Even for Christians, Trump Has Become a Dating Deal-Breaker

More American couples set out to be “equally yoked” on political matters too.

True love waits … for a political match?

Half or more of white evangelicals say it would be impossible or very difficult to date someone with another view on abortion, religious freedom, or gun rights—their top dating deal-breakers, according to a new survey from the American Enterprise Institute (AEI).

The poll also found that most Americans—and most Christians across traditions—would be unwilling to date someone who had a different stance than them on President Donald Trump.

For decades, married couples have become increasingly united on political issues, and dating has taken a particularly partisan turn under the current administration. For believers, the instinct to make political party a prerequisite for a relationship is complicated.

“If a person prioritizes political leanings as much as faith, that’s not biblical,” said Greg Smalley, a Christian counselor and vice president of marriage at Focus on the Family. “God doesn’t prioritize politics. He prioritizes that we are equally yoked.”

Smalley advised Christian daters to determine what issues are the most important to them—starting with their basis in Scripture—and look where there might be room for compromise, realizing that the goal is not for couples to march in lockstep on every issue.

Religious freedom and abortion are the top issues for self-identified white evangelicals, with more than 6 in 10 saying it would be difficult to impossible to date someone who disagreed on either issue in the AEI’s American Perspectives Survey, conducted last month. Among other traditions, 44 percent of black Protestants and other Christians agreed that it would be difficult to impossible to date someone with ...