Half the marriages end in divorce. Means there’s a mismatch somewhere. Bad and/or weak marriages produce affairs....not the other way around.
Very true. I'm from New York, but I live in the South, and one time I commented on the fact that everybody here seems to get married three times. The person I was talking to (an Evangelical) told me that people here have a "starter marriage," a "rebound marriage," and then finally one that works out.
Bizarre, but I guess that's how it is.
In any case, Gingrich's first marriage was to his high school teacher (something like 15 years older than he) who would now be in jail for this. He was a chubby, too-smart military brat, and it seems that nobody else was interested in him when he was 16.
He married her over his father's opposition, but he did the right thing.