CNN
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Recognizing that daters are increasingly prioritizing politics when looking for a “mate,” many dating apps are now allowing users to prioritize potential partners based on politics in the lead-up to the election. We have introduced a function that makes it easier to match with.
Last month, Tinder launched its Take Action Center, which introduced profile stickers that let users share whether they would vote or share issues that matter to them. The most popular new stamps are “Hot people vote (I’m vote)” and “Voting for reproduction Rights.”
Abortion rights will be on the ballot in 10 states next month, as the issue remains a hot political issue.
“We’re serious about protecting reproductive freedom because we believe it has a profound impact on dating and relationships,” said Stephanie Dunge, Tinder’s senior vice president of global marketing. said.
“What’s really important is making sure[app users]understand what’s at risk,” she added.
The Take Action Center also features a partnership with Vote.org, a nonpartisan voter registration organization, to provide users with election-related information such as polling locations and voter registration deadlines.
Meanwhile, OkCupid has added more than a dozen new matching questions that focus on voter behavior and help surface more relevant profiles to users. Questions added in January included, “Will you vote in the 2024 presidential election?” “What are the most important issues to you in the 2024 presidential election?” “Is it a deal breaker for your date to vote for a different candidate than you in the 2024 presidential election?” ”
These questions mark a shift in strategy for the app, which previously featured policy- and candidate-specific questions such as “Is climate change real?” And after the 2016 election, one of OkCupid’s matching questions was simply “Trump?” Users could choose between “Yes,” “Yes,” “No,” and “Definitely No,” with nearly 75% of respondents choosing the last option.
Michael Kay, director of brand marketing and communications at OkCupid, said: The new direction stems from a change in the way users talk about politics. From conversations centered around Joe Biden vs. Donald Trump heading into 2020, to broader discussions “focused on what’s going on in the world” heading into November of this year.
“We really wanted to be very careful about the questions we added to the app and make sure we didn’t add questions that would push people further away than they already are,” Kaye told CNN. .
According to the Pew Research Center, registered voters in the U.S. are split almost evenly between the two parties, but OkCupid daters tend to be more liberal. However, according to OkCupid data, 44% of users who chose to answer matching questions about political beliefs chose between “politically liberal,” “politically moderate,” and “politically conservative” options. Of these, I selected “Other”.
The app itself takes a progressive stance on political issues, and currently bears the “I’m Pro-Choice” badge, which was first introduced in 2021 (OkCupid is also a member of Planned Parenthood as part of its launch). (I donated).
“Our thought process for matching questions is that if you’re talking about it with your friends, if you’re talking about it with your family or colleagues, most of the time you’re talking about it on a date,” Kaye said. spoke.
For Ashley Houghton, 29, dating someone who doesn’t share her political beliefs is “100% a deal breaker” and when she was talking to a potential partner on a dating app, she felt “all of a sudden… ” He brought up politics.
“My opening line is, ‘What do you think about these issues?'” said Horton, who lives in California and works in communications, adding that the person’s response can tell whether or not to continue the conversation. Ta.
These features echo what young daters were already doing to exclude potential partners, such as including “#BLM” on dating app profiles to show support for the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020. Associate Professor of Sociology Lisa Wade pointed out that it is based on At Tulane University, her research focuses on the social and sexual lives of undergraduate students.
Wade said younger daters are more likely to prioritize shared political values as vaccines and health mandates have become politicized during the pandemic, and the death of George Floyd sparked widespread protests. He added that he had become stronger.
“Students who want to be wary of the coronavirus have, for the first time, started asking potential sexual partners (mostly those they meet on apps) about their level of coronavirus alertness… ) were aligned with politics,”’ Wade said. “They decided that even if we were just talking about relationships, it was important to them. Politics has never been more important to them.”
Casey Klofstad, a political science professor at the University of Miami, warns that political polarization in dating is a microcosm of a larger problem. People choose to “isolate themselves from unpleasant opinions” and are increasingly able to do so, he said.
“We can customize our daily lives, whether it’s the media we consume, the leisure activities we participate in, or the people we associate with socially or romantically,” Klovstad said. “I fear that the more we do that, the more we will deepen the rift that already exists between us.”
CNN has reached out to Hinge, Grindle and right-wing dating site Christian Mingle, but did not receive a response.
In a statement, Bumble shared the results of its own recent survey, stating that 48% of respondents said that “while knowing someone romantically, it’s important to talk about important social issues, such as voting or social causes you care about.” “I understand that this is the case,” he said. This is to measure compatibility and shared values. ”
The Right Stuff, an app created in 2022 for conservative daters, also wants to create an environment that caters to shared values.
The app, co-founded by Project 2025 strategist and former Donald Trump aide John McEntee, features political prompts like “My Favorite Liberal Lie” and “January 6th?” , the user can fill in the blanks. However, the app’s executives stressed that the app is “not overtly political in nature.”
Raquel Debono, the app’s director of marketing and communications, insists that “politics rarely gets in the way” on The Right Stuff.
“Our essential purpose with this app is to unite conservatives, and they’re politically aligned, so the biggest filter kind of serves that purpose,” Debono said. .
The app hasn’t rolled out any election-specific features yet, but Debono said the team is considering sending out explosive messages asking users if they’ve registered to vote. They are also using current political events to try to curry favor with young conservatives on social media, especially TikTok. TikTok has 3.3 million followers, more than three times the number on Tinder and OkCupid combined. The Right Stuff currently has 70,000 active users, according to the app.
De Bono recognizes that political concerns are important to daters, especially ahead of the presidential election.
“Political alignment is increasingly becoming a non-negotiable factor for many people on a date,” De Bono said. “I think this election year kind of highlights how Americans have placed political alignment at the center of their identity, and…the awareness and visibility of some of the divisions in our country. It just increases.”
“That’s not a good or bad thing, but it’s the reality we live in,” she added.
