ADVERTISEMENT

OkCupid: Liberals More Likely to Cry Than Conservatives

Science finds conservatives prefer the outdoors, going to the gun range

Young man watching tv, crying
Young man watching TV, crying / AP
July 13, 2016

Conservatives are more interested in the outdoors and the gun range while liberals prefer "museums, yoga, and crying," according to a new study by the online dating website OkCupid.

OkCupid used data from nearly 200,000 profiles for its Words and Politics analysis, which also found that liberals looking for love are vegetarians and conservatives like steak.

"Whether we’re aware of it or not, our political beliefs influence how we advertise ourselves romantically," the dating site wrote on its "Deep End" blog. "To dig into this, we looked at words used on tens of thousands of OkCupid profiles to see which ones best distinguish liberals and conservatives, and then compared those words to OkCupid match questions."

For users who said they are "actively seeking love" the divide between conservatives and liberals was stark.

"Like the outdoors or going to the shooting range? So do a majority of conservatives interested in love," OkCupid said. "Liberals looking for love prefer museums, yoga, and crying."

The analysis also found liberals tend to list "The Daily Show, Broad City, NPR, podcasts, and weed" on their profiles, while conservatives mention "Jesus, faith, guns, and Marines."

"Steak or avocados? For right-wingers, steak and grilling indicate an interest in sex, while Dr. Pepper points to love," OkCupid said. "On the left, avocados and vegetarian correlate to love, while booze suggests sex."

Employed liberals were "likely to be open with feelings," and those mentioning Quentin Tarantino and Pulp Fiction in their profiles tended to list wanting "pain during sex."

Other terms commonly listed on liberal profiles included "Atheist," "Social Justice," "Feminist," and "Queer." Common conservative terms included "Country," "Fishing," "Old fashioned," and "C.S. Lewis."

OkCupid said the majority of its users are liberal, and 50 percent of its total users report that they could not date someone with opposing political views.

The study was based on 190,000 OkCupid profiles from American users who joined this year, and who identified themselves as either "conservative," or "liberal."