Are Republicans more likely to cheat than Democrats? It’s difficult to say for sure when most polls that look at people’s sexual behavior are self-reported. However, using data from the 2015 leak from Ashley Madison, a website that connects married people looking to have an affair, scientists have found which party affiliates were more likely to use the adultery dating service.
In 2015, a hacker collective known as the Impact Team hacked and published the data from Ashley Madison, an online dating service that connects married people seeking extramarital affairs. Data scientists Kodi Arfer, Ph.D., of University of California Los Angeles, and Jason Jones, Ph.D., an assistant professor at Stony Brook University, analyzed the leaked data alongside voter registration records to see how well a voter’s political views on sexual norms agree with their online behavior. Their findings were published in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior on Friday.
At the time of the Ashley Madison leak, the website’s slogan was “Life is short. Have an affair,” establishing the sole intent of its mission. Using the leaked data, Arfer and Jones linked credit card payments made via the cheating site with voter registration records from California, Florida, Kansas, New York, and Oklahoma. The analysis took into account registered Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, and Green party members, as well as those registered without a party affiliation.
Which Political Party Is the Most Adulterous? New Study Points to Patterns | Inverse