“Stressful and frustrating”: Poll shows Democrats can’t tolerate talking with Trump voters

The poll found that 68 percent of Democrats and leaning Democrats say it is “stressful and frustrating” to talk politics with those who have a different opinion of Donald Trump. Only 28 percent of them found those same conversations to be “interesting and informative.”
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Alternatively, when you ask the same question to Republicans of those who lean Republican, the poll found that 52 percent get stressed and frustrated while 42 percent find them interesting and informative.

​Source: Red Alert Politics

(Photo via Twitter/Zeninjor Enwemeka)

Let's be fair... this is nothing new. One of the age old stressers is political talk around the Thanksgiving table. 

No one likes having a heated political debate with someone with opposing views, and 99% of the time, even the most civil conversations get really heated eventually. 

I have liberal friends. I had one in college that was the absolute dream of anyone who likes to talk politics. We didn't agree on a damn thing... politics, religion, you name it, we disagreed. But we spent hours upon hours talking with each other, and not once did our conversations ever even get heated, let alone become a stressful, frustrating argument. I don't know why. But we sought each other out and had the best conversations I ever had in my entire life. I search desperately to find someone like him now to no avail. We learned from each other, taught each other, and got a great view into the opposite side without ever inflicting damage points on our friendship.

Right now, I have a sort of friend who is a supreme liberal. I mean, ultra, ultra left wing academic type. We met online a good 15 years ago; he started following a blog I was doing back then, and what drew him to that blog, I will never know. We talk about writing and literature. Never politics. I think maybe once we got into a political conversation. Now, though... we both post political stuff online, and neither one of us comments on them. We just sort of leave each other be. And I think right now that's the best you can hope for. 

On the other side. When I was working for a gun store, they hired this woman. I have no idea why she applied for or accepted this job, but she was there for a while, until the store closed. She was an ultra liberal, too. She was anti-gun. Working in a gun store, yeah. She was the bookkeeper or something. I'm not sure what the hell she did. But we were all a friendly bunch - at the time; that group eventually showed themselves to be full of it - and spent time together. We all went out after work, went to events together, ate lunch together. And we always invited her. She always refused to come along because, as she put it, she couldn't stand listening to our politics. We never talked about politics. At all. Ever. But she didn't want to hear that, either. Obviously, that's all we talked about. But she wasn't even willing to hear anything that opposed her views. She wouldn't follow any of us on Facebook, she never went out with us, she never even ate lunch in the break room. It was ridiculous. She was the only person working there who was really, truly miserable, and she even admitted that it was because no one talked to her. But she wouldn't let us. 

What it comes down to is... what can you stand? How mature can you be? Are you willing to devalue the person because you don't agree on everything 100%? Are you willing to find some form of common ground? Are you willing to open your mind and hear someone out, maybe teach them about how you feel and what you believe? You could be missing out on some great friendships, and you could be missing out on some of the best conversations of your life. But you have to be willing to open your mind. Having everyone around you constantly agreeing gets really boring, don't you think?

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