “relationships break up and marriages fall apart” because of different opinions on Trump.

Due to all this, some Trump supporters say they’re less inclined to talk about who they voted for. Aleandra Gonzalez, 22, voted for Trump and told the Sacramento Bee that “it’s something that I don’t necessarily say on a first date or even a second date … with such a controversial topic, it’s something that I tend to veer away from.”

This trend might affect anti-Trump users more though. Match.com analyzed dating activity before and after Trump was elected. It found that during January, which they say is typically the most active time for dating platforms, activity declined in the most Democratic counties, but increased in the most Republican counties. Match.com says liberals are signing up at a lower rate, and engaging less on the platforms. On the day of the Women’s March, for examples, Match saw a nearly one-third drop in new sign-ups by women.