The idea that "gun ownership" is the actual axis of contention between the "left" and "right" is pretty wrongheaded, though? I feel like both of you are drawing a straw man of both centrists and conservatives.
Here's a better one: how many people do you know have a relationship that survives one partner wanting and abortion and one saying that abortion is murder?
That's a strong division, but if you're nitpicking, that's not "the actual axis" between left and right either. There are a lot of pro-life Democrats and pro-choice Republicans (almost 30%) [1], although once again the media makes it look strictly partisan.
Perhaps the problem is that the media presents a distorted view of the world, crafted to serve their agenda and their advertisers.
There is absolutely no doubt that media portrayal of some issues is distorted. But this isn't what the example was focused on, it was focused on the notion that antipodal partisan couples exist around some of these issues, and I submit you're going to have a hard time finding any that do.
The idea that there aren't hard fault lines in the American political discourse is itself a media distortion as well, primarily driven by pro-State media.
And in fact, your view of the world is outdated. Faith as an intermarriage agreement point is down substantially as people care less about religion [0]. Partisan divides are rising as folks start feeling freer to express more opinions [1], we see that data suggests partisanship is rising.
Increasingly, women are not required to accept a politically opposite husband (a clear trend in the data prior). Without their forbearance, who is going to form these unions you're used to seeing?
I'd like to point out that the idea that, "Well the media distorts things therefore none of this is real" is an absurd premise that is largely used by privileged people to ignore the suffering and difficulty of others, using the excuse of ignorance without mentioning its self-inflicted.p
I don't think that leereeves was saying that none of this is real. The point was, this isn't 100% (which you would likely conclude from the media). "This is not 100%" is not a claim that "this is 0%", though.
Is it even a trend, outside of partisan activists and journalists? For most people I know, "are you left or right wing?" isn't a priority when choosing dates or friends.
Here's a better one: how many people do you know have a relationship that survives one partner wanting and abortion and one saying that abortion is murder?