Only one in three people like talking about politics, and researchers say the reason for this is more social than political.

One of the foundations of liberal democracy is political debate about how to shape society. But political debate often leads to frustration and creates long-term tensions in social relations.

“Our findings make it clear that only 30 percent of respondents like to talk about politics in general and that people are aware of the potential social consequences of political debate,” explains political scientist Manuel Neumann, who worked on the study under Professor Rüdiger Schmidt-Beck.

“When disagreements are anticipated or when discussing politics with acquaintances, only 10 percent of respondents have a very positive attitude towards political debate,” says the study, based on a survey of 1,600 voters in Mannheim ahead of the 2017 federal election.

Personality has a greater influence than political views

The results show that people who are particularly interested in politics enjoy political debates. In contrast, party affiliation and strong ideological stances have no effect. Personality traits turn out to be much more important.

Four factors come into play here: In general, citizens with a lower need to belong, higher social trust, better self-assessed communication skills, and a more positive attitude towards conflict enjoy political debates more. From this, the researchers conclude that the social dimension plays a more important role than the political dimension in explaining attitudes towards political conversations.

“Political discussions are, first and foremost, social situations in which relationships need to be fostered,” says Manuel Newman. “How we treat each other plays a bigger role than our political views when it comes to the question of whether we want to have political conversations.”