Ideology, Education, and Couple’s Voting Preferences in the 2016 Presidential Election

One nationally representative study tested whether ideology predicted likelihood of people voting for a different candidate from their romantic partner in the 2016 United States presidential election. Extending upon recent research on informational social influence and ideological differences in values, results show that conservatives were more likely to vote for the same candidate as their partner than liberals were, but only for people with little education. This relationship reverses for people with high education such that conservatives were more likely than liberals to vote for a different candidate from their romantic partner. I discuss theoretical implications of these findings when considering the conflict between people’s political views and their loyalty to close relationship partners.