Democrats and Republicans don’t just disagree on policy — they increasingly diverge in how they live their daily lives. From the places they eat and the cars they drive to the television networks they watch and even the names they give their children, lifestyle choices are often split along partisan lines. These differences reflect a broader and more troubling trend: political polarization is shaping not just the outcomes of our elections, but the fabric of American culture.

With the unofficial start of summer upon us, it is worth asking: Has polarization also seeped into something as apolitical as summer vacation?

To find out, the Institute of Politics at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where we serve as director and associate director, surveyed 1,123 American adults in early May using the AmeriSpeak Panel.

For starters, partisans largely agree on a basic vacation question: how many consecutive days off work count as a “real” vacation? Nearly half (47 percent) say it takes six or more consecutive days off work. About a third say four to five days is enough, and 12 percent say even one to three days qualifies.

More than half of Americans (55 percent) plan to take a........

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