POLL: Liberals More Likely to Cut Ties with Friends and Family Over Politics

According to a new national survey from Substack-based magazine The Argument, liberals are far more likely than conservatives to cut ties with friends and family over politics. This trend is likely only to deepen political divides in America, as one side is increasingly unwilling to speak to even blood relatives who disagree with them.

The poll found that 40 percent of Kamala Harris voters say it is acceptable to cut off a family member over political disagreements. Nearly half of young progressives say it is reasonable to sever friendships. By contrast, only 11 percent of Donald Trump voters said the same.

This divide reveals more than partisan differences in dealing with personal relationships. It reflects the metastasizing of identity politics over common humanity in the minds of liberals. By contrast, conservatives are personally modeling a healthier path for America: one rooted in civic responsibility, family duty, and the conviction that our nation grows stronger when we engage rather than shun one another.

A decade ago, liberals prided themselves on their socially diverse networks. A 2014 Pew study found liberals were more likely than conservatives to have close friends who held differing political views. Today, that data point has seemingly reversed. Many progressives, particularly younger ones, now demand ideological conformity as the price of personal connection. The tolerance they once celebrated has given way to suspicion, and suspicion inevitably breeds division.

Why the change? The answer lies in progressives’ embrace of identity politics, which encourages self-aggrandizement above duty to God, family, and country. What many prominent conservatives refer to as the “woke mind virus” produces isolation and fragility, not strength.

Conservatism, by contrast, insists that bonds of kinship and community should endure despite differences. That contrast is decisive, for it is those bonds, not uniformity, that sustain a free and self-governing nation.

The survey numbers also reveal a strategic advantage for conservatives to continue winning elections. President Trump’s 2024 victory showcased a coalition that was broader and more diverse than in 2020 or 2016. He grew his margins among non-college-educated voters, won nearly two-thirds of voters of any denomination who attend church regularly, and made gains in both rural and urban communities. Trump also saw major gains among blacks, Asians, Hispanics, and young voters.

This success was not achieved through ideological purity tests but through outreach. Trump listened to Americans of every background and welcomed them into the conservative fold. That openness reflects the deeper cultural values of conservatives – individuality, personal responsibility, and civic duty. These values make it possible to disagree at the dinner table yet still show up for birthdays, holidays, and weddings.

No ad or algorithm can compete with the influence of trusted relationships. Conservatives who refuse to exile loved ones over politics are doing more than preserving family ties; they are keeping open the channels of persuasion that make democratic self-government work. In the end, the health of the republic rests not on hashtags, but on neighbors willing to remain in conversation with one another.

Progressives, however, increasingly treat politics as a moral litmus test. To the left, political disagreement is tantamount to revealing oneself as intolerant or “dangerous.” According to this mindset, a relative who has differing political views isn’t a loved one to engage in spirited conversation with, but rather a “toxic” presence to be cut off entirely.

This worldview normalizes censorship, exclusion, and ultimately the destruction of the bonds that hold us together as a people. A nation that accepts this mindset cannot long sustain civil society, because it loses the resilience to live and govern together across differences.

Our Founders understood the necessity of reconciliation. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, once allies, became bitter rivals after the Revolution. For 11 years they did not speak. But Adams broke the silence, writing: “You and I ought not to die before We have explained ourselves to each other.” Their renewed friendship endured until the day they both died on July 4, 1826.

Their example teaches that reconciliation is not a weakness but a strength. To preserve our constitutional republic requires more than winning arguments. It requires maintaining bonds of trust even across deep divides. Greatness in America has always been measured not merely by victory, but by the ability to gather in reunion with our fellow countrymen.

The Argument survey results are more than a snapshot of partisan habits. They are a warning sign. A movement that accepts and even encourages cutting off family and friends is corrosive to civic life and the stability of society itself. Conservatives must resist the temptation to mirror such behavior. America does not need rival tribes competing to exile dissenters. It needs people who are able to argue passionately yet still love one another as family and neighbors.

Politics should never outrank kinship or friendship. When it does, we lose more than relationships. We lose the ability to persuade, to learn, and to govern ourselves as one people.

By choosing engagement over abandonment, Trump and conservatives have kept alive the civic bonds that have always made America strong. That is our duty. That is our heritage.

W.J. Lee has served in the White House, NASA, on multiple political campaigns, and in nearly all levels of government. In his free time, he enjoys the “three R’s” – reading, running, and writing.