An investigation by a British newspaper has found growing evidence of strict political discrimination in the housing rental market, a trend leaving many pro-Brexit and Conservative voters out in the cold.
The political discrimination against conservative-minded people in the UK is widespread on housing sites like SpareRoom, the report claims. The Telegraph found advertisements saying “No smokers or Tories” and another ad from a supposedly “open-minded and tolerant” landlord who said that “in most cases I couldn’t see myself living with a Tory”.
“Recently we have seen more mentions of political preferences in adverts, which unfortunately is a sign of the times we live in. Choosing who you live with based on how they vote isn’t counted as discrimination however we’d always encourage people to say who they do want to live with, rather than who they don’t,” said a spokesman from SpareRoom.
The emerging trend appears to be of would-be landlords making clear those who support Britain leaving the European Union or right-wing political parties would not be welcome.
In one instance, student Olivia Learner arrived at prospective accommodation and was greeted with a sign reading “F*CK THE TORIES”, anti-Brexit literature around the house, and a poster of the infamous communist mass murderer Che Guevara.
Ms Learner was told that she would not be welcome in the house after the landlord discovered her political leanings through social media, telling her that: “I saw you are the leader of the young Conservative party in uni and you support Brexit. We are a very Left-wing house and I think there could be [a] potential clash.”
“I ask myself how these people are going to cope when they get a job, and have to work with someone that votes Conservative, are they going to refuse to work with that person?” she revealed to The Telegraph.
Importantly, descrimination based on political affiliation appears to be a one-way street in the UK, with anti-Remainer/political left room listings not featuring. Indeed, the intolerance from leftists towards people on the right in the UK was demonstrated in a poll conducted by YouGov earlier this year, which found that 39 per cent of Remainer voters would be upset if their child married a Brexit supporter, compared to just 11 per cent of Leave supporters who would feel the same if their child married a Remainer.
The poll also found that nearly a third of Labour supporters would not consider dating a member of their rival party.
This liberal bias mirrors similar trends reported in the United States, where supporters of President Donald Trump are increasingly finding cross-party dating difficult.
“A lot of times you’ll connect with someone [on an app] and they’ll Google you, find out you worked for Trump’s campaign, and then it’s pretty much all downhill from there,” a Trump administration official told the Washingtonian.
A conservative journalist explained to the outlet that “the political divide has gotten so wide that a lot of younger liberals don’t have any interest in meeting conservatives”.
He recounted an instance in which he brought a woman back to his apartment, and upon seeing works from conservative writers on his bookshelf, the woman exclaimed: “Oh no. First question: Did you vote for Trump?”
The reporter said that while he did not vote for Donald Trump, he was a conservative. In response, the woman said “I have to get out of here. I can’t see you” and left.
Donald Trump supporters have faced discrimination in the housing market as well. In 2016, a Colorado landlord posted a rental ad in which he said that while dogs with good references would be allowed, Trump supporters shouldn’t bother getting in touch.
The federal Fair Housing Act in America bans landlords from discriminating based on race, colour, national origin, religion, sex, and disability, but does not prohibit discrimination based on political affiliation, although some states have local laws preventing political discrimination.
The lack of tolerance towards conservatives by left-wing people may be a psychological phenomenon. NYU professor and the founder of Heterodox Academy, Jonathan Haidt, explained that liberals are much more likely to be incapable of understanding the beliefs and thoughts of conservatives.
In his book The Righteous Mind, Mr Haidt wrote:
The results were clear and consistent. Moderates and conservatives were most accurate in their predictions, whether they were pretending to be liberals or conservatives. Liberals were the least accurate, especially those who described themselves as “very liberal.” The biggest errors in the whole study came when liberals answered the care and fairness questions while pretending to be conservatives. When faced with statements such as “one of the worst things a person could do is hurt a defenseless animal” or “justice is the most important requirement for a society,” liberals assumed that conservatives would disagree.