Pretty close to this. I actually voted “3”, but it really isn’t that quantifiable. I pay close attention during a major federal election, refresh results constantly, read multiple live streams and ongoing analyses, the works. So I’m intellectually invested. But I try not to be overly emotionally invested. I’m pleased or happy or disappointed or even angry. But generally not ecstatic or devastated.
Partly personal philosophy, partly natural personality - probably the second informs the first. Also yeah, I have privilege. But many in my family do not and I care a lot about what happens to them. I just try not to react to any adversity by getting too stressed( can’t say I’m 100% on that, but I do try ).
I was pretty damned stressed during the 2016 election. My husband just became a U.S. citizen a few years ago. Swastikas were painted all over his cousin’s neighborhood in Philly and a couple of brown guys were shot nearby because the “might” be Muslim. Oh, and my daughter was asked if she was going to be deported.
When we woke up the next day he felt like he’d been demoted to a second class citizen. When I made that comment to one of my friends who supported Trump, she said, “Oh, he’s just overreacting. The problem is the illegals. They need to leave.”
That was also the same day they did mass layoffs at my company, so that was an exceptionally shitty day not only to learn that half the country thinks that people who look like my husband have no place here, but because several friends lost their jobs.
Err, umm, very stressed. I mean how else am I supposed to learn about the crime, fires, & car accidents if all they show is election results on the news?
They’re all criminals, the only difference is does a specific criminal align with your viewpoint(s).
No stress here. Actually feel considerable relief knowing that the deluge of political ads will stop for a bit. As noted above, my one vote is utterly irrelevant in this very red state. I’ll still cast it, because that’s what I do, but beyond that, I’ll just watch the returns as they come in to see what happens.
I answered 7, but that’s an average. I don’t get as stressed about midterms, so that brings it down. Also, I get more stressed in some presidential elections than others. 2008? Stressed. 2012? Not stressed. 2016? Stressed. 2020? Stressed now, will probably be very stressed in 10 months or so.
For those who answered 2 or less, are you that way about the issues facing the country, too, or just elections? Because I don’t see how anyone conscious could not care about the 2020 election unless they’re too apathetic or depressed or fatalistic to care about the enormous issues we’re facing right now. No, add one more: the people too short-sighted to understand how anything outside their own little sphere affects them.
I’m surprised by the sheer quantity of “no stress” answers. Given the vitriol over the previous election, I kind of assumed that I was in the minority. I stopped giving a crap sometime during one of Obama’s campaigns when I was either living in Mexico or China and not exposed to the shitty daily news cycle – something I don’t allow myself exposure to even today.
In 2016, I would have bet a lot that Hillary was the dedazo of choice; when Michigan flipped it totally surprised me and I knew she wouldn’t win it. Because they both sucked, I still didn’t care.
No candidate who supports the values I support will ever win in the two-party system, so fuck 'em all, and I’ll count on other branches of government to prevent too much abuse.
I think I’m supposed to be insulted. Should I be insulted?
I care about the election, but I don’t worry about it. It’s really that simple. Yes, Donald should be impeached in a proceeding that impeaches Pence simultaneously, and yes, if Trump gets reelected we are all fucked. (Of course we’re all fucked anyway -global warming is not going away- but I digress.) These are clear truths that are so manifestly obvious that I can’t even muster the energy to ponder them. They’re just hard facts.
But just because we’re in a terrible situation and it could theoretically get worse if a specific thing happens months in the future, doesn’t mean I have to devote a ton of brain energy to it.
And, yes, I don’t appear to be in direct personal peril from Trump. Yes, that probably makes it easier for me not to worry. I’m pretty sure my low-strung nature is still a major factor, though.
I voted 6 because while I can get pretty stressed about things not going my way, I’m also very good at walking away from the Tv/computer and putting things out of my mind.
Very limited stress. I realize an election involves millions of people and my actions are only a miniscule part of it. And I don’t worry about events which are out of my hands. I register and I vote and I let it go.
Not a lot. I’ve become kind of demoralized about America, I mean if 60 million people still support Trump and his enablers in congress, then thats just who we are as a nation and I have to accept that. Its like being an atheist in Saudi Arabia. I can bang my head against the wall or just accept that the culture doesn’t share my values.
Also no matter who wins the presidency (if its a democrat) they aren’t going to get anything done even with a democratic senate.
My understanding is that black turnout is almost equal to whites, but latinos and asians have lower turnout.
The author of your article makes a good point though about how asian americans tend to be wealthier and better educated, but still have low turnout. Generally education is one of the best predictors of voter turnout (turnout for college grads is almost 80% generally, vs around 50% for high school grads).
not at all. I’ll cast my vote (if I think it’s worthwhile to do so) but apart from that the results are out of my hands.
When I woke up the morning of Nov. 9, 2016 and heard on the radio that Trump won, I was like “huh.” I guess we have one or maybe two election cycles left before we can cast the goddamn Boomers off.
I am absolutely blown away — and deeply disappointed — by the results of this poll. I assumed there would be a few 1s, a few in the middle range, and a whole bunch of 8s, 9s, and 10s.
If I’m hopeful, I’ll ascribe this to an impressive Zen-like inner calm that Dopers manage to practice, rather than the ignorance or obliviousness or lack of empathy (or some combination of these) that the results imply to me at first glance.
I’m not saying I’m great for getting so stressed (in 2016 and 2020) — I’d give almost anything to avoid it — but I’m getting stressed now, by the results of this poll! (Oooh — meta.)
My level of stress depends on how much time remains until the big day. I tend to get worked up in July and August because the election is getting closer but at the same time other people around me still haven’t started to “get into it.” Once September and October arrive and people around me begin paying attention, having other people to commiserate with lowers my level of stress. I then get a second peak of stress on election day itself.
Without directly challenging anyone here by name, I am skeptical of a lot of the “no stress at all” or “only very little stress” answers that I’m seeing in the poll and comments here. Because I know that some of these who claim that they feel “no stress,” are exactly the same people who have written long, heated, enthusiastic posts about how bad they believe Donald Trump is for the nation, how severe the electoral consequences are, and how America is going in the totally wrong direction because of the GOP.
So you/they are telling us how high the electoral stakes are, and yet you are totally chill during election time despite how high those stakes are?
But the question wasn’t about how much I care, but about how stressed I am.
The things I tend to get stressed about are the things I’m expected to do something about, seems like. And there’s only so much I, personally, can do about a presidential election. Whatever happens, happens.
Plus, the question was “How stressed are you during presidential elections?” not “How streesed will you be…?” So I was basing my response on my experience with past elections, not my expectation of future elections.
At the risk of sounding like an asshole, I think a lot of it comes down to a few things.
A lot of use are privileged. A lot of use are white, educated and middle class if not upper middle class. Our rights aren’t really at risk. Even abortion rights aren’t really at risk for the upper middle class because if Roe is overturned, people can just drive or fly to a pro-choice state (Roe being overturned will restrict abortions for poor women and young women, but middle class educated women will still be able to get abortions). So maybe there is an empathy deficit because our rights aren’t truly on the line like a lot of non-whites, poor people, gays, poor women, etc. are.
A lot of it is just despondency. I hate the fact that America is so fucking stupid and immoral, but I can’t do anything to change it. I really can’t, and nobody can. I can and will vote and volunteer, but I can’t stop people from wanting a dangerously incompetent dictator and his enablers from holding political power because they share the voters white nationalist views. A reality has hit us in the face, and that reality is that for a lot of people in America the only moral they truly have it tribalism. They don’t value rule of law, decency, competence, democracy, national defense, etc. as long as their political, racial and religious tribe is dominant. America is a deeply flawed nation with serious moral and intellectual failings, and being constantly enraged about that is tiring but also we can’t fix it by being mad about it. A lot of us just don’t feel there is anything productive we can really do to fix things.
