An estimated 38 percent of American homebuyers and sellers reported reluctance to move to an area where their views would be in the political minority, according to a new survey from Redfin released Friday.
In an era of stark partisanship, the number of people unwilling to mix with people with different political views dropped from 41 percent in 2017 and 42 percent in 2016, according to the survey. In contrast, only 22 percent of the survey’s respondents said they’d be hesitant to move to a place where they’d be in the racial, ethnic or religious minority.
“This decade’s tumultuous political climate has widened the aisle between parties not only in Congress and the voting booth, but in our nation’s communities,” Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather said in a statement. “While the share of homebuyers and sellers who hesitate about moving to a place where most people have different ideologies has been declining, I imagine tensions will start to flare again as we head into the 2020 election year.”
As more and more young professionals leave cities seeking affordability in smaller metros, Fairweather said it’s likely they’ll look to move into communities with more like-minded people.
“We expect to see red places in the middle of the country become redder and the blues bluer as the migration trends we’ve been reporting continue,” Fairweather said.
Americans between the ages of 25 and 34 make up the age group that is the least hesitant and most enthusiastic about the prospect of moving somewhere where they’d be in the political minority and respondents under 25 are the least hesitant and most enthusiastic about moving somewhere where they’d be in the religious, racial or ethnic minority.
“The older the respondent, the less likely they were to say they’d be enthusiastic about moving to a place where they would find themselves in the minority, with just 16 percent of people aged 65 and older reporting enthusiasm,” the report states.
Black and African American respondents were, overall, the most enthusiastic and least hesitant about the idea of moving where they’d be in the political minority, while white Americans expressed the most hesitancy.