Losing friends because of the election or politics

Not in this election, but in 2000 I did when I accidentally included my graduate school professor in an emailing that contained only factual statistics, not campaigning or anything like that. He emailed back a very harsh tirade against who he supposed was my choice and broke off all contact with me, never giving me a chance to explain or try to smooth things over or mend the friendship. I have fairly strong views about some issues and about some people in politics who hold the opposite view but I would never let it end a friendship even if a friend were for that political person.

I have lost any friend till now,cause all of my friends support the same side. I think may be that is why make us as friends :)

I don't think it is wise to lose friends over political affiliations. Everybody has a right to belong to a particular view or another.

No, thankfully I can say I never have and I've been really into politics for as long as I can remember, even before I was old enough to vote. I guess that's one reason it really astounds me how nasty and personal some people get here on myLot over political issues! I grew up seeing my mom and dad - mostly my dad - sitting at our kitchen table with friends and sometimes there would be raised voices and fists to the table as they discussed the issues of the day but a few moments later there would be laughter all around. These days most of the friends and family I spend the most time with are Democrats, some of them "reformed Republicans", but through the years I've had lots of friends who didn't share my political views and we could discuss it for hours and get into rather heated discussions but it never affected our friendships. I don't know what it is about this year's election but there sure do seem to be a lot of people who take it way too personal! Annie

I haven't lost friends over politics but I don't get into it with them. I have had some reallllly heated discussions with my family that have created rifts. The nice thing about family is that they can't go any where. They are family and so you are force to work things out.

I haven't lost any friends mysel but, I am a member of a pac, and a week doesn't go by that someone relates a story of losing someone because of this election. One woman was told her services would no longer be need at her church , as a volunteer because of who she supports. This woman has been an active member for 15 years and a regular volunteer. Thats the nature of this election and it is getting worse I am sorry to sy.

I haven't lost real life freinds, but there are some online ones that I like less now. And it's not even that they disagree with who I want to vote for - it's the WAY they disagree. If you see someone you consider a friend saying stuff like your candidate is a complete idiot and i hope american's can snap out of their dumb brains and not vote for him...... well would you want to be friends with someone like that? Disagreeing is fine, but people have to learn that you will not always get everyone on your side and they also have to decide how far they will go before giving up. If it comes down to you attacking me b/c I don't like your candidate, than that's going overboard.

No, I think most people realize that I am a conservative and that I stand up for what I believe in. I don't have to impress anyone or agree with anyone. Most likely, I am respected for it.

Well both my wife and my best friend are democrats, but I've never had any problems. My best friend and I are always willing to talk about issues that we disagree on, but we aren't the type to get emotional or angry about it. We're good at seeing each other's points of view. My wife and I rarely talk politics even though she knows I'm very into it. Despite being in different parties we both voted for Kerry in 2004 and we're both voting McCain in 2008, although we've had different reasons for our choices both times. I personally think that friends should respect each others beliefs and not be critical just because one feels differently than them. I reserve my arguments for forums like this because I think feelings are much less likely to be hurt in an online forum. My wife however keeps getting emails from two friends of hers. One friend constantly sends emails filled with lies about Obama, the other sends her emails filled with lies about Palin. She just deletes them all and moves on.