Young urban Indians care about politics, but not when they’re looking for partners.
Even as young men and women in India care about staying informed about the recent political issues, that’s not the topic they want to discuss when on a date, according to online dating platform OkCupid.
With the biggest elections in history currently underway in India, the US-based service asked around 200,000 of its over one million users in the country, about their views on dating, politics, and mixing the two. OkCupid says most of its users are aged between 25 and 35 years and based in major cities such as New Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru.
Not only do Indian users recognise the importance of staying politically informed and voting, nearly half of them even support compulsory voting laws that penalise those who do not cast their vote.
However, politics is not a preferred conversation topic for men or women. In fact, when meeting someone for the first time, they would talk about pretty much anything but politics.
While most Indian women would like to date someone with similar political views, few Indian men care about their prospective dates’ political preferences. This may have to do with the fact that men do not have the luxury of choice on dating apps in India, where they outnumber women three to one.
But even for female users, matching political views matter far less compared to sexual compatibility, OkCupid said.