Nov. 26, 2024, 1:04 p.m.
Before and during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, there is typically a spate of articles advising people on how to handle political arguments with their family members. This is not one of those articles—because most people don’t actually argue about politics during the holidays. It’s a phenomenon that those of us who are embedded in political bubbles imagine.
What this column is, is a thinly veiled excuse to talk about differing ideologies with a Thanksgiving-themed headline.
The reason most people don’t argue about politics at their holiday gatherings is that most people are not particularly political. It’s not part of their everyday lives. If you’re reading this, that is probably not your reality—but it’s true. Whose recipe for stuffing is better (not to mention whether stuffing or dressing is superior—and yes, there is a difference) will generate more heated arguments than whether Pete Hegseth will be confirmed as Defense secretary.
Polling on the topic shows that 17 percent of Americans say it’s very or somewhat likely that they will argue over politics at Thanksgiving (only 6 percent say it is very likely), compared to 11 percent last year. Democrats (23 percent) are more likely than Republicans (18 percent) to say this is likely, and almost a third of those who are age 18-29 expect some arguments—but still, only 12 percent say this is very likely.
The uptick is to be expected in an election year—Thanksgiving is somewhat badly timed, coming less than a month after the election. When we were less polarized, the timing was less consequential. But this year, feelings may still be raw, and if people are around those who disagree, arguments may ensue. In some cases, the divides may be so deep that people avoid each other for the holiday.
This is more common among those with well-formed ideological views—a group that overlaps with the strongest partisans and most politically active people. Ideology is the set of beliefs that defines how we want to live in a system together. When we feel like those systems are breaking down, we’re more likely to initiate conflict.
Parties in the U.S. and other countries are often identified as right, left, or center (or some combination of those terms), with “right” generally meaning conservative and “left” meaning liberal in our parlance. But ideology is also relative. What is “conservative” or “liberal” shifts based on context—particularly in other countries, but even within the U.S.
What does this have to do with the holidays? Well, many people are traveling to areas where their ideology will play differently than it does in their home. My own views seem completely average, even perhaps a bit moderate, for Washington D.C. (a city that voted over 90 percent for Vice President Kamala Harris), but in Texas they seem much more liberal. Compared to Europeans, U.S. liberals are fairly conservative.
All that is to say that context matters. Where you sit determines how you think everyone else looks. And those who sit firmly on one side or the other tend to think the other side looks pretty extreme. To say it differently, staunch conservatives will label Harris an extreme leftist, and most liberals will say President-elect Trump is a far-right-winger (and if you're a reader on one side or the other, you probably just thought “But he/she is!”).
As political people (which covers much of this audience), we naturally make a lot of assumptions about other people’s ideology. We make assumptions about entire groups of people. And because we have a side, we tend to assume those on the other side of the fence are really extreme.
We should remember that those we are labeling might not actually care or pay attention to politics that much. Keeping this in mind won’t close divides in values and beliefs, but maybe it would bring our blood pressure down and get us out of a few holiday fights. Or, you could just avoid the conflict and choose not to talk about politics at Thanksgiving. Enjoy the break from it.
Natalie Jackson is a vice president at GQR Research.
