More about opinions than Elections, so putting in IMHO instead:
On a 1-10 scale, I’ve always been more high-strung; especially if my preferred candidate were either tied or leading. If my candidate were/is losing, though, my brain tends to throw in the towel as a protective mechanism to save myself angst. Ever since 2016, though, I’ve probably gone from a 7 to a 9. (Not just U.S. elections, but some others elsewhere in the world as well.) Not at max freak-out level yet, but at the point where I’m constantly clicking into news sites, running Google searches on keywords, checking the polls daily.
It all depends. The 2016 Presidential election had me so stressed that I ended up with muscle spasms in my neck that were so severe that I missed 2 days of work because I couldn’t lift my head enough to get out of bed without screaming (until the muscle relaxant kicked in, but that left me not terribly functional, too).
My doc was surprised when he saw the X-rays; you’re supposed to have a curve in your neck, but my muscles were in such spasm that I didn’t anymore. I wish I could say in hindsight that the anxiety had been misplaced.
Very stressed, if we’re talking 2016 and 2020. I went with 9 — loss of sleep, major anxiety, mainly in the last couple of weeks before Election Day (and for at least a few days afterward, depending).
Presidential elections not featuring a certain “short-fingered vulgarian” (as the ancient Spy quote goes) — 2012, 2008, etc? I’d say stress level 3 or 4.
“Midterm” election under the current administration (i.e., 2018)? Stress level 5.
“Midterm” election under previous administrations? Stress level 2.
Say a 6. Since Obama: The Original I figure we’re pretty much screwed no matter who the POTUS is. That first year of his terms really changed my opinion of a lot.
Trump was the first candidate that I was bummed about them winning and I’ve never voted for anyone who won. I lost a little sleep that night. I’m looking forward to him not being president and worried the dem slate is too terrible to beat him so I went with a 2.
I voted 2. I do care about the results, but I don’t worry about the election itself. Well, I worry a bit about actually finding the time to go and vote, but beyond that I don’t think about it. I figure I’ll hear about it after it’s over one way or another.
I’ll note that the above applies only if I actually do care about the results. This most recent election I spent some time examining the initiatives and looking at the people running for the various local positions, and realized that I genuinely didn’t care one way or the other about any of it. (It was all non-partisan anyway.) When I realized that, I stopped worrying completely. And never did hear about the results, come to think of it.
Er, for the record, I’m pretty damn liberal, at least at a philosophical level. My low stress level about elections is because the elections themselves are something that I have damned little to do with. I get one, count it, one vote, which is worth zero, count it, zero. (I live in a very, very solidly red state.) Once I cast my one worthless vote my involvement in the situation is complete.
As for interest in the result, I may be curious about the outcome, but ongoing polls before the final tally aren’t the outcome. I gain nothing by hearing about them before its all over - and honestly, how does hearing that stuff help anybody? Best case, you get tons of stress. Worst case people become demoralized/apathetic because their guy is losing/winning too hard, and don’t bother voting.