Polarization and Friendship

Pew reports:

In an increasingly contentious presidential campaign, just a quarter of voters who support Donald Trump in the general election say they have a lot or some close friends who are supporters of Hillary Clinton. Even fewer Clinton backers (18%) say they have at least some friends who support Trump.

Nearly half of Clinton supporters (47%), and 31% of Trump supporters, say they have no close friends who support the opposing candidate.

The survey conducted June 7-July 5 among 4,602 adults, including 3,834 registered voters, on Pew Research Center’s nationally representative American Trends Panel finds that large majorities of both Trump and Clinton supporters have friends who back their preferred candidates.

More than four-in-ten Trump supporters (44%) say they have a lot of close friends who back Trump, while another 38% say they have some friends who support him. Similarly, most Clinton supporters say they have a lot (41%) or some close friends (40%) who also express support for Clinton.