Which Men Cheat Least? Republican Husbands, Especially “Religious Wife Guys”
December 17, 2024
Republicans have an infidelity problem. If your only impression of Republican marriages was ripped from the latest headlines, this would seem to be a reasonable conclusion. But the picture appears different when we look beyond the headlines at the lives of ordinary Republican men. It turns out that Republican husbands, especially religious ones, are less likely to cheat on their wives than Democratic husbands.
The issue is important because, as I (Wilcox) argued in Get Married, infidelity “exacts a serious toll on marital quality,” adding that it is “because, regardless of the state of the marriage prior to the adultery, breaking the fidelity norm ushers in thoughts and feelings of betrayal, distrust, and anger—not to mention worries about abandonment.” Not surprisingly, infidelity is also one of the top predictors of divorce.
