Are You Ever Suprised by a Friends Political Beliefs?

YES!! One friend, in particular. She is a huge Ron Paul supporter. She also thinks taxes are unconstitutional. (Among other beliefs.) That's particularly hilarious to me, since she is a teacher and her husband does computer stuff for the school district. Where does she think their salaries comes from?? She has to most out there, wacky, unrealistic political views. She's totally normal in every other way.

Yes! I am shocked ALL the time!

So, what would you guess me as??! I love this, because usually people are WAY OFF!

Most of my friends are of OPPOSITE policial views than myself. We have to agree to disagree.

This is what I've found interesting ... after reconnecting with my best girlfriends from elementary and high school 20 plus years later on Facebook -- we're all Democrats! Some of us came from rich families, some from middle class, some from lower middle class families.

Yes, I have a friend whose husband suffered kidney failure over 15 years ago when he was 48, as a result of high blood pressure. That qualified him for very costly Medicare benefits, because the expenses are so high his insurance would only cover a small part of them. They gratefully accepted the benefits. After he was stabilized with a donated kidney, the benefits stopped, and she was very unhappy about that – the ongoing drug regimen is expensive.

Some time later, I learn that she sees all publicly-funded programs, including Medicare, as evil and socialistic, and considers herself a diehard Republican. Yet, when her husband's donated kidney failed 2 years ago, he qualified again for Medicare, and they again accepted it.

She's still against public insurance for other people. I have a great deal of trouble understanding her position.

Everyone is surprised by my poliitcal stance: i live in Obamaland, i am a minority, i grew up on welfare, i love the tea party, i am absolutely a conservative......i grew up drinking the kool-aide but now i am an adult

one of my BFF was a die hard lefty, UNTIL 1 yr into Obamas presidency.....she felt the monetary effects of liberalism & didn't like it.....also some of our friends got to go to college for free because they are minorities & decided to quit their good paying jobs with benefits & a 401k (all of us worked for the same company)...she was also going to school but didn't get one penny.....she didn't like that they got to go to school free & she had tons of student loans.............now she is a die hard conservative, lol, and we can watch the debates together......i will take credit for her seeing the light, lol

I have only been shocked/surprised by ONE girl friend's political leanings.

I have been genuinely surprised when I find a black person that doesn't like Obama. I have some FB friends that vehemently despise him and they get a ton of flack from other black people. And no, people, this is NOT a racist comment before you go blasting away....

Other than that? Nope....we have a diverse group of friends. Nicky's Godmother and father are Democrats and voted for Obama (much to our chagrin - LOL!!) but we have a great group of friends that come from all walks of life and different faiths and political affiliations!

Not really...because I can joke about it with my friends and their twisted liberal views :).

Hubby is all the way liberal and I am all the way conservative. I make sure to remind him to vote though...his voice is just as important as mine.

And Cheryl - I would almost agree with that. Some of my in-law family is in the deep south, black, and CAN'T STAND OBAMA! I love it. Others are all for him simply because he is black. Talk about reverse racism!

I have tons of black friends here who are very against Obama and what he has done to our country.

Yes, every now and then that happens to me too. It makes me think how wrong it is to stereotype LOL.

I think I surprise people sometimes. We homeschool, and consider ourselves religious (not to sound pious because we have made plenty of mistakes). That being said, my former professional life, and some of my political beliefs, lead me to be perceived as not conservative sometimes (even though I am).

I'm actually more libertarian than conservative . . . usually surprises people.

I'm also very pro 1st Amendment, 2nd Amendment, 4th Amendment, 5th Amendment (heck most of the amendments LOL).

I'm also quite anti-war.

Most of my friends I have known since childhood, so I am not really surprised by most of their political positions. What DOES surprise me, sometimes, is how hatefully they can express those positions, especially when they know certain friends, like me, hold the opinions that they are decrying as "cruel" "capitalist pigs" "intolerant," etc. Funny enough, at the end of the day, they all know that if they are ever in need, I will be the first one to help them out (but I am not quite sure they would reciprocate.)

People I met during my adulthood--yes, occassionally I am surprised, but we rarely talk politics in social settings.

I think I surprise a lot of people. I really am a moderate, independent, pick your moniker. It is just when I feel one party is underrepresented I can be really passionate for that party. Then my friends ask didn't you campaign for ____. Yup, now there are too many of them.

None of my friends are fringe anything. So even my conservative friends understand the value of liberal thinking. My liberal friends see the value of a balanced budget without raising taxes. So pretty much they are okay with me. :)

I'm sure this will come as no surprise, I'm a tea party member! :) However, I do have beliefs that are not in line with the republican party. A couple of my best friends are die hard liberal. My husband was unable to go to the Lincoln dinner so I took one of them. She was a real trooper! Another one sent me Obama paper dolls. I sent her W's book! Her kids are liberals mine or conservative. When she visits, I put Rush on just to annoy her! :) Its all done in fun but we do agree to disagree if things get alittle heated. She's wrong but I still love her!! :)

I'm actually more surprised by those of us, like my husband and I that live in a house divided, so to speak. My DH and I joke that we tend to cancel each other's vote, as do at least 2 of our couple friends.

And DH and I have been together 25 years, married 23. And our friends have all been married over 20 years as well.

Not EXACTLY been shocked... But I'll tell you I shocked a friend once last presidential election. She saw a sticker in our house that said the person's name (I knew ALL along that she voted for the "other" guy, it didn't bother me ONE bit), and she was SHOCKED, and didn't talk to me for a few months! I didn't say anything rude to her or anything. She just said "REALLY?!?!" and then I said yeah, we are voting for him... and then I said that I knew who SHE was voting for all along and it didn't bother me...

and ALSO, my grandmother's own brother and sister- whom she is VERY EXTRA close to, got very upset at her- and she got mad at them- because they found out who she was voting for! Everything is better now, but I found it shocking that they cared THAT much to temporarily break a very special bond. I mean, they call each other everyday and talk for hours, they ADORE each other! So shocking!

I've got a very great, nice mix of friends. Their political affiliations do not make one BIT of difference to me!

They say never talk about politics or religion with friends. I've been rather shocked and dismayed a few times at some of my friends and family because I would've thought their choices and opinions would be different. I really don't believe in parties. Our founding fathers told us to never have political parties and that if we ever went that way, it'd be the beginning of the end.

Yes.
A few friends absolutely foam at the mouth when it comes to politics.
It's like a selective insanity or rabies.
They are perfectly wonderful otherwise.
But if someone starts up a political conversation with them near by I'll be chewing off my own leg to get out of that trap before I listen to the vitriol that spews when they start up.

I don't talk politics with my republican friends. Only with my Democrat friends. And I don't put it on FB either, except once in a while, I'll click on "Like" on something someone posts. It's only once in a blue moon I'll make any comment. And it's NEVER on an opposing view.

I have defriended people who are adamantly blasting either side of politics on my FB. They have not been close friends, I'll add, and I'm sure that they don't even realize I unfriended them. I want to hear about puppies and bunnies and rainbows on my FB. Not politics!

Dawn

I am friends with someone who believes that global change is caused only by volcanoes. She knows I am a teacher and she went off one day about how lazy and over paid teachers are... she was really mad! Now that I know I do think I will be a bit more distant....

I LIKE to think that most people are middle-of-the-road. Some are just more left-leaning and some are just more right-leaning. Not sure if that's true anymore or if we're only hearing from the loudest ranters on the left and right these days - after all, they give the best sound bites! I myself have very liberal views on some things and some conservative views on other things.

I am always a bit shocked by extremism on either side. I just can't see things in such a black and white way. I have to weigh all the different angles.

I do know a gay guy who is a staunch republican. Can't figure that one out! ;)

I was pretty shocked the other day to learn i had a friend against gay marriage......i dont think that makes him a bad person but it was just a surprise.

Everyone knows how i feel about things, im very open but i dont affiliate with one political party over another. Its kind of like religion to me, there is too much else to look at, than to be able to adhere to one idea for life.

No, because we honestly dont talk about politics. =)

Political beliefs, no. Religious beliefs, YES! Floored, shocked, appalled.

I have close acquaintances with 3 very obnoxiously staunch republicans and majority of my family on both sides are Republican.

My daughter has a good friend at school whose mother seemed like a totally normal person to me. Then she started talking one day about some political views that... well, I won't get into it here, but suffice it to say I was totally blown away by how extreme her views were. Like, CRAZY extreme. And I am a pretty open-minded person, but OMG, I think my mouth was hanging open even though I tried to keep my face impassive and make non-commital statements like, "Oh, really?" and "mmm-hmm." Later, I ran into a mutual friend and casually asked if she had ever discussed politics with this friend, and she said, "SHE'S ABSOLUTELY CRAZY!" and went off for about 10 minutes about exactly how crazy this woman's views are... anyway, suffice it to say that I felt better that I hadn't just totally missed the fact that this woman is kinda nuts all this time! She hides it well, but, yeah. Totally off the deep end. LOL