The following is republished with permission from NJ Spotlight:
Concerns about mass deportations and immigration, the economy and women’s rights were among some of the issues that left many voters in New Jersey and across the country feeling stressed or anxious before Tuesday night’s election.
With the presidential election decided, and many congressional races called, voters continue to experience a range of emotions about how these proposals from the victorious former President Donald Trump will impact them and their loved ones.
“At this time, it’s a lot to process. It’s heavy news,” Tatiana Ishod of Gloucester County said of the results from the presidential election. “For people who are disappointed by this outcome I’d say take the time to process [and] don’t oversaturate yourself with the coverage just because it’s going to be there for a while,” said Ishod.
The mix of emotions comes as Trump was elected the 47th president of the United States on Wednesday. With a win in Wisconsin, Trump cleared the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the presidency. He won Michigan on Wednesday afternoon, sweeping the “blue wall” along with Pennsylvania — the one-time Democratic-leaning swing state that went for Trump in 2016 before flipping to President Joe Biden in 2020. Vice President Kamala Harris called Trump on Wednesday afternoon to concede the race and congratulate him.
Fearing the consequences
The outcome of the presidential race comes as stress related to the 2024 election was slightly higher than for the 2020 election, but significantly higher than for the 2016 election, according to a recent report from the American Psychological Association. Stress related to the current election appeared to be driven, in part, by the potential consequences of the election results, according to the report.
In New Jersey, a majority of voters also expressed some kind of dread when asked about how they felt about the 2024 presidential election, according to a recent poll from the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University.
In the lead-up to the election and before the presidential race was called, voters supporting both major parties expressed concern about the outcome of the race and how it has impacted their mental health.
“I’ve been really trying hard to stay off social media, but this past week, I went back on to see what people were thinking and that just threw me into a state of panic,” Soyung Pak of Tenafly told NJ Spotlight News at an election night watch party for U.S. Rep. Andy Kim.
Kim, a South Jersey Democrat, won the U.S. Senate race on Tuesday night after defeating Republican Curtis Bashaw. With the victory, Kim became the first Korean American elected to the Senate and the first Asian American senator on the East Coast.
End to name-calling?
Other South Jersey residents, including Ken Cloud of Sea Isle, said they were looking forward to moving past the divisiveness and “name-calling from all parties” after the election.
“I enjoy the political season, but there are so many things out there. I mean you’re inundated with ads and you know that not everything has been fact-checked,” Cloud said at an election night watch party at Oar House Pub in Sea Isle City for U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew.
Van Drew, a Republican representing New Jersey’s 2nd Congressional District, defeated Democrat Joe Solerno and the Green Party’s Thomas Cannavo to be reelected to a fourth term. Van Drew had served in the Legislature as a Democrat and then again when elected to Congress. He became a Republican, earning praise from Trump and became one of Trump’s most vocal supporters in New Jersey.
“We have supporters from both parties now saying things that are clearly incorrect and how that impacts people — people get wrapped up in it,” Cloud said. “They take it to heart. It breeds discontent and this has been a tough election for that.”
For members of the LGBTQ+ community in New Jersey, many are feeling a “very heightened state of stress,” after the results of the election, according to Aisling MacDonald of Garden State Equality. MacDonald said she has been receiving “quite a few” calls, texts and emails from transgender and gender-diverse community members.
“A lot of people are very uncertain about the future, and I think that the number one thing that I keep responding to them with is that all of that is extremely normal,” said MacDonald, who is transgender and uses she/her pronouns. “There is no one appropriate response to news like this,” MacDonald said.
President-elect Trump and J.D. Vance, his vice presidential running mate, made anti-transgender attacks central to their campaign’s closing argument.
Crisis conversations
The Trevor Project, a national suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for LGBTQ+ young people, said that its classic crisis services — including lifeline, chat and text — experienced a “significant increase” in election-related crisis conversations from Nov. 3 through Nov. 4 compared to just a few days prior, according to a news release from the organization. The organization’s research shows that 90% of LGBTQ+ young people said their well-being was negatively impacted due to recent politics, according to the news release.
“My biggest concern nationally is actually that this event will further increase the dividing line between us as human beings,” said MacDonald.
Mental health professionals, including Dr. Gary Small of Hackensack University Medical Center, recommended that people exercise, try to eat well and seek social connections with other people if they are feeling stress due to the recent election coverage.
“Spend time with people who are empathic and supportive [and] who you trust,” said Small, the chair of psychiatry at the medical center. “Look at different approaches to reduce stress in your life — meditation, breathing exercises, getting enough restful sleep — these will all help to steady mood and improve quality of life.”
— Taylor Jung contributed reporting.
