Editorial: Political debate isn’t on Thanksgiving menu for most
Published 1:30 am Saturday, November 22, 2025
By The Herald Editorial Board
This weekend as you’re shopping for the makings of the Thanksgiving meal, cleaning house, digging out a card table for the kids, circling must-see football games and otherwise preparing for a gathering of family and friends — large or small — you might be pushing aside thoughts of what else might be passed around the table: heaping servings of political and other unpleasant arguments.
It’s become a traditional trope in media during the approach to holidays and the gathering of families that everyone’s bracing either for quarrels or uncomfortable silences after an awkward or unkind statement. Dutifully, most of those stories follow with tips about how to steer toward civil discourse during a full-course meal.
Those tips are generally helpful for all discussions, regardless of the setting: Be respectful. Don’t interrupt. Assume positive intent. Listen to understand, not to rebut. When you can’t agree to disagree, agree to change the subject.
And if you can’t say something nice, there’s always kitchen cleanup duty.
And while some families celebrate a vigorous exchange of opinions — tell me I’m wrong that the Mariners’ Cal Raleigh was robbed of the American League MVP title — it turns out that most of us aren’t interested in discursive donnybrooks and that actually few Thanksgiving meals are spoiled by such debates.
How disinterested in a Thanksgiving political altercations are most of us?
One survey of some 2,000 adults found that 47 percent would rather sit at the kids’ table than with the grownups, even as they risk a retelling of the characters and plot of “KPop Demon Hunters.”
A 2022 poll for Axios found that 77 percent of those surveyed said Thanksgiving gatherings were not the place to discuss politics, although 31 percent expected discussion to turn to the results of that year’s midterm elections.
A similar poll by Quinnipiac a year later found 6 in 10 surveyed who said they preferred to avoid political discussions during the holiday, even as nearly 3 in 10 said they were looking forward to it.
But those who dread those conversations may be able to relax a bit. A 2023 YouGov poll found that 78 percent of those surveyed said their Thanksgiving aren’t hijacked by politics, including more than 8 in 10 of those who consider themselves independents or Republicans and 7 in 10 Democrats. Those numbers were generally similar even for more politically diverse families.
(Here’s a suitable set of statistics for the table: The greatest political divides in the survey regarded what traditional foods respondents expected would be served at the meal. The widest divide between partisans was over gravy, with 42.5 percent of Democrats expecting it to be served, as compared to 56.2 percent of Republicans. Agreement was closest regarding Brussels sprouts; 13.6 percent for Democrats and 16.7 percent for Republicans.)
So, if not politics, what are we going to talk about?
We suggest uncorking some vintage family stories.
As it has for 10 years now, StoryCorps, a nonprofit that encourages the recording of conversations among families, friends and others — most of which are archived in the Library of Congress’ American Folklife Center — encourages participation its Great Thanksgiving Listen.
The Great Thanksgiving Listen invites family members to share and record intergenerational family stories. And yes, there’s an app for that.
The StoryCorps website offers links to the app, suggested equipment (most smartphones work fine) tips for interviewing, archiving and sharing the recordings and links to the StoryCorps archive, including many past interviews that have been illustrated with animation. Audio and video of the stories shared with StoryCorps are regularly featured on NPR and PBS stations.
A companion to the interviews it hosts at mobile booths throughout the country, the do-it-yourself program especially encourages younger family members to interview elders and other family members about family history, their childhoods, their lives, careers and pursuits and more.
The completed interviews can be kept by the family for future listening, and even shared with StoryCorps and the Library of Congress if desired.
This isn’t to displace the role of political discourse in our lives. Our democracy and our nation’s future depend on the exchange of concerns, ideals and ideas. The solution to our perceived political divides are more of those focused and civil conversations, especially those exchanges we can have outside of our social and political bubbles.
Yet there can be no better time than Thanksgiving and other family-centric holidays — putting our phones to better use than doomscrolling — to direct conversations to who we are as families and individuals, what we value and why, and to preserve those stories and celebrate them.
Have a happy and story-filled Thanksgiving.
