In an editorial published last week titled, “If Attitudes Don’t Shift, A Political Dating Mismatch Will Threaten Marriage,” The Washington Post’s editorial board points out that political polarization in this country has reached the point where it is now a prominent, often decisive factor in determining who Americans settle on as their potential mates. They emphasize this trend is now so acute it may actually threaten the institution of marriage as a whole. In particular, it seems that Democratic women are rejecting potential Republican suitors not only for marriage but as relationship material, all across the board. The message the editorial conveys—perhaps hyperbolically, perhaps not—is that as a consequence of this shift in attitudes, marriage itself in this country is in jeopardy.
Yeah, I feel like the stereotypical portrayal of marriage in the 50s through, say, the 80s was not particularly positive. Many people I know would rather be single than be in an awful marriage, myself included. I found a good one but if anything happened to him, at this point I doubt I’d even try dating at all.
I think a lot of this has to do with the fact that people are work. So we sit here working 50-60 hour work weeks with one week of PTO and barely enough money to pay for groceries and rent and guess what happens? People get depressed. Discouraged. Exhausted. Sick. Poor. Whatever. The absolute last thing I want to do is have someone tell me about my star sign on tinder and then get stuck in a relationship.
And as a young person, I feel like the older generation doesn’t get it at all. They didn’t have to meticulously plan their future. They could accidentally have a kid at 18 and still buy a house at 23. They aren’t emotionally compatible with their partners most of the time. They just did what was expected of them pretty much.