Most of my friends are a good deal more liberal than I am. Some are flaming liberals, one in particular. But he is a respectful, thoughtful flaming liberal, and I enjoy talking politics with him.
Heck, my wife is pro-life and I am pro-choice, and we manage to get along.
Regards,
Shodan
Oh, sure. Before law school, I considered myself relatively left-leaning politically. Then I made friends with my Sandinista classmate in first-year Torts. 
We enjoy arguing about the merits of tearing down the American empire and whipping the bourgoisie through the streets - he supports that plan, while I (as a civil servant) am somewhat opposed. The fellow’s assured me, though, that my life will be spared come the Revolution. Decent of him, I think.
I also have friends involved with Occupy Wall Street to varying extents - while I’m sympathetic with some of OWS’ gripes, I think street protests are the wrong tool to use in bringing about nuanced reform of economic policy, and that OWS has yet to articulate a clear, actionable platform.
And of course, I have friends to the right. None are particularly close, but some are quite old - a high school friend, for example, who sees nothing wrong with OWS demonstrators getting pepper-sprayed because “it doesn’t hurt that much.” I also have a more-or-less former friend who has, alas, become a white supremicist. (He prefers the term “white separatist,” but I don’t indulge the tender sensibilities of racists.) I’d still help the guy out if he had serious problems - cancer, serious criminal charges, things like that - and he asked, because our former friendship means something to me. I also worry that, if we hadn’t drifted apart, I might have checked his slide into bigotry. shrugs
I think this is what happened with me.
I’ve had a few friends over the years (and one cousin) with vastly different political views than my own. They have all done two things:
[ol]
[li]Moved to a much more conservative part of the country many hours from here[/li][li]Cut off contact with their old friends. [/li][/ol]
I never tried to engage them in any sort of conversation about these topics but they felt compelled to try and talk with me about it. I shut that down because I knew we disagreed and I didn’t want to have an argument, but they not only stopped talking about the subject, they stopped talking to me altogether.
It’s unfortunate but if this is what they want I wish them well. The only one I really miss is my cousin… that one just makes me sad.
Oh, lots: I have some friends and acquaintances who are atheists and some who are very or moderately religious (Jewish and Christian–no other religions that I know of); I have friends and acquaintances who are everything from left-wing anarchists to right-wing . . . well, not fascists, but pretty damn right-wing.
The ones I have very close relationships with, we josh each other about it affectionately; others, we just avoid the subjects entirely, which really is not difficult.
I couldn’t live with someone who disagreed with me on something so important–but be friends? Of course, why not?
I rarely discuss politics or religion with friends. That’s why I still have friends.
Once in awhile I may mention a current political news story. But back off quickly if there’s any disagreement.
I much rather talk tv shows or odd wacky news.
I’m sorry about that 
Did they really break off contact purely for reasons of political disagreement? Could you tell us what you disagreed on?
(Sorry, really don’t mean to pry at all, genuinely interested in why. Like I said, I would have difficulty being close friends with someone if we fundamentally disagreed on things that are very important to me, but we could still hang out…)
I’ve had friends all over the spectrum. I’ve found that people tend to have the same goals for the nation, but simply different opinions on the best way to accomplish those goals, which can make for a good exchange of ideas. As long as they listen and are respectful, we can be close friends and it’s fine.
If they refuse to listen, though, it’s done. I have one friend like that, and I would say it’s one of the key things that keeps him from being a closer friend. He once said to me “I’m not going to change your mind, and you won’t change mine.” That had me seething. I am perfectly open to having my mind changed, and anyone who is so set in their views that they can just flat-out quash all discussion and say you’re not going to change my mind is … I don’t want to say a bad person … but certainly an annoying one.
My two best friends (a married couple) are what I would describe as Libertarians. They’re not religious at all but have very right-wing ideas about The Government. And weird ideas about other shit. Me, I’m very left.
We just don’t talk about it, like everyone else. One time I told the female of the couple that I must love her a lot because I can’t stand anyone else with her politics but I still like her. She found that to be a nice compliment.
No, it’s not prying. In the cases I’m thinking of I can’t say it’s purely political. It was actually people who were somewhat religious becoming more so, and their politics became more conservative. I can’t say for sure which followed which, but whatever the case they went hand in hand.
One example: person in question and I are were both Jewish (barely so, but still) and she moved to somewhere in the South and subsequently became a Born Again Christian.
Cool, good for her, she is happy. We’re fine, for many years… until she changed to this new church and somewhere after this she started parroting back Fox News talking points (which to me means she is just being a sheep and not thinking for herself, and I’d think that if it were anywhere on the political spectrum) and trying to get me to convert.
We never talked religion or politics before, but it became her sole topic of conversation. When I tried to talk about something else, she just… stopped talking to me. I just stopped getting calls and emails, and calls and emails I made went unanswered - so there was no angry words spoken or anything, but it’s clear that she wants nothing to do with me. She has cut herself off from the rest of her family as well which is a much bigger issue to me, but what can you do? She’s an adult and this is her choice.
The other stories move along the same lines: person moves more deeply into their religion, moves to a more conservative part of the country (I’m in the NYC metro area), gets more politically conservative, and when I don’t follow along they stop talking to me. And not just me, all their other former friends left up here as well. We’ve all compared notes - “when was the last time you heard from so-and-so?” “Oh, I don’t talk to him anymore but I see on his Facebook page he’s ranting about some liberal policy… I don’t remember him doing that before, do you?”
This is just my personal experience, not representative of anything, YMMV, etc. and so on…
I have a good college friend who has always thought that women, gays, ethnic and religious minorities, immigrants and other put-upon groups shouldn’t be put upon. He thinks public schools and universities should be well-funded and the wealthiest should pay the greatest share. He doesnt think military intervention is a good idea. He doesnt think free-market systems should be used willy-nilly. He’s a public employee. In general he has classic American center-left views. And he’s always been a Republican.
The last two years of Republican leadership in Ohio have finally convinced him that the Republican party doesn’t agree with his values, now or any time soon. Which is why we’ve always gotten along – we agree on the basics, we disagree (or did) on the details. I suspect that’s the case for all friends with dissimilar political views. One guy doesn’t think a terrorist should be able to build a dirty bomb, another is against concealed carry. Same basics, different details.
My BFF and I disagree on every point of the spectrum from religion to politics to food. When we drink wine together we debate and yell and basically make all the non-BFFs around us uncomfortable. The next day we hug and drink mimosas and agree not to argue again until the next time.
Mrsin and I disagree slightly less. However after GWB was elected we mutually determined that talking politics and living together did not mix. We did not talk about politics for 8 years.
One of my bosses, that I am fairly friendly with is a Limbaugh listening, Palin luvin’, conservative talking point of the day, righty email forwarding Republican. We’ve talked politics a few times and were able to keep it civil.
My boss at my previous job was pretty far right too and we were OK despite a few heated political discussions.
I’m pretty good at coexisting with conservatives, almost everyone here is one.
Two of my closest friends, a husband and wife, are on two opposite sides of the spectrum. She’s a strong pro-business Republican and he’s a quite progressive liberal. I don’t agree with a lot of what either of them believe, and I am a liberal myself. In this group, I am the centrist. (My conservative friends would find that hilarious. Carol? A centrist?!?!)
Discussions can get pretty heated sometimes. But we keep hanging out and we keep talking politics, so it must be ok.
An awful lot of my friends seem to be either way left or way right. I mostly smile and nod.
I’m a Democrat (though I’m nearly socialist in my beliefs, so I’m to the left of most mainstream Democrats) and my husband is a Republican, though not a very rabid one. We don’t talk politics all that often, but when we do it’s usually quite civil.
Almost exactly my situation. We’ve been friends since the 7th grade, almost 50 years. He’s a Democrat, religious, and a stay at home homosexual.
We’re both retired though and in complete agreement on that issue.
He’s flying out at the end of the year for a week with Ms Hook and myself. It’ll be a good time.
Au contraire, mon frére, I do not and have not ever personally known a single person in this entire planet with any similar political opinions. I think it’s mainly the combination of my line of work, where I live and the churches I attend.
I thus try to steer away from political discussions but when gragged into one I always come out the loser. No one who I personally know can relate, I guess.
I’m a fiscal conservative and conservative on defense. Almost all of my friends are leftists who think Europe is really cool. Most of them don’t talk politics with me and just assume I’m one of them. It’s not a big deal. I just make sure to act as if I’m not interested in the discussion and it goes away.
I have a few conservative friends and when they meet my other friends I warn them not to talk politics and they don’t. Mostly, I don’t want them to blow my cover. Again, no big deal.
Once, a few years ago, a friend went crazy and started to insult my wife about some political disagreement - she and I are mostly in agreement - and I told him to fuck off. Haven’t spoken to him since, but I can’t say it’s had any effect on my life.
And one friend sometimes feigns curiosity and asks me some question about a conservative point of view about something or other, and I tell him that if he’s interested I’ll send him a link to an article or column or web site. He’s never read any of them, even though he’s a full professor and certainly capable of reading. So I guess he’s not all that interested in the conservative point of view.
BTW, I’m mostly libertarian, so on social issues I’m to the left of Obama. I’m in favor of gay marriage and legalization of marijuana.
I live in fairly liberal Chicago, but I work in deeply conservative Kansas City. My friends tend to be fellow liberals, although one good friend constantly needles me that Obama is very disappointing to him (though I shut him up for a bit with this video). But most of my clients range from conservative to genuine Tea Partier. One, a very sweet woman otherwise, was hoping out loud shortly after the inauguration that Obama would be assassinated soon. That had me grinding my teeth.
I’m a conservative, and I consider myself well informed and rational about my views on politics. I have some good friends who I know are liberal Democrats who know I am politically conservative (I refuse to register as a Republican, because I hate the Republican establishment), but we just don’t talk about politics. I usually assume people have their own beliefs for a reason, and it’s not my business to try to change anyone’s mind. That being said, I have no problem pointing out blatant falsehoods when I hear them.
On the other hand, I have no patience for people who call themselves conservatives who just regurgitate the sensationalistic crap they hear on Fox News, either. Due to Fox News’ hyping of Donald Trump’s self centered, attention seeking possible run for president earlier this year, my own dad was convinced he was the perfect man for the job. I consider the guy barely one step up from professional wrestlers. I had some pretty heated arguments with my dad about that, as well as his extreme hatred/paranoia about Barack Obama, fueled by nonstop Fox News and conservative talk shows on the radio. I can’t stand Obama either, but I don’t entertain any of these wild conspiracy theories about him. The closest I get to an Obama conspiracy theory is buying the theory that he’s a closet atheist who chose to become a nominal Christian to look more acceptable. But I certainly never believed any of the birther/secret radical Muslim/rising dictator stuff.