Impact of Election Stress

“In general, we know that chronic stress harms psychological well-being and physical well-being. It takes a toll on our bodies,” said Brett Ford, PhD, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Toronto who studies the link between emotions and political engagement. “There’s a strong case to be made that for many people, politics is a form of chronic stress.”

In national surveys, close to half of U.S. adults say politics is a significant source of stress, citing problems such as lost sleep, shortened tempers, and obsessive thoughts (Smith, K. B., PLOS ONE, Vol. 17, No. 1, 2022). On a daily basis, diary studies show that political events can make self-reported emotional reactivity and physical health worse (Neupert, S. D., et al., Current Psychology, Vol. 40, 2021).

“There is a considerable and growing amount of evidence that politics is having a negative effect on a broad range of health outcomes,” said Kevin B. Smith, PhD, a professor of political science at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln who studies how politics affects well-being. “This is coming from different scholars using different data, approaches, and measures, and it all triangulates on the same inference: Politics isn’t very good for us.”

“When we’re worried, we have an instinct to isolate ourselves, but we have to reach out and connect,” said Steven Stosny, PhD, a clinical psychologist, consultant, and author based in Washington, D.C., who works with individuals and couples experiencing stress around politics and daily news.

While there’s plenty of historical precedent for chaos and contention in U.S. politics, some aspects of the last few election cycles are fundamentally different.

“The information environment has changed, making it much, much harder to ignore politics today,” Smith said. “It’s not something we’re getting in the morning with the newspaper and in the evening on the TV broadcast—it’s now constant, all the time.”

A 24-hour news cycle full of conflict and vitriol functions as a chronic, low-level stressor that can trigger what Stosny refers to as “election stress disorder.” Patients he works with report intrusive thoughts, compassion fatigue, and strained relationships.

Ford says to keep in mind that social media platforms are designed to keep us engaged and push our buttons. That means it takes extra effort to limit chronic exposure, but finding a balance is important. Tune in when there’s something to be done, she said, like finding out where to vote or how to contribute to a campaign.

Another tip: Consider reading rather than watching your news, Renfro said.

“Reading gives you a little bit more control over what you’re ingesting, so you’re not being bombarded with scenes and images that may be intended to manipulate you in some way,” she said.

On the topic of political anxiety, Smith said what we don’t know is still much, much larger than what we do. Priorities include a deeper understanding of how politics affects health across various groups, and how to support individual well-being without harming collective goals, such as political participation.

“We can’t ask people to sacrifice their well-being, so we need to understand what can work to reduce political anxiety,” ideally without reducing engagement, Ford said. “It’s a tall order, but an important one.”

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