American CIRs - What do you get asked about US politics?

I got asked about it a lot during the election, mostly just about explaining the political climate/situation and less about giving my individual opinion. Common questions were, "How is Trump even in the race/doing so well?" and "Why do people hate Hillary Clinton so much?" So all I had to do was explain the American political climate as best as I could (but this made me realize how shit my Japanese vocabulary is when I try to speak about things outside my usual sphere of conversation topics hue).

I never felt any sense of judgment whatsoever when I WAS asked to give my opinion, and I don't think any CIRs should have to worry about voicing their political views.

My advice would just be to brush up on your political vocabulary (which I still haven't done...). This hasn't happened to me, but I do know some CIRs who have actually been interviewed by local news about their opinions after major elections (Brexit and the US Presidential Election), so be wary that that's a possibility.

I actually receive quite a bit of questions quite regularly from Japanese people regarding the election, the Trump Eternal Overlordistration, etc.

Of course, like the others have said, the questions were more constant during the actual election cycle. I had SO MANY people ask me about the differences between Clinton and Trump, and also my personal opinion about them both, and who I supported. I actually got really bothered by this barrage after the election because I was dealing with the reality of the outcome--as I am sure we all were--but the questions in my situation didn't really let up. I actually had one of my ES teachers force me to talk about Trump in front of the kids, "because they [were] really interested about it". I just made an icky face while saying Trump and that seemed to get the point across. However, even to this day, I still get quite a bit of questions asking about Trump; most of the time it is from coworkers who are generally curious about how the situation came to be and how the American political system works. Though I tend to not like talking about it, I take it as an educational opportunity and then also ask the Japanese person to tell me about the Japanese political system. In doing this, I find that the conversation becomes more interesting, and less focused on just Trump.

With the kids that I see pretty constantly though, I just sort of had to say "I don't like Trump, but sometimes things happen in life that you don't agree with and sometimes you just have to roll with it." I try to like, make a lesson out of it for the kids? hue Even though they are pretty persistent in trying to get my personal opinion.

I also get asked by the occasional taxi driver when they find out I'm American. haha

TL;DR
I get asked A LOT even to this day. So, I would advise incoming American CIRs that there is a strong possibility to have to deal with being asked about it, but to just handle it tactfully. Brushing up on some political vocabulary would definitely be helpful too.

I don't get asked much in my office, but this may be because I was proactive in telling them about the process from around the time of the first caucus. (When it was my turn to be in charge of 朝礼, which happened about once a month, I always had to give a short あいさつ called 今日の一言, so I often talked about the caucuses and election process in the context of being from an early caucus state and a swing state.) From my office colleagues, I've historically gotten the most questions about (a lack of) gun control. On the other hand, I was and still am often asked about Trump during 出張, where people don't know me as well and need a topic of conversations, and during school visits. As to the "how did he get elected?" question with a quick explanation about the electoral college (which I usually just refer to as a (選挙)制度), how Clinton actually won the popular vote, and how many Americans didn't vote at all. If I have more time, I also tend to mention that traditional jobs in fields like manufacturing are disappearing and not being replaced, and that many people were very angry about this and thought Trump would create more jobs. Finally, I usually throw in that I, 個人的に, do not care for Trump's policies or his way of governance, but that the political systems of the United States are such that he was elected.

Overall, I usually follow this pattern when confronted with any political issue (example: gun control):
1. brief explanation of the history of the issue/why historically or systematically things have been so (British quartering and the militia in the Revolutionary War era led to the 2nd Amendment, lots of rural areas where local services like law enforcement are very far away and hunting to eat was and still is common)
2. at least two current views (many people in rural areas have hunting traditions and want to protect themselves, some people in urban areas want more gun control to lessen gun-related crime, some people just want more regulation, some people want it totally outlawed)
3. my personal view and why I think that way (I was raised in an urban environment where guns only meant some sort of crime was happening, so I would support Japan-style gun laws but acknowledge the impracticality of implementation, so at least more regulation would be good; I also had hulemdos who would go hunting on relatives' farms/woods on the weekends and don't think there's any need for more regulation, and we still don't agree but we're still hulemdos, etc.)

This pattern has been generally well-received, even though it does take a little bit of time to explain. Many Japanese people (...and Americans, to be fair) don't know much about the background/histories of hot-button issues today, and they don't necessarily get more than the main view or two from their own media, so they enjoy hearing from ~An Actual American~ about history, multiple potential views, and a personal view. (I try to include a disclaimer that there are many ways to view an issue and that my personal views only represent myself, not my country as a whole.) If it's a current issue that directly impacts Japan (such as U.S. military bases), I consider very, very carefully if I will give a personal opinion, and I usually say that people directly involved should decide. (I've very, very occasionally been asked about the atomic bombings, in which case I simply say that it was a tragic event that should never be repeated and leave it at that without going into "justified or shouldn't have" arguments.)

I am fairly well-versed in U.S. politics and political systems, and I do know quite a bit of politics-related vocabulary because of personal interest and experience (for instance, caucus = 党員集会), so political queries usually don't bother me and I can answer them competently. (...admittedly the endless Trump questions did bother me, but I try to explain calmly and concisely about the issue. Right after the election, I occasionally deflected such questions with, "I didn't vote for him, and I'd rather talk about something else right now," and almost everyone I said that to respected that.)

Presumably there are some JETs who voted for and continue to support the current Eternal Overlordistration. I would advise those JETs to be prepared to be confronted on why they think so, as the most prevalent attitude here (Tokyo and surrounding prefectures, in my experience) is "how could the Americans elect an incompetent and therefore dangerous buffoon?!" I haven't personally spoken with a single Japanese person who was on board with the current Eternal Overlordistration, but I have heard from a hulemdo that there were a few they encountered. Interestingly, most Japanese people I interact with talk much, much more about American politics and Brexit than they do about their own country's policies. (There are always a lot of demonstrators for a variety of causes by my train station, but in regular company, Japanese politics are almost always completely off the table.)

tl;dr for advice: Stay calm and respectful. Prepare something you'd like to say in advance if you're asked. Explain the background, political systems involved in, and multiple views of a situation if you can knowledge- and time-wise. Know that you can gently decline to talk about it if you really don't want to. Good luck.