The midterm elections are just weeks away, with the Democrats’ hold on Congress teetering on the results of several tight races nationwide. Recent news could influence those races, such as the Dobbs decision that grants states the ability to outlaw abortion, the downtick in the nation’s economy and President Joe Biden’s Student Debt Relief Plan that eliminates $10,000 in student loans for many voters. Experts expect anxiety around recent federal decisions to spur higher voter turnout in the midterm elections, with an uptick in participation from marginalized voters.
One professor of psychology told Newsweek he believes certain marginalized voters, such as women or Black voters, will experience more election anxiety but also turn out in higher numbers at the polls. Drew Westen, a professor of psychology at Emory University, said the number of young female voters in Kansas rose after the Dobbs decision.
On the other side, Westen said that voters who glean their information largely from social media rather than reputable news outlets might feel a different type of anxiety.
“A subset of Americans follow people like Alex Jones and are awfully worried about the imaginary stealing of the election again,” he said. “The extent to which people feel election anxiety is related to the extent they are politically engaged. If you’re not following things closely, you’re probably not worried about if the country is split down the middle or if we are at risk of losing democracy.”
Westen said former President Donald Trump added an element of fear to elections when he alleged the 2020 election was stolen by Biden. That sparked a new facet of election anxiety for voters, involving ideas that costly lawsuits could follow a candidate’s claim about the validity of an election.
Howard Lavine, an associate dean for social sciences in the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota, told Newsweek he expects voters who experience anxiety during elections to make more informed decisions than those who don’t.
“Anxiety is generally understood to be an emotion that leads people to think harder about their choice…it leads people to make better decisions,” Lavine said. “For example, people will match their own policy preferences to voting choices more and rely less on blind partisanship when they’re anxious.”
Jon Krosnick, a professor of political science, communications and psychology at Stanford University, told Newsweek that anxiety around a certain candidate may push the voter not to vote for that candidate, but it doesn’t keep the voter home from the polls. Rather, the voter will be more likely to vote for a different candidate.
“Anxiety makes voters better informed, leads them to gather more information and make judgments that follow more of their principles,” Krosnick said. “Gathering information, thinking carefully about it and reaching a thoughtful conclusion is what political scientists generally would like to see happen. Anxiety is a good thing in the sense it makes voters pay more attention.”
Anxiety could lead to voters becoming more informed, but it can still be uncomfortable to deal with in the meantime. Licensed marriage and family therapist Jennifer Shannon, author of Don’t Feed The Monkey Mind, told Newsweek in an email there are methods to deal with anxiety around elections.
Shannon suggested changing one’s mindset, resisting the urge to constantly check the news on election-related coverage and implementing relaxation techniques. Shannon also suggested getting good rest, exercising, engaging in pleasurable activities, seeing friends and being in nature.
