How to Deal With Your Pre-Election Anxiety

I’ll put all my cards on the table now: I’m a registered democrat and it has been a rough nine days.

For many like me, the fumbling debate by Biden has our hair standing on our neck, wondering what is to come, if he should even run, and if he doesn’t, who should run instead.

I’m visiting my parents, who are deep red republicans and, to some extent, are enjoying this chaos, but also sharing concerns about the future of the country. Given more than half of Americans follow the news closely, I know well that I’m not alone in these concerns, and that many of you feel quite distraught. This election feels as ominous as any if you share the belief that Trump is a threat to democracy.

Election stress can feel entirely overwhelming, thinking about all of the uncertainty and possibilities. It feels like the stakes have gotten progressively higher with each subsequent election. I remember being stressed in 2012 about the outcomes of that presidential election, but I’d have never fathomed how bad it would become today. For example, the 2020 election was seen as even more stressful than the 2016 election for American voters.

So how do we contend with these mounting anxieties?

You should proactively deal with it

This stress does have health consequences. Per a study at North Carolina State University, the mere anticipation of stress related to an election can have adverse health consequences, leading to elevated cortisol levels.

This can include the anticipation of a political conversation with a friend. One of my good buddies, who has completely different politics than me, always wants to discuss politics. He sees it as a way of bonding.

He loves RFK Jr and is constantly imploring me to vote for him, and shooting down the things I like about Biden. I’m accustomed to being surrounded by people with different politics, so it doesn’t eat away at me too much. I’ve learned to accept that I can’t change others opinions once they are set. But I’ve seen this type of interaction blow up during elections. More than a decade ago, my then-wife came home on the verge of tears after a mutual friend in her got into a huge blowout over Biden and Romney and voting. It fractured our friendship with that couple. These things can and do happen.

The aforementioned study found that the act of engaging in problem solving when anticipating stress, greatly diminished its effects. You simply engage the logical side of your brain and rationally view the potential problem in front of you and imagine how you’d deal with it.

When I’ve felt tempted to jump into these frays with family members, I envision myself the next day, looking back at that conversation after it happened, and ask myself, “Am I glad I talked politics with this person?”

Generally, the answer is a clear and resounding “No.”

Curate your feeds correctly

A huge component of this stress is via the content we consume. Watching this footage can feel like civic engagement, and properly educating yourself, but there comes a point of diminishing returns that too many people cross. The vast majority of people already know which direction they’re voting in.

I consume most of my content via YouTube on my phone. The challenge is that this is an algorithmic feed and as you consume certain genres, the algorithm responds by sending you more of the same.

If you click on the three dots at the bottom of a video, it gives you options. Choose, “Not interested.” This will signal to the algorithm that you want less of this content.

If you have your bookmarks on your computer or default channels on your TV set to politically oriented stations, consider altering those to lower your consumption. I’ve found that much of this political content is very edgy and negative, preying on our anxieties about the future. Consequently, I find myself wanting to check on them all the time, like some part of my brain is thinking that there might be some new urgent development, or that some miraculous piece of news will suddenly alleviate all of my fears. For the record, that hasn’t happened to date.

The problem is that even the less political platforms tend to get inundated. Reddit’s feed has become election central. Even Facebook’s new X competitor, Threads, which was initially very non-political, has now become a hugely combative political platform as well.

If it feels like the sky is falling every place you look online, consider doing a digital detox, where you avoid, or severely limit your digital device usage completely outside of work. This is shown to decrease stress levels significantly and improve psychological health. I tried this for two weeks and can begrudgingly say I did feel tremendously better. But I can’t stay off the sauce.

Self care matters but it isn’t enough

I’ve found that the standard treatments for stress I’ve deployed through the years, such as exercise, meditation, going on walks — have all worked fantastically well. Both because of their ability to relieve that stress, and also to get my mind focused on other things.

Don’t be afraid to walk away. During one election, my spouse, Laura, was quite upset. We decided to stop following the results, and we walked down the street to a nearby stable to feed them carrots. This was late at night mind you, but it got us doing something else, not feeling like the world was crumbling around us.

It’s worth remembering that elections can invoke PTSD in some people, such as with the January 6th Riots, that left many people with trauma. One estimate showed that 12.5% of Americans experienced some symptoms of election related PTSD as a result of those events, and understandably so.

I would encourage you to seek out therapy if you don’t feel normal channels of stress relief aren’t working (make sure they are a licensed therapist), as you might be dealing with that PTSD. As a reminder, the more you invest yourself emotionally in political outcomes, the more vulnerable you are to this trauma.

As a general rule, I exercise my right to vote and stay engaged, but try not to allow my identity become tangled up in an outcome of an election. I remind myself that there are people who feel just as strongly as I do from the other side of the political track, who may feel just as distraught if my candidate wins. Even further, there are people in many other countries, who feel just as strongly about their own elections as well, who aren’t going to get the outcomes they want. When all else fails, practicing some empathy, and thinking of others has helped me out of the valley of despair.

A slight splash of optimism

I would remind you of the old cliche, but important to remember phrase, “Democracy is messy.”

This infighting and back and forth is a symptom of a society that is heavily influenced by social media, and division, but that fighting still reminds us that we live in a country where we have the freedom to choose our politicians. Regardless of the outcomes of an election, this should is the central treasure of democracy, and not something available to all citizens of the world.

An election is coming. Someone will win. But that won’t mean that all hope is lost, or that you can’t keep advocating for the things that are important to you. Keep the fire. And please remember to take care of yourself either way. Don’t let yourself get sick over an election that hasn’t even happened yet.