Poll finds many Americans hope to avoid political discussions at Thanksgiving
By Jennifer De Pinto, Fred Backus and Anthony Salvanto
Few Americans are eager to mix politics and turkey this Thanksgiving. A mere 15 percent are looking forward to having political discussions, while 40 percent hope to avoid talking about politics over Thanksgiving dinner. There are still 45 percent who don't care either way.
The lack of appetite for Thanksgiving political discussions spans across all age groups, education and income levels.
Thirty-seven percent of Republicans and 40 percent of Democrats wish to avoid political discussions this Thanksgiving -- a somewhat rare instance of partisan agreement. Forty-two percent of Independents said that they hope to avoid politics.
However, a plurality in each party said that they did not care either way.
This poll was conducted by telephone November 15-18, 2018 among a random sample of 1,103 adults nationwide. Data collection was conducted on behalf of CBS News by SSRS of Glen Mills, PA. Phone numbers were dialed from samples of both standard land-line and cell phones.
The poll employed a random digit dial methodology. For the landline sample, a respondent was randomly selected from all adults in the household. For the cell sample, interviews were conducted with the person who answered the phone.
Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish using live interviewers. The data have been weighted to reflect U.S. Census figures on demographic variables.
The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus three percentage points. The error for subgroups may be higher and is available by request. The margin of error includes the effects of standard weighting procedures which enlarge sampling error slightly.
This poll release conforms to the Standards of Disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.