{"id":14124,"date":"2014-06-13T07:00:01","date_gmt":"2014-06-13T12:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/big-houses-art-museums-and-in-laws-how-the-most-ideologically-polarized-americans-live-different-lives\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T03:21:26","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T08:21:26","slug":"big-houses-art-museums-and-in-laws-how-the-most-ideologically-polarized-americans-live-different-lives","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2014\/06\/13\/big-houses-art-museums-and-in-laws-how-the-most-ideologically-polarized-americans-live-different-lives\/","title":{"rendered":"How the most ideologically polarized Americans live different lives"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"polarization_wherelive\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

For America’s most ardent liberals and conservatives, polarization begins at home.<\/p>\n\n

In what may seem like stereotypes come to life, a new Pew Research Center study<\/a>\u00a0on political polarization finds that conservatives would rather\u00a0live in large houses in small towns and rural areas — ideally among people of the same religious faith — while liberals opt for smaller houses and walkable communities in cities, preferably with a mix of different races and ethnicities. And sizable minorities of both groups say they’d be dismayed if someone from the “other side” were to marry into their family.<\/p>\n\n

Those findings, and others in the Pew Research report, illustrate how ideological and partisan loyalties can both reflect and reshape Americans’ everyday lives.<\/p>\n\n

According to the report, people with consistently conservative views overwhelmingly favor\u00a0small towns and rural areas as places to live: 41% say they’d live in a rural area if they could live anywhere in the U.S., while 35% pick a small town. Conversely, 46% of people with consistently liberal views say they prefer to live in cities. (About two-in-ten of those in every category choose the suburbs.)<\/p>\n\n

And\u00a0when given the choice, three-quarters of consistent\u00a0conservatives say they’d prefer to live in a community of larger houses with more space between them, even if that means having to drive to shops, restaurants and other amenities. Consistent liberals were almost exactly the opposite: 77% said they prefer denser communities where amenities were in walking distance, even if that meant living in smaller houses.\u00a0(Speaking of amenities, 73% of consistent liberals said being near art museums and theaters was important, versus just 23% of consistent conservatives.)<\/p>\n\n

\"polarization_neighbors\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

What about neighbors? 76% of consistent liberals said racial and ethnic diversity was an important factor in deciding where to live, compared with just 20% of consistent conservatives. The latter put much more value on where many people in a place share their religion: 57% called that important, versus just 17% of consistent liberals.<\/p>\n\n

Fully half of consistent conservatives, and 35% of consistent liberals, say it’s important to live in a place where most people share their political views. And some researchers have, in fact, found evidence that such preferences factor into where Americans decide to move.<\/p>\n\n

[w]<\/p>\n\n\n

Most — but not all — Americans are comfortable with political diversity in their households,\u00a0the Pew Research report found: Just 9% say they’d be unhappy if an immediate family member married a Republican, about the same percentage (8%) as those who\u00a0say that about marrying a Democrat. Even among partisans discomfort levels are fairly low: About as many Republicans (17%) and Democrats (15%) say they’d be unhappy if a family member married someone from the other party.<\/p>\n\n

But discomfort rises among the most ideological segments of the population. 23% of consistent liberals say they’d be unhappy about a Republican marrying into their family; 30% of consistent conservatives say that about the prospect of a Democratic in-law.<\/p>\n\n

How about you? Do you find yourself gritting your teeth when listening to your in-laws’ political views? Do you feel like a conservative island in a deep blue sea, or vice versa? Do neighborhood barbecues devolve into partisan condiment-flinging? Tell us how political polarization — yours or others’ — affects the way you live.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For America’s most ardent liberals and conservatives, polarization begins at home. In what may seem like stereotypes come to life, a new Pew Research Center study\u00a0on political polarization finds that conservatives would rather\u00a0live in large houses in small towns and rural areas — ideally among people of the same religious faith — while liberals opt […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":145,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"sub_headline":null,"sub_title":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"apple_news_api_pending":"1713063853","relatedPosts":[],"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0},"categories":[],"bylines":[842],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[467],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[515],"research-teams":[520],"workflow-status":[],"class_list":["post-14124","short-read","type-short-read","status-publish","hentry","bylines-drew-desilver","formats-short-read","regions-countries-united-states","research-teams-politics"],"label":"Short Read","post_parent":0,"word_count":528,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2014\/06\/13\/big-houses-art-museums-and-in-laws-how-the-most-ideologically-polarized-americans-live-different-lives\/","art_direction":false,"_embeds":[],"watchers":[],"table_of_contents":[],"datacite_doi":"","prc_seo_data":{"title":"How the most ideologically polarized Americans live different lives","description":"For America's most ardent liberals and conservatives, polarization begins at home. 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