First Person: In This Presidential Election, a House Divided Can Stand

Yahoo News asked voters in politically split relationships to share what it's like to support one presidential candidate when their significant others don't. Here's one voter's story.

FIRST PERSON | If only there was a support group for people like me: "Hi, my name is Margaret and I'm married to a Republican."

I will be voting for Barack Obama in this election, and my husband, Stephen, will be voting for Romney. Stephen and I are in our early 50s, have been married for 25 years and have four children. You don't get to stay together that long without learning to respect and deal with differences. We've never been one of those couples who agree on everything. We even have a rule that if we both see something for our house that we both love, we have to buy it because it happens so rarely. So politics is not our only area of disagreement, but it's definitely a big one.

It wasn't always this way. I remember fondly those days before the 2000 election when there was a grayscale of political opinion and you weren't just "red" or "blue." Stephen and I actually used to discuss issues and even came to some common ground.

Much like the rest of the country, since 2000, the divide between our political opinions is deeper. I avoid conflict whenever possible and Stephen runs headlong into it. He still tries to lure me into political debates, but they always devolve into personal arguments with one of us with calling the other an idiot. In order to keep the peace, politics are pretty much off the table for discussion except in the most glancing of ways -- hair styles and gaffes are OK; economics and the Middle East are not. It doesn't help that we live in a conservative suburb of Atlanta. I'm outnumbered, and I've learned to keep my mouth shut.

We have learned to enjoy the election as if it were a reality TV show. We enjoy watching the debates together. We laugh at mistakes and mannerisms, call both candidates out when they dodge questions, and keep track of points. We can assess each candidate's performance without getting into the substance of their differences. We are not going to change each other's mind about what's best for the country, so it's pointless to try.

Come Election Day, one of us will get a conciliatory hug and the other will discreetly close themselves in the closet and do a happy dance.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/first-person-presidential-election-house-divided-stand-155600820.html

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