Navigating romantic connections prior to the election: Prominent dating platforms incorporate novel functions to reveal political preferences
Tinder recently introduced its "Speak Up Hub", featuring profile stickers enabling users to share whether they will be voting and the concerns they care about. The most well-liked stickers amongst this new lot are "Sizzling individuals vote (I'm voting)" and "Voting for reproductive rights".
Abortion rights are up for discussion in 10 states forthcoming, as this topic remains a prominent political contention.
As Stephanie Danzi, senior vice president of global marketing for Tinder, mentioned, "We're firmly dedicated to safeguarding reproductive freedom because we feel it profoundly impacts dating and relationships."
She further explained, "It's approximately ensuring (the app's users) comprehend what exactly is at stake."
The "Speak Up Hub" also features a collaboration with Vote.org, a nonpartisan voter enrollment initiative, providing users with election-related details such as polling places and voter registration deadlines.
Meanwhile, OkCupid has incorporated a dozen new matching questions that focus on voting behavior, thereby aiding users in unveiling more harmonious profiles. These questions, added in January, include "Are you voting in the 2024 presidential election?"; "What's the most significant issue to you in the 2024 presidential election?" and "Would it be a deal-breaker if your date supports a different candidate than you in the 2024 presidential election?"
Equally, OkCupid has included a dozen new matching questions that focus on voter behavior, enabling users to uncover more harmonious profiles. These questions, added in January, include "Are you voting in the 2024 presidential election?"; "What's the most significant issue to you in the 2024 presidential election?" and "Would it be a deal-breaker if your date supports a different candidate than you in the 2024 presidential election?"
This shift in strategy for OkCupid, which previously featured policy- and candidate-specific questions, like "Is climate change real?" and following the 2016 election, featured a question such as "Trump?", with users able to choose "absolute hell yes," "yes," "no," or "absolute hell no," saw nearly 75% of respondents opt for the latter option.
Michael Kaye, the director of brand marketing and communications for OkCupid, explained that the new direction stems from a change in how users discuss politics — from conversations centered around Joe Biden versus Donald Trump prior to 2020 to broader discussions "focused on events happening in the world" heading into this November.
Registered US voters are evenly split between the two parties, as per Pew Research Center, but daters on OkCupid generally lean more liberal. However, 44% of users who answered a matching question about their political beliefs chose "other" from the options of "politically liberal," "politically moderate" and "politically conservative," according to OkCupid's data.
In addition, OkCupid has taken up progressive positions on political issues and currently offers an "I'm Pro-Choice" label, which was first introduced in 2021 (OkCupid contributed to Planned Parenthood as part of the launch).
"Our thought process behind our matching questions is if we're talking about it with our friends, family or colleagues, most likely people are talking about it on their dates," Kaye said.
Deal-breakers
For Ashley Houghton, 29, dating someone who does not hold the same political beliefs is "100% a deal-breaker," and she brought up politics "right away" while interacting with potential partners on dating apps.
"My opening line is, 'What's your take on these issues?'" said Houghton, who lives in California and works in communications, mentioning that a match's responses tell her whether she wants to continue the conversation.
These features complement what young daters were already doing to filter potential partners, such as incorporating "#BLM" in their dating app profiles in 2020 to show their support for the Black Lives Matter movement.
Lisa Wade, an associate professor of sociology at Tulane University whose research focuses on undergraduate social and sexual life, noted that young daters evolved to prioritize shared political values during the pandemic. When vaccines and health guidelines became politicized, and there were widespread protests following George Floyd's death, young daters began asking their potential sexual partners about their level of caution regarding COVID-19 and its political implications.
"They decided that, even in the context of just casual hookups, politics mattered to them in a way that it hadn't before," Wade said.
Political separation in dating reflects a broader issue: people have a tendency to "seclude ourselves from disagreeable viewpoints" and grow increasingly capable of doing so, warned Casey Klofstad, a professor of political science at University of Miami.
"We are now able to tailor our daily lives — whether it's our media consumption, leisure activities, or the people we associate with socially or romantically," Klofstad said. "As we do more of that, I worry that it deepens the divide that already exists between us."
CNN reached out to Hinge, Grindr, and the right-leaning dating site Christian Mingle but did not receive a response.
In a declaration, Bumble revealed the findings from their recent study, disclosing that an impressive 48% of participants consider it crucial to discuss pressing social matters while cultivating romantic connections, such as political inclinations or advocated social issues, to ascertain compatibility and shared principles.
On the opposing side of the dating app spectrum, The Right Stuff, launched in 2022 for conservative daters, also aims to establish a congenial environment centered around shared principles.
Co-founded by John McEntee, a Project 2025 strategist and former Trump aide, the app incorporates political prompts such as "Favorite liberal lie" and "January 6 was," allowing users to complete the sentences. However, Raquel Debono, the app's director of marketing and communications, emphasized that The Right Stuff is not primarily political.
Debono argued that on The Right Stuff, "politics is almost irrelevant."
"Our fundamental purpose on the app is to link conservatives because they share the same political stance, thereby circumventing one of the primary filters," Debono stated.
The app has yet to introduce features focused on the election, though Debono mentioned that the team is contemplating sending a mass message to users inquiring if they have registered to vote. They're also leveraging current political events to appeal to young conservatives on social media platforms, such as TikTok, where they boast over 3.3 million followers – more than thrice the combined number of Tinder and OkCupid followers. Currently, The Right Stuff boasts 70,000 active users, according to the app data.
Debono acknowledged the importance of political alignment in the dating world, particularly in an election year.
"Political harmony has become a non-negotiable factor for numerous individuals engaged in dating," Debono said. "I believe that an election year merely accentuates that reality as Americans have made political harmony a more pivotal element of their identities in general, thereby amplifying the consciousness and visibility of the political divide within our nation."
"And let me reiterate, this is not an endorsement or criticism of this situation, but simply an observation of the present-day reality," she concluded.
In the tech business sphere, Tinder's new feature, the "Speak Up Hub," encourages users to express their political stance by sharing voting intentions and concerns. This aligns with the app's commitment to protecting reproductive freedoms, considering it a significant issue impacting relationships.
Tech companies are increasingly incorporating political discussions into their platforms. For instance, OkCupid now includes questions about voting behavior in user profiles, aiming to uncover more harmonious connections based on shared political views.
