UNCW professor gives tips on talking politics with friends and family

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — It appears this year’s election will be a sharply divided one, both nationally, and here in North Carolina. 

It can be difficult to talk with friends or family about who you’re voting for, especially if you disagree on who’s better for the job.  

Associate Professor Dr. Jennifer Brubaker teaches family communication at UNC Wilmington. 

She also has a segment on her podcast Reframing Me titled Reframing the Conversation, where she gives tips on talking about difficult topics. She said the first step in approaching political conversations is understanding why the other side has a different viewpoint.  

“You really need to approach relationships with the idea of a mutual understanding and going into it with this trying to understand what the person is saying, why they feel that they do. Coming to it from that place of empathy,” Brubaker said. 

We wanted to find out how people are managing those tough conversations.  

“Our family members are pretty good at catching ourselves when it gets too headed and taking a step back,” one Wilmington voter said. 

“We’ve done a good job talking about it pretty well. I think we just try and talk about what’s important to us and making us choose that,” another voter added. 

“If you have that strong belief about why you think you want to vote for one person over the other then what’s the pieces to why you think that,” one voter noted. 

“There’s a lot of stuff we agree on, a lot of stuff we don’t see eye to eye on but as long as you approach it in a respectful manner, at the end of the day we’re family, we’re humans and just treat each other with respect,” one voter explained 

If you’re looking to persuade your friend or family member to see things your way, Brubaker said to not expect an immediate change 

“No one’s going to come out and say ‘you know what, I just changed my entire view on everything with that one conversation that we had. If only I’d heard that piece of information, I would have been different all along.’ No one’s going to do that, but it’s this long idea of creating this mutual understanding and a return to that. Each conversation is a part of that process,” Brubaker explained. 

If you’ve developed a riff with a friend or a family member over politics, Brubaker has a podcast episode dedicated to how you can rebuild those relationships.