In a recent post I put up a link the study done by PEW Research conducted in April 2014. One of the issues the survey dealt with was affairs, and the impact they have on how people view political candidates.
Overall, although a little over half the people said that an extramarital affair “wouldn’t matter” regarding the candidate, a third of the people would be less likely to support them.
That means that a third of the people still view affairs in a negative rather than a neutral light.
This means that affairs matter. When one-third of the people view it negatively, it’s a factor to consider. The disapproval differed by political affiliation as well.
With Republicans, the disapproval was at 46% with only 1% viewing it as a favorable factor. With Democrats, one fourth of the people viewed affairs as a negative, and the approval rate for affairs was at 3%. The independents were between the positions of the other two parties.
Affairs were more likely to impact how people viewed a candidate than:
-their past marijuana use
-whether they were Catholic or evangelical in their religious orientation
-whether or not they were gay or lesbian
This tells me that affairs still matter to many people. That only a very few (less than 5%) view affairs as favorable to a candidate.
To put that in perspective, out of 100 people, only three would see the affair as a good thing.
When 1/3 of the people disapprove of affairs and at most 5% or less approve of them, affairs are a losing matter. When facing an election, consider whether pleasing 1/3 or less than 1/20th of the population is more important.
How a politician treats their spouse in terms of affairs matters more than some of the other ‘hot button’ issues.
Given that the public generally distrusts politicians, they still expect them to be loyal to their spouses. It also means that affairs do matter to many people.
Perhaps this is why the mainstream press harps on the other issues in order to get people distracted from affairs. If they reported on what matters to the people, like affairs, the elections would be very different.
You getting upset about your spouses affair is not ‘just being emotional’ or ‘unrealistic’. Despite all the talk of modern, progressive or open values, people still view affairs as something that hurts way more than it helps people.
If you want to know more about the motivations for affairs, download the ebook “Why He Cheats“.
Best Regards,
Jeff
