We’ve all had those Facebook friends that post crazy conspiracy theories about one presidential candidate or another. If it’s about the candidate you support and they start driving you nuts, maybe you hide their posts from your feed or delete them as a Facebook friend.
Apparently, this election is driving people so nuts that people aren’t just unfriending each other on Facebook, but in real life.
According to a Monmouth poll, 7 percent of people said they lost a friend directly because of the presidential race. Slightly more supporters of Hillary Clinton reported losing friends than did Donald Trump supporters.
Though, to be fair, it seems it isn’t just this particular election that ruins relationships. Seven percent reported also ending friendships due to past elections.
What is unusual is a full 70 percent of those surveyed say this election has brought out the worst in people, compared to just 4 percent who said it has brought out the best. On a similar note, 65 percent of voters say the harsh language used in politics today is “unjustified,” though there are large differences on that aspect depending on who the person supports. About 47 percent of Trump supporters said the harsh language was justified, compared to 17 percent of Clinton supporters.
“Half of Trump supporters seem to be saying let the expletives fly, but many voters blame both sides equally for the negative tone of this year’s campaign,” said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute.
Clinton backers tend to blame the Trump camp more for the harsh language (68 percent), while Trump backers are more likely to say both sides share equal blame (67 percent).