It’s been a tough election cycle, so let’s talk about your sex life.
Does that debate room discourse turn you off? Have you taken to only dating partners with your same political affiliation? Has the thought of which candidate may assume the awesome power of head of state made you actually reconsider a pregnancy?
If you answered “yes,” to any of those questions—and you happen to be a woman—you aren’t alone.
A survey conducted by the tech team behind the Boulder-based fertility app, Kindara, suggests that this year’s election may be impacting women’s bedroom behaviors, and that women who affiliate with different parties may respond differently to political turmoil.
The team surveyed 928 of its roughly 150,000 active monthly users. All women surveyed were U.S. citizens—about 34 percent identified as Democrat, 31 percent as Republican, 21 percent as independent and 14 percent identified as other.
The survey was issued from Oct. 21 through Oct. 31 2016, just days after the third presidential debate in Paradise, Nevada.
Here is how respondents rated the election :
Get sexy or get political?
67 percent of Republicans prioritized having sex over watching the debates, versus 50 percent of Democrats.
Which is more exciting--civic duties or carnal pleasures?
45 percent of Republicans felt more excited by the prospects of election day sex than election day voting, compared to 25 percent of Democrats.
Does campaign negativity equate to bedroom blues?
19 percent of Democrats felt campaign negativity had negatively impacted their sex lives, versus 9 percent of Republicans.
Does a house divided fall?
33 percent of Democrats reported having partners with differing political affiliations, versus 16 percent of Republicans.
Should we expect a baby bump post-election day America?
Only 4 percent of respondents said they would delay becoming pregnant depending on election results. Fifty-six percent identified as Democrat and 18 percent identified as Republican.
How about those Benjamins?
Twenty-one percent of women surveyed report good economic news positively impacted their sex lives, and 18 percent surveyed said that bad economic news negatively affected their sex lives.
It is important to note that no information about the age, location, socio-economic status or marital status was collected from the women surveyed. And all women surveyed were users of the app, Kindara.
"One of the key statistics that stood out to me was the women who were saying the negativity of the campaign was having an impact on their sex lives," said Raychel Muenke, doctor of psychology and Kindara EVP.
"I think any time a woman is willing to put her pregnancy timeline on hold, that is significant," she added.
Kindara has been helping an increasing amount of women track their fertility since the free app launched in 2011. Muenke said the team felt election year was a prime time to get perspectives from their expanding network and offered a unique opportunity to broaden the political conversation to include women's fertility.
But she cautioned against using the results of Kindara's survey to overgeneralize about characteristics of women who identify with different political parties.
She referred to a favorite mantra of hers from a 1990 study by Marvin Zuckerman, "Within group differences are greater than between group differences, meaning anytime you have a group there's generally more diversity within a group than between groups."
The survey results showed a simple snapshot of women's feelings in-the-moment, and mere days after another tumultuous round of debates.
Multimedia business & healthcare reporter Chloe Aiello can be reached via email at [email protected] or twitter.com/chlobo_ilo.
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