3 Proven Ways to Curb Election Anxiety
Political uncertainty and bickering is bad for your mental health. Here’s exactly what to do.
One of my favorite New Yorker cartoons features the caption “My desire to stay informed is in conflict with my desire to stay sane.” Over the last few weeks, and given the ongoing and seemingly day-by-day bombshell changes to the political landscape, this sentiment feels particularly apt for many Americans, regardless of political party.
Never is that more true than during presidential elections, which research suggests can be harmful to psychological well-being and even our physical health. One study of people with pacemakers living in North Carolina — a swing state, meaning they were constantly exposed to election ads — in 2016 found that they were 77% more likely to experience heart arrhythmia — an abnormal or irregular heart rate or rhythm — during the fall 2016 period than during the other two periods of time. Researchers believe that the stress, a natural response to a challenging event or situation, associated with this major political event triggered cardiovascular symptoms. And it’s not just people living in swing states who are at risk: data from over 6 million adults in California found that the rate of heart attacks was 42% higher in the days following the 2020 Presidential election than in the days before.
People who feel compelled to constantly check the news — agreeing with statements like “I find it difficult to stop reading or watching the news” — report higher levels of stress and anxiety, meaning persistent and excessive worries that don’t go away, according to a 2023 study published in Psychological Reports. They also and physical symptoms, such as fatigue, pain, and gastrointestinal issues. In fact, simply anticipating the stress of an upcoming political election harms well-being, leading people to feel more nervous, upset, and anxious.
But here’s the good news: Empirical research in psychology points to strategies you can — and should — use to manage this stress and feel better.
Make a plan
One of the most effective strategies for managing stress — whether induced by political ads, the news, or any other negative event or circumstance — is to directly confront the problem you are facing. This strategy, known as problem-focused coping, is helpful when something constructive can be done to help solve the problem, or at least make the situation better. For example, if you are feeling stressed about how to find time to exercise, you could take a brisk walk during your lunch hour, block out gym time on your calendar each week, or play pickleball with a friend instead of meeting for drinks after work.
Now, you can’t use problem-focused coping to single-handedly solve stress about the election. But you can use this strategy by thinking ahead about when you are likely to experience election-related stress and then developing a plan for managing it. In fact, people who engage in problem analysis — in which they think critically about why they believe they’ll experience election stress in the next 24 hours and how they can handle that stress — avoid the negative health effects caused by such stress.
Why? The researchers believe that anticipating a potential problem helps people develop strategies for reducing such stress, such as finding ways of avoiding an argument with a friend who holds different political views or at least reducing the intensity of such a discussion.
Stop doomscrolling
Another great strategy for reducing stress is to shift your thoughts about the problem you are facing. This strategy — known as emotion-focused coping — can involve changing how you think about the problem. Not surprisingly, people who can find some benefits even in difficult situations, such as experiencing a global pandemic, feel better.
Emotion-focused coping can also include avoiding thinking about the problem altogether. In situations in which ruminating about something isn’t productive, simply avoiding such thoughts can reduce anxiety and depression. After all, spending time worrying about whether your preferred presidential candidate is going to win in November isn’t going to change the outcome.
Researchers in one study asked Americans about how much stress they experienced from thinking about various political events, such as conflicts with foreign countries, presidential statements, or debates in Congress. Not surprisingly, people who felt more politics-related stress also reported worse overall psychological and physical health. But people who used strategies to manage these negative emotions, such as reframing news events to find some positives or distracting themselves from the news, reported better well-being.
Form stronger connections
One of the best ways of managing stress is to connect with other people who literally feel your pain. This is one of the reasons why 12-step programs connecting people who share the same issue are so effective.
Even in the case of truly devastating events, people who make connections with others experience substantial benefits. Researchers in one study assessed how survivors responded to the 2007 mass shooting at Virginia Tech, in which 33 people died. Although some students, as expected, showed higher levels of depression and anxiety over the next year, students who sought out social support from and developed stronger connections with other students showed increases in psychological well-being.
So if you are feeling anxious, discouraged, or depressed about the upcoming presidential election, get involved with local or national efforts. Join a group focused on a cause that matters to you, sign up to help support a candidate you support, or invite friends for an evening of stuffing envelopes to encourage voter turnout. These connections will help reduce your stress — and may actually make a difference in November.
As Franklin D. Roosevelt said in 1938, “Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country.”
This article is the first in a series of Wise & Well explorations into common sources of anxiety and how to cope.
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