Since sending in his mail-in ballot, Dominic Soto has set periodic alarms on his phone to check its status.
He switched from in-person to mail-in voting because he wasn’t sure if travel plans would fall during voting on Tuesday, but Mr. Soto, 24, of Dormont, said the county still hadn’t received his ballot as of Friday.
“The election has just been eating me alive lately,” he said during an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “It really started to sink in at the 10-day mark. It’s had a huge effect on my mood.”
Mr. Soto decided to temper that anxiety with perhaps a counterintuitive approach: getting involved.
It’s common to feel helpless and anxious as the presidential election approaches. A new survey from the American Psychological Association found that 77% of Americans report that the uncertain future of the nation causes them a significant amount of stress. More than half reported that this election could signal the end of democracy in the U.S., and 72% feared violence following election results.
There’s some evidence that becoming active and engaged in one’s community may help assuage feelings of anxiety, stress and depression about politics, and increase a sense of community and competency. Preliminary results from one ongoing study with researchers at the Children’s Hospital of Chicago found that activism significantly reduced depression and increased resilience in young people.
“If you’re feeling stressed, the worst thing you can do is withdraw,” said Robin Kolodny, a professor of political science at Temple University. “Think about the policy or problem you care about most, and join an organization. You’ll meet new people who are feeling the same way you do.”
Beth Hoffman, assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health, specializing in health misinformation in the media, teaches her students that getting involved and meeting other volunteers can provide a sense of community that can improve mental health.
She has become politically active herself, writing postcards to voters and canvassing, and said it’s helped counteract her anxiety about the election.
It’s also important to keep in mind that much impactful policy happens at the local level, said Ms. Kolodny. Renewing a driver’s license, attending a zoning meeting or voting to reduce taxes will all occur within communities we’re a part of — not managed by the federal government.
“What most Americans don’t fully appreciate is how much domestic policy is done at the state level,” Ms. Kolodny said. Policies on local homelessness, for instance, are not drafted in a Washington office, she said — “They’re done probably 2 miles from you.”
Mr. Soto applied to canvas for the first time, hoping it would make him feel more in control. But the service worker at the Lawrenceville restaurant Umami found he didn’t have enough time. So he turned toward what he could control within a short time — voting, and talking to his loved ones about the importance of voting.
Mr. Soto is the youngest of five siblings, many of whom are not politically engaged, he said.
“I contacted one of them and encouraged them to vote,” he said. “I pressed her enough, and she’s voting this year. It gave me a sense of control when it [feels] like everything is falling apart.”
He said he’s now working to encourage another one of his sisters to cast her ballot, and he opened up a conversation with a group of friends who he thought might be undecided about whether to vote. Mr. Soto said the conversation went well, and that the group plans to vote on Tuesday.
He wouldn’t normally talk about politics with family members, who don’t all share his political views. But the stakes are so high, he said, that it motivated him to push past his discomfort.
Media literacy and being able to discern false information online may also increase one’s sense of empowerment, especially as fake videos and posts on X increase in circulation with the election in its final days.
As the youngest, Mr. Soto said, he learned media literacy in school, whereas his older siblings did not.
“I feel I should be having conversations with them about vetting sources, bias and fact-checking,” he said. “Learning media literacy helped me take control. It’s why I’m so aware of echo chambers in the media — because I saw it happen to my own family.”
Talking about the importance of credible sources, biased language or ulterior motives can be more productive than arguing about political views, or simply sharing an article with a family member, said Ms. Hoffman.
“Humans don’t like to be wrong,” she said. “Media literacy is giving people the tools themselves to separate fact from fiction. So instead of coming in and telling people what to do, we’re giving them the tools to figure it out. It’s a really empowering approach to feel you have the skills needed to sift through all the information being thrown at you.”
Mr. Soto sees casting his ballot — though a more modest act compared to volunteering in a campaign or door-knocking — as one of the most important steps he’s taken toward feeling in control. He is a registered Democrat and said he voted for Vice President Kamala Harris.
“I’ve been telling all my friends and family, ‘This may all feel bad, that your vote doesn’t matter, but it does,’ ” he said. “It’s the single most powerful thing we can do. It’s something that needs to be done — like going to the doctor.”
First Published: November 4, 2024, 10:30 a.m.
Updated: November 4, 2024, 8:10 p.m.
