political football

noun

: an issue that politicians argue about and try to use for their advantage

This issue is too important to be treated as a political football.

Examples of political football in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

So began a game of uniquely cruel political football, with real, terrified humans caught in the middle, as Polish authorities immediately started sending the refugees back across the barbed wire, only for them to then be forced back into Poland by Belarusian soldiers, often at gunpoint, and so on. —Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 21 June 2024

However, the closure immediately became a political football, with Republicans and gas station operators blaming the policies of California Gov. Gavin Newsom. —Laurence Darmiento, Los Angeles Times, 16 Oct. 2024

Greater transparency about both the disingenuous arguments made by anti-ESG advocates, as well as greater awareness of the market-beating returns of gap-closing investments, can keep pensions from becoming a game of political football. —Orianna Rosa Royle, Fortune, 13 Sep. 2024

Enter Gaetz and Republican Representative James Comer of Kentucky, the chair of the House Oversight Committee, who seek to address these concerns through performative resolutions and investigations that effectively turn Ukraine’s plight into a political football. —Nina Jankowicz, Foreign Affairs, 4 May 2023