I'm in the latter category too. I don't hide it unless it's a situation where physical violence might occur to me, or having my stuff stolen or broken. I tell anyone who asks and I talk about it as if it's a normal thing. I don't openly talk about which capitalists I want to die since I know that's gonna weird people out. I'm just open about how I'd want a Marxist party in power to redistribute money and property. I'm open about my admiration for Cuba and China too. I only bring this stuff up in appropriate circumstances too, like if there's a political conversation going. I have a trans flag on my bike, and a Black Panthers pin on my bag if that counts. Anyone who sees my bag would identify me as a leftist.

Most of the time people just treat me like I'm joking, some of the time they'll get curious and ask further questions. That's always nice. I've only had people get upset with me twice. Once was the son of a dead Korean war veteran (his dad can rest in piss for all I care). Other time was a weird ass coworker who would openly say slurs, so nothing lost there.

I'm largely in the latter and look back at a lot of interactions and think maybe I need to shut the fuck up sometimes.

Last major interaction I had regarding leftist politics was with a former co-worker that was a country bumpkin Trump type. We started having a conversation about trans folk and he was adamant that men are dressing as woman to sneak into public restrooms to ogle girls. After a long back and forth I realized at one point that I was screaming at him about how I guarantee he's walked past a trans person irl and didn't even realize it and that they just want to just be left alone.