'Preemptive anguish has an upside:' Here's how to cope with election anxiety

CATHY WURZER: OK, so it might be a little while before we know the results of the presidential election. In the meantime, freaking out about the election discourse has reached a fever pitch, and it can feel like there's so much at stake, so much uncertainty, so little we can control on Election Day. In fact, anxiety may be a bipartisan issue this election. The American Psychological Association reported that 7 in 10 Republicans and Democrats say that politics are some of their biggest stressors.

So how can we learn to sit with the unknown? Howard Lavine has been looking into that. He is a professor of political science and psychology at the University of Minnesota. Professor, thank you for taking the time. I want to--

HOWARD LAVINE: Good morning. Good morning.

CATHY WURZER: Good morning. Good afternoon.

HOWARD LAVINE: Oh, good afternoon. Exactly. I want to say one thing that most of my family live in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

CATHY WURZER: [GASPS] Really? Are you in touch with them?

HOWARD LAVINE: I am.

CATHY WURZER: And what are they saying? I'm curious.

HOWARD LAVINE: I can't tell you.

CATHY WURZER: Oh, shoot.

[LAUGHTER]

Well, thank you.

HOWARD LAVINE: I'd say it's going to run 3/4 to Harris.

CATHY WURZER: Oh, interesting. OK, we'll see what happens here.

HOWARD LAVINE: Probably more than that. Anyway.

CATHY WURZER: [LAUGHS]

HOWARD LAVINE: Just a small group of people.

CATHY WURZER: Let me ask you about the uncertainty. I mean, a lot of life, as you know, centers around uncertainty over a specific outcome. So why now are we so scared about the outcome of this election? What do you think?

HOWARD LAVINE: Well, you right that uncertainty, combined with not having control, is the generic formula for anxiety. And I think what's a little different than perhaps the last couple of cycles, and certainly much more than before that, is that the stakes are extremely high or perceived to be extremely high. And I think those perceptions are accurate.

Part of it is rooted in the different priorities that Democrats and Republicans have. So it's partly issue based. The Democrats are concerned about abortion. They're also concerned about the threat to democracy.

Republicans are concerned about immigration. They're concerned about the continuation of the cultural prominence of liberalism. They're concerned about a stolen election. This is, of course, rooted in misinformation. But in any case, it does create a great deal of anxiety.

And I suppose in general, there is also the sense, beyond issues, that we're often active in politics for the sake of winning. We just simply feel good when our team wins. And this is true with all tribal contests.

And our social status, our self-esteem is on the line, our feeling that the country is our country, if to the extent we perceive that we are living in two different places, but there really is only one country at the moment, that it feels better when the country is being governed by our copartisans.

CATHY WURZER: So I wonder, getting back, you mentioned the perceptions that the stakes are high, but these are narratives spun by both sides if you think about it. Are there strategies, then, to maintain some sort of an even keel about all of this, knowing that these are various narratives that we're hearing?

HOWARD LAVINE: Well, I'll toss out a couple. One is based on some psychological research that is referred to as preemptive benefit finding. And it is a strategy rooted in the idea that you write down all the good things that can happen before receiving bad news.

So maybe if you are a Harris supporter, and former President Trump wins, that, before you hear that news, that you write down, well, maybe it'll start a new political movement. Maybe it'll give the Democrats a chance to regroup. And that tends to provoke emotional well-being across waiting periods resulting from a whole variety of different things-- waiting for exam results, waiting for a health risk assessment, waiting for political-- the outcome of political elections.

So that's one thing. The other thing is that preemptive anguish has an upside, and that is that it prepares you for a loss of being strategically negative. Not letting too much of a glimmer of hope into your thinking can help to prepare you for a negative outcome.

And then the last thing that we can do is simply get involved in something else, something that is action oriented, something that has the capability of occupying your mind. And we all have coping strategies along those lines. Because we experience uncertainty about things that are important all the time. And so we have a toolbox for this. And we just need to activate that for today.

CATHY WURZER: I wish I had more time here. What's your main way that you're going to go ahead and cope with the uncertainty of the election tonight?

HOWARD LAVINE: My main way is preemptive anguish.

CATHY WURZER: OK.

HOWARD LAVINE: Yeah. And it's worked in the past. So.

CATHY WURZER: [LAUGHS] Preemptive anguish. I want to talk to you more about this. I'm sorry. It's been such a packed show here today, Professor.

HOWARD LAVINE: No, that's great. That's terrific.

CATHY WURZER: Truly a pleasure. Thank you.

HOWARD LAVINE: A pleasure.

CATHY WURZER: Howard Lavine is a professor of political science and psychology at the University of Minnesota. By the way, Angela talked about election anxiety a couple hours ago. Check out her podcast all about that. Thanks for listening.