Mostly through personal experiences. I live in a red county in a mostly red state. I once somehow pissed a vet off because he assumed I was conservative based solely on my appearance. In his words, I looked too cool to not be republican. That was probably the saddest, yet funniest, experience I’ve had.
I’ve lost decades-old friends because of their right-leaning ideologies. Never once had I put them down for their beliefs. But they were quick to call me an idiot or zombie or otherwise insult my intelligence because I dared think different than them. Suffice it to say, I am not friends with them anymore.
The friends that I do have are my friends because I steer clear of talking politics. Not that I haven’t tried. But somehow, even my so-called left-leaning friends seem to think differently than me. Maybe it’s me. I don’t know.
I like to think I’m fairly open-minded. There are things I won’t change my mind about, but I will listen to what other people have to say and I won’t insult them for it.
I don’t know. It’s ultimately how I feel as a whole. For the most part I know most people are good people, even if they’re misguided. But it’s that vocal minority that espouse nothing but vitriol and hate and revel in other people’s misery that I have a problem with. And those people are more often than not, center or right of center as far as I can tell.