As a black guy, I don’t have people in my large extended family who disagree about the 2020 election. I used to be one of the ones who caught crap for supporting Republicans. In the Trump era, we’re temporarily on the same side.

My white friends aren’t so fortunate.
Almost all of them have at least one uncle from Missouri who used to be sane but now is posting QAnon conspiracy theories on Facebook and others who they can’t talk about politics with at all.

It got me thinking about something.
How much does peer pressure - from family members, church members and others in the community - affect the way people vote or at least the way people admit that they vote?
Some of you live this every day ...

If a person has a problem with Trump but lives in a community where everybody who talks about politics supports him, everybody at church supports him and the rest of their family support him, how much harder is it for them to break free?
I know there are people who have lost friendships and have estranged family relationships over Trump. People who have lost business or who even get harassed on the job. People who have to listen to their Pastors preach partisan politics from the Pulpit. That has to be rough.
How many people are there who look at Trump and say to themselves, to quote Hank Hill, “that boy ain’t right,” but are scared to say it out loud because of the social repercussions of stepping out of line?
The tactic that works well in groupthink is convincing would-be dissenters that they’re all alone in the world. Everybody else is on board. Just like in high school. “COME ON! TRY IT! BE COOL!”

But, stats show that no matter where you are, there are more like you than you think.
You can follow @TheValuesVoter.
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