Navigating an awkward Thanksgiving after the election

Issue 143: Five tips for navigating politically polarized holiday gatherings

With the holidays coming up, many people many will likely themselves at a family gathering feeling politically tense. Are you worried about sitting through your uncle’s annual rant about American politics and the most recent election? Or will your niece’s protest posts on TikTok be too much to stomach over dessert? Have conspiracy theories spoiled the whole thing?

You are not alone!

We have felt way the same way too (full confession: we have at least one family member who posts way too much misinformation on Instagram). Recent research has revealed that political identification—and polarization—has been corrosive to family gatherings and impacted how people spend their holiday dinners.

In 2018, researchers analyzed ~25 billion smartphone location data pings from ~10 million Americans and found that that politically diverse Thanksgiving dinners were “30 to 50 minutes shorter” than ones with politically aligned guests. In 2020, the study was replicated with a meta-analysis and found that a…