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Everyone has a list of red flags when they're dating - things that could strain a relationship, like diverging political views. NPR's Elena Moore talked to young voters about politics and love.
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ELENA MOORE, BYLINE: On a breezy Saturday morning last fall, Penn State student Trevor Keller was walking to send in his ballot. The presidential election was just about a week away, and it was 21-year-old Keller's first time voting.
TREVOR KELLER: It feels exciting. Excited to get to put my opinion out there.
MOORE: By Keller's side is his girlfriend, 19-year-old Rhiannon Costanzo, who goes to another state school and is visiting for the weekend. Neither was excited by the options at the top of the ticket, but in the end, they voted for different candidates. Keller backed then-Vice President Kamala Harris, and Costanzo, she backed President Trump.
RHIANNON COSTANZO: I just felt like for this election, he was sort of the better of the two options, which I know a lot of people are saying that it's sort of like the better of two evils or whatever, which he says a lot (laughter).
MOORE: You say that on the other side?
KELLER: Yeah, you're shoehorned in. Maybe I don't necessarily agree with everything that they're saying, so it's like you just have to pick one.
MOORE: The two don't talk about politics a lot, but when they do, they say it's respectful and it doesn't weigh on their relationship.
COSTANZO: I don't think that you should pick and choose someone either over what party they align with or what their views are. I think it's more important to get to know the individual person and what things in their life have shaped those views.
MOORE: But these two, and their relationship, are not like many in their generation. In fact, a majority of those under 45 say it is important to date or marry someone who shares their political views. That's according to the latest NPR/PBS News/Marist poll. It's something that appears to matter less and less among older generations - 6 in 10 of 18- to 29-year-olds feel that way, compared to just a third of those over 60. Daniel Cox is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and has studied the connection between politics and dating.
DANIEL COX: People in previous generations, they report that they didn't even know the politics of the person they were dating for a good long time 'cause it just wasn't as relevant as other information. You know, do you belong to the same church? What kind of work do you do?
MOORE: Cox says there's been an evolution in how people see politics.
COX: One reason that politics has, I think, become more salient, is for, I think, a lot of people, it becomes an easy shorthand for character or values.
MOORE: Thirty-one-year-old Abby Smith in Texas feels that way. She's a conservative Republican who took part in NPR's survey and says that she shares the same beliefs as her husband.
ABBY SMITH: There used to be, like, political issues and then life issues, but now so many cultural issues are part of politics as well, that essentially, if you had different politics, you would have a completely different world view.
MOORE: She acknowledges that it may depend on how passionate folks are about politics and be less of a deal-breaker for moderates. NPR's poll backs that up. Though a majority of Democrats and Republicans say having a partner with the same politics matters, 60% of independents don't think they need the same politics to have a good partnership. That's how Costanzo and Keller feel. Months into Trump's term, we all caught up.
KELLER: I think if we added, like, stigma around talking about politics, I feel like that'd kind of become honestly worse.
COSTANZO: I think it's nice to kind of throw back and forth our ideas and kind of talk about it. And I think we learn more about each other, too.
MOORE: To them, other things take priority. Here's how they describe their favorite qualities about each other.
COSTANZO: He is very kind and very wonderful in a lot of other ways, but I do very, very much love his humor.
KELLER: Thank you. I have nothing to say. No, I'm just kidding.
COSTANZO: Oh, OK. Oh, OK, OK (laughter).
KELLER: Probably the most kind and caring person I've ever met. She's just always there for me.
MOORE: Even when she jokes with him that her candidate won in the end.
Elena Moore, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF WILL VAN HORN'S "LOST MY MIND") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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