Keeping The Family Peace In A Scorched-Earth Political Season

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Photo: Political Opposites Mullenax
Shawnna Mullenax, left, of Boulder, and her grandmother, Carol Mullenax, hold what Carol describes as "exact opposite" political views.

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Carol Mullenax says she and her granddaughter, Shawnna Mullenax, are "exact opposites" politically -- but they keep their talks friendly. "It's never hard words over politics," says Mullenax, who lives in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Shawnna, a graduate student in political science at the University of Colorado Boulder, supports Hillary Clinton. Carol describes herself as a conservative and says she'll "vote the party line" this year. She says she's convinced the country "is not in a good place." Shawnna says she welcomes the possibility of woman president. Listening to her grandmother talk about life in the South, where conservative views are more widely held, is interesting to her as a political scientist.

Photo: Political Opposites Felleter Family
The Felleter family: Clare, center, who is a Clinton supporter, her dad Vince, who backs Donald Trump, and at left mom and wife Leigh Felleter, who stays out of politics.

In Grand Junction, lawyer Vince Felleter is a Trump supporter. That puts him at odds with his daughter, Clare, who works at Regis University in Denver. Vince says he was a liberal, too, when he was Clare’s age -- but now he thinks government’s too heavy-handed and people are too reliant on its help. He wants a complete overhaul of the system. Clare says not everybody had the same advantages growing up, and government needs to put them on equal footing. She thinks it’d be great to have a woman president.