Neil Ahmed

The year 2020 will arguably become one of the most important years in world history. The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and its timing with the presidential election has many people on edge. Before the 2016 presidential election, a poll conducted by the American Psychological Association revealed that only 52% of people felt “a significant amount of stress” in the days leading up to the election. However, more than 70% of people surveyed before the 2020 election are feeling stressed. 

Many believe that the anxiety before an election can literally take a toll mentally and physically. Dr. Robert Bright, a Mayo Clinic psychiatrist, discusses that election stress disorder isn’t a scientific diagnosis, but the concept is real and the experience of overwhelming anxiety can manifest in a number of ways. 

Students like us are no different. We can suffer from Election Stress Disorder as well. Dr. Bright hinted that the COVID-19 pandemic has played an immense role in creating increased stress before the election. He mentioned that in the days leading up the election, he “was watching the television and every commercial has this catastrophic message, ‘If you vote for this guy or that guy, horrific, catastrophic things are going to happen.’ And that constant message creates a sense of anxiety and fear, and diffusely feeling overwhelmed in ourselves.”

The problem with this ‘catastrophic message’ is simple. It can let you contemplate what’s going to happen instead being in the moment living life in the present. No matter who you vote for, our lives have already been altered all across the world for several months and this pandemic shows no signs of coming to an immediate halt any time in the near future. The 2020 election intertwined with the COVID-19 pandemic can stress any one out, so it’s important to understand that the pandemic won’t simply disappear and that we should vote for which candidate can lead our country best.