I married into a Catholic, liberal family (I’m agnostic and registered non-partisan). My wife and mother-in-law both planned to vote for Clinton over Obama in the primary “because she’s a woman”, no other reason, and they freely admit it. As crazy as that makes me, I hoped that someone putting so little thought into politics probably wouldn’t bother going to vote either – and it turns out I was right 🙂 I guess it wasn’t that important to them.
They know I think it’s stupid, no point in beating a dead horse. Usually someone with an opinion held for most of their adult life will have a very tough time changing it on their own, so you certainly won’t be able to change it for them.
The mother-in-law and I once had a “discussion” on immigration. I’m for a tightly controlled border and sweeping reforms (without amnesty), she’s for doing nothing at all because “it won’t work.” I can easily take apart every argument she has, but of course it doesn’t change her mind. So we just haven’t mentioned it since, and we get along famously.
I just make a point of being extremely informed about the issues that are most important to me. If someone wants to talk about it, I’m happy to oblige them. I stay calm, but if they don’t, I walk away.
I have friends that aren’t into politics at all, and it’s refreshing to spend time with them.
