By Chris Kahn, Reuters:
Americans will sit down next week for what has become a holiday tradition in the United States: tiptoeing through a turkey dinner without mentioning the president.
Nearly one-third of all adults will actively avoid political conversations when they see friends and family over the Thanksgiving and December holidays, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Friday. About half said they do not expect to discuss politics at all.
The Nov. 8-13 poll found that a majority of Americans consider politics to be among their “least favorite” topics to discuss in mixed company over the holidays.
People appear to be more interested in talking about religion, or even their personal finances, with cousins and in-laws than they are in discussing hot-button issues such as tax cuts, Obamacare and the Russia investigation.
[For a graphic on the poll visit https://tmsnrt.rs/2zHlFa5
Poll respondents said they learned to bite their tongues after years of dinnertime squabbles over the nation’s first black president, Barack Obama, and then his successor, Donald Trump.
“If you bring up Trump or something, you’ll get a look from the other side of the table,” said Adrianne Beal, 77, a Trump supporter from Bolingbrook, Illinois. “It’s like: ‘hup, let’s change the subject.’”
Beal said her family learned this new holiday etiquette after a particularly stressful Thanksgiving in 2008. Obama had just been elected to his first term, and Beal’s niece called her a bigot for not supporting him.
“Well that was the end of that,” Beal said. “I decided I’m not going to talk politics anymore. I’m not those things they call me.”
Ora Wilhite, 37, who voted for Democrat Hillary Clinton in last year’s presidential election, said he called his older brother, a Trump supporter, to get politics “out of the way” before they meet next week at their family’s Thanksgiving in Frankfort, Indiana.
To read the rest of the article visit Yahoo!
