If the partisan arguments of the 2016 election made their way to your dinner table, your holiday party or your Facebook page, you’re not alone.
A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll shows that a significant share of Americans say that the stark partisan divisions laid bare by the presidential election affected their own lives in a deeply personal way.
About a third - 32 percent – say that, in the last year, they avoided talking with family because of differences in their political opinions, and a similar share – 31 percent – say they had a heated argument with friends or family who supported a different candidate.
The divisions extend to the digital world as well . The poll’s findings are particularly striking as the debate rages in the political and tech industries over the issue of “fake news” circulated about the 2016 race.
Nearly half of Americans say that a family member or a friend shared with them a false news story that they believed to be true, and about one in five said they blocked or unfriended someone on social media because of the presidential election.
