In the days and weeks before Thanksgiving, political media sometimes hype up the holiday like an impending UFC fight, pitting, for instance, Republican Uncle against Woke College Freshman in a mood-dampening battle over the border wall that lasts until the turkey is as cold as everyone’s spirits.
I’m not so sure that characterization is accurate, but a new poll provides some helpful insight into how much people expect politics will actually permeate their Thanksgiving holiday.
An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey conducted this month among 1,070 adults probed respondents on the intersection of politics and Thanksgiving. As it turns out, only 19 percent said politics was either very likely or extremely likely to even come up, compared with 48 percent who said the possibility was not too likely or not at all likely. About 24 percent said it was “somewhat likely.”
Of all those respondents, 40 percent didn’t feel strongly one way or the other about talking politics at their Thanksgiving dinners. About 19 percent said they would be eager to do so, while 36 percent reported dreading the thought.
Similarly, an NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll of 1,019 adults taken earlier this month found Americans are split over whether politics will come up at their Thanksgiving dinners, with roughly half saying the possibility is very or somewhat likely, and half saying it’s not too likely or not at all likely. That poll, on the other hand, found 58 percent dread the thought of having to talk politics at Thanksgiving dinner.
Interestingly, Democrats were much more likely to dread that thought than Republicans, by a margin of 65 percent to 49 percent, and more Republicans said they were eager to talk politics (38 percent to 30 percent). For what it’s worth, a full 65 percent of moderates reported dreading the thought as well.
If you’re one of half of all adults who believe politics is pretty likely to come up on Thursday, may your takes be as hot as the turkey.
