Have you been watching the presidential debates with your spouse? I have first-hand knowledge of how difficult it can be when one spouse has a different view on political topics than the other spouse. This difference in opinions can make it a bit difficult when it comes to election time. To avoid this difficulty, I have just been watching the debates in a separate room from my husband. However, I thought that there must be other ways to get along so I consulted some experts. This is what they had to say:
How to get along with different political views
Sharon Gilchrest O’Neill, Ed.S., LMFT, a licensed marriage and family therapist gives the following ways that you and your spouse can keep the peace during the elections:
- Limit discussion time and give yourselves equal talk time without interruption
- Agree to never try to win the other one over
- When watching political debates, definitely agree to no comments, out loud or under one’s breath
- Do pass on written materials for the other’s possible consumption
- Jot down notes regarding your thoughts of any materials, your points are much more liable to be ‘heard’ this way
Lesli M. W. Doares, MS, LMFT of Balanced Family Therapy and a regular contributor here at Newlywed Survival gives the following tips for when spouses disagree on politics:
- The biggest tip I can give is to find where the two of you are in agreement. Once you have identified common ground, it becomes much easier to be respectful about your differences.
- Keeping a sense of humor is also helpful. It is important to be clear with boundaries about the circumstances for teasing.
- Politics is one area where couples can agree to disagree.
- It’s okay to have discussions as long as they remain intellectual and respectful. Keep away from judgments and personal attacks.
Read Lesli’s latest article on Newlywed Survival: Three Things Couples Need to Do Before Having a Baby.
Do you and your spouse hold opposing political views? How do you handle it?
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Sadly my hubby can careless! Which means we don’t fight over who should win but at the same time it would be nice if he would care about it!
I’ve been watching the debates with my dad and we agree so thankfull no fighting…. well I do have to tell him to be quite he tends to yell a lot when some one says something dumb
my husband and I seem to have similar approaches to politics so we don’t really argue about it. but i just hate how divisive politics can be. the hate that seems to permeate everything from facebook to friendships to television just makes me sick of it. i see posts ALL the time of people saying “i don’t understand how ANYONE could ever vote for (insert name of candiddate here).” ugh.
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I find this to be an interesting post and not because I’m in such a pickle. I don’t think me husband and I would have made it to six months had we differed too greatly, let alone found our way to the alter. He does lean a little further than I, but our fundamentals are solid and equally yoked. I hope that which ever of you is correct can convince the other….Good luck.
My boyfriend and myself have very similar political views, but we differ on a couple issues. However, neither of us is really into politics enough to discuss it very deeply.
My aunt and uncle are actual of different party affiliations, but they’re managed to stay together for… 40 years or so? So, it can be done. They just know that for them (both strongly opinionated) they just can’t talk politics.
We have similar political views, but, uhhh…I tend to get passionate about other things. I could use these tips in other aspects of my life!
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