The 2024 presidential election is just around the corner – and young workers are threatening to quit if their bosses express a political opinion they disagree with.

In fact, a new survey found that nearly half of workers under 35 say they would quit their job because of political disagreements in the workplace.

In an era of polarization, Americans have cut ties with partners, friends and even family members over political disagreements, but now they even seem willing to forgo their paychecks.

This is a sign that politics has become all-encompassing – and that there is no area of ​​society that it has not penetrated. Worse still, young people are completely intolerant of people with whom they disagree.

According to a Harris Poll commissioned by job search engine Indeed, 60% of employees would prefer to work for a company whose CEO shares their political beliefs.

But some employees go even further: About 28 percent would quit because of political disagreements at work and 32 percent would leave their jobs if the CEO said something they disagreed with.

Younger employees are even less tolerant of different views. An incredible 40 percent of 18- to 34-year-olds would quit because of political disagreements at work or with the CEO.

This shows a remarkable disregard for other points of view and a complete lack of curiosity about what others think and why they believe what they do. And that is dangerous for a diverse democracy like ours.

“The fact that nearly half of us would rather quit our jobs because of politically charged factions than be willing to live together respectfully is a clear sign of how divided we have become,” Indeed said in a statement on the survey.

This is no surprise considering that Zoomer and Millennial employees grew up in an era of institutional activism, with their colleges and universities taking a stand on all sorts of controversial political issues.

From the overturning of Roe v. Wade to the election of Donald Trump to the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse, schools have taken a stand on issues that divide Americans, assuming they could speak for the entire “community.”

After Trump’s election victory in 2016, schools even offered counseling to pampered children. No wonder they can’t imagine dealing with dissenting views in the workplace today. They are simply copying the “safe space” culture of university campuses.

Why shouldn’t former students demand the same from their workplaces – especially after companies went to great lengths to issue self-flagellating corporate statements in the summer of 2020?

Kids are told they should either go their own way or do nothing at all, even if it means being unemployed. Campuses may be ideologically safe spaces for the closed-minded, but offices are certainly not the same.

Companies like Goya were boycotted because of their CEO’s support of Trump, and employees quit their jobs at Equinox because the CEO hosted a fundraiser for the former president – not that beans or fitness training have anything to do with politics.

It is merely a symptom of our pathological polarization.

“Although they often consider themselves to be extremely tolerant, the campus activism that has spilled over into the workplace is anything but that. It is extremely intolerant of political differences,” Greg Lukianoff, FIRE CEO and my co-author of the book “The Canceling of the American Mind,” told the Post.

“This is unhealthy for democracy and also quite elitist and arrogant.”

As the election approaches and poll results remain close, political disagreements are sure to arise in any workplace of reasonable size.

Every self-respecting adult should know that, in the interests of cohesion and productivity, politics should stay out of the workplace – and that is what the majority want.

According to the same survey, 54 percent of employees say they feel uncomfortable when politics is discussed in the workplace, while only 35 percent admit to discussing politics at work.

Worse, 39 percent said they felt pressured to conform to a political opinion, and 29 percent said they had been discriminated against or bullied at work because of their views. A few snooty, ultra-political people can really spoil it for everyone.

It is time for workplaces to define themselves as apolitical safe spaces. There are some glimmers of hope coming from the American economy.

In 2020, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong called for a political truce in the office – and lost 5% of his most active employees as a result.

When Google CEO Sundar Pichai was recently pressed to comment on the Israel-Palestine conflict, he urged his employees not to use “the company as a personal platform” or “argue about disturbing issues or discuss politics.”

This should go without saying, but given the number of bright workers that science produces, it obviously needs to be stated more clearly.

This election should not lead to mass resignations. It’s time to learn how to share a workplace – and a country – with people you disagree with.