Two-thirds of Americans do not share political affiliations at work: Survey

One-half believe U.S. president has effect on unemployment rate

Politics are on everyone’s mind in American workplaces, but workers may feel more comfortable keeping it out of the office.
 
Sixty-six per cent of workers don’t share their political affiliation at work, and 28 per cent of workers said they feel like they need to keep their affiliation secret around the office, found survey by Career Builder.

Men are more likely than women to share their political beliefs at work, with 37 per cent of men sharing their affiliation compared to 31 per cent of women, found the survey of 4,000 working Americans.

“It is easy for a conversation about politics in the office to become an argument about politics,” said Rosemary Haefner, vice-president of human resources at CareerBuilder. “For the most part, people want to avoid controversy in the office as much as possible. Avoiding discussions of politics may be one way they can do that.”

Ninety-eight per cent of workers don’t have U.S. presidential campaign items or decorations on display in their office. Workers who keep their political affiliations secret at work usually do so because they don’t feel politics should be discussed in the office unless it affects their job (68 per cent) and only 13 per cent keep their affiliation secret because they think their co-workers mostly support the opposing party.

Employees new to the workforce and the voting population are less likely than their older co-workers to share their political affiliations around the office. Twenty-one per cent of employees between 18 and 24 share their political opinions at work, compared to 29 per cent of workers 25-34 years old, and 36 per cent of workers the age 35 and older. 

Eighty-two per cent of respondents said that they plan to vote on Nov.6, while 52 per cent of workers believe that the President of the United States has an actual effect on the unemployment rate.

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