A new study suggests a woman’s political views are linked to the qualities she seeks in a romantic partner. The research found that right-leaning women often prefer partners who fit a more traditional mold, while women at both political extremes place a high value on finding someone who shares their political beliefs. The findings were published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships.
Political orientation is known to shape many aspects of our lives, from our personal values to our personalities. Prior psychological research has established that individuals with different political leanings tend to prioritize different values. For example, people on the left often place more emphasis on universalism and benevolence, while those on the right tend to value conformity and tradition. Since people often seek partners with similar personalities and values, it follows that political beliefs might also play a role in shaping our romantic ideals.
Researcher Lena Kuschel, along with her colleagues at the University of Goettingen and University of Jena, wanted to investigate this connection on a large scale. Previous studies on this topic often used relatively small samples and looked at a limited number of partner characteristics. To get a more comprehensive understanding, the research team analyzed a massive dataset to explore how the political orientation of single women from around the world relates to their preferences for a long-term partner.
To conduct their investigation, the scientists used data from the Ideal Partner Survey, a large-scale project conducted in collaboration with the women’s health app Clue. The initial survey gathered responses from over 68,000 individuals across 180 countries. For this specific analysis, the researchers narrowed the sample to focus on 13,257 single, heterosexual women. They excluded participants who were already in relationships to avoid having their preferences biased by their current partner.
Participants in the survey indicated their political orientation on a seven-point scale, from 0 representing the far-left to 6 representing the far-right. They then rated the importance and preferred level of a wide range of characteristics for an ideal long-term partner. These included preferences for similarity in politics, ethnicity, and religion. They also rated attributes like financial security, success, confidence, intelligence, kindness, and physical attractiveness. Finally, women were asked about their preferences for a partner’s age and height relative to their own.
The analysis revealed several distinct patterns linking political views to partner preferences. When it came to shared political beliefs, the relationship was not a simple straight line. Instead, the researchers found that women at both the far-left and far-right ends of the political spectrum placed the highest importance on finding a politically similar partner. Women with more moderate, centrist views considered political alignment to be less important. This suggests that the more strongly a woman holds her political convictions, the more she desires a partner who shares them.
For ethnic and religious background, the connection was more direct. Women who identified as more right-leaning were more likely to state a preference for a partner of the same ethnicity and the same religion as themselves. This aligns with previous findings that connect conservative viewpoints with a higher valuation of in-group similarity and tradition.
The researchers also explored connections between political orientation and preferences for traits often associated with a traditional male provider role. The results showed that women with more right-leaning views tended to place a higher value on a partner being financially secure and successful. These findings are consistent with the idea that a more conservative political stance may be linked to a preference for partners who conform to a masculine, breadwinner stereotype.
A similar pattern appeared regarding a partner’s height. Right-leaning women reported that a man’s height was more important to them in general than it was for left-leaning women. However, when asked what their ideal partner’s height would be relative to their own, there was almost no difference across the political spectrum. Most women, regardless of their politics, preferred a partner who was taller than themselves. This indicates that while right-leaning women may consciously place more importance on the trait, the actual preference for a taller partner is widespread.
One trait that appeared to transcend political divides was kindness and supportiveness. The study found no meaningful link between a woman’s political orientation and her preference for a kind partner. This suggests that kindness is a universally desired quality in a long-term partner, irrespective of one’s political ideology. For other traits, such as a partner’s attractiveness, confidence, intelligence, and age, the results were less clear, and the researchers could not draw firm conclusions based on their strict criteria.
The researchers also noted that these patterns were not identical across the globe. An exploratory analysis suggested significant variation between countries and regions. For example, the tendency for right-leaning women to prefer a confident and assertive partner was present in Europe and the Americas, but the pattern seemed to reverse in South and East Asia, where left-leaning women showed a stronger preference for such traits. This highlights the importance of cultural context in shaping how political views relate to romantic preferences.
The study’s authors pointed out some limitations. While the sample was large and international, it was not globally representative, with most participants coming from Western and relatively wealthy nations. The use of a single question to measure political orientation might also oversimplify complex political identities, which can be interpreted differently across cultures.
Another key point is that the study focused exclusively on the preferences of single, heterosexual women. The findings cannot be generalized to men, to individuals in the LGBTQ+ community, or to people from a wider range of cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. The research also measured hypothetical preferences for an ideal partner, which may not always align with the choices people make in real-life dating situations.
Future studies could expand on this work by including men and individuals with different sexual orientations to see if similar patterns emerge. Researchers also suggest that future work should investigate whether these stated preferences for an ideal partner translate into actual dating choices. Using more detailed measures of political beliefs beyond a simple left-right scale could provide a more nuanced understanding. Despite its limitations, this study provides a broad and detailed look into how a woman’s place on the political spectrum is connected to the vision she holds for an ideal romantic partner.
The study, “Left or right? The link between political orientation and partner preferences in a multinational sample of single women,” was authored by Lena Kuschel, Laura J. Botzet, and Tanja M. Gerlach.
