Voting Vibes: Mildly Terrified

By Heartscape Psychology Intern, Gladys

With the recent ongoing period of campaigning for Singapore’s GE2025, political parties have gone all out in getting their voices across to voters, in attempts to secure their votes to attain, or retain, their seats in parliament. With endless speeches and debates, and rigorous social media campaigns taking over our daily media consumption, we find our hearts racing a little more frequently recently. 

If you feel the same, you’re not alone. Voter anxiety is real, and given the rising stakes of such major decisions, it only makes sense that we feel this way. 

Elections are more often than not contests. In order to garner support and gain votes, contestees, in this context the participating political parties, often bring up for debate topics of conflicting interests that concern the population. (Mukhopadhyay, 2022) Political elections like the GE2025 concern day-to-day issues of citizens, as well as broader topics like political stability and economic prosperity of the nation, and contesting political parties propose differing strategies to combat existing issues. Therefore, the outcome of the elections have widespread implications for everyday citizens and determine whether things will change in favour of one’s hopes. (Koerten et al., 2019) Since national policies often affect different demographics in different ways and extents, certain groups may particularly experience voter anxiety in response to perceived threat due to group membership (Koerten et al., 2019) 

What is voter anxiety?

Voter anxiety refers to the emotional stress that people experience with regards to electoral topics, and is typically more prominent during elections season.

This can stem from two main sources: (1) uncertainty associated with the outcomes of elections, and (2) undesirable electoral outcomes. (Mukhopadhyay, 2022) 

Firstly, uncertainty associated with the outcomes of elections.

In the context of Singapore, while our political landscape is relatively stable, policies proposed by the elected members of parliament (MPs) and debated by the house can still substantially impact on our daily lives, in areas like healthcare, housing and education. The uncertainty and unpredictability of such outcomes thus causes people to feel stressed, which describes a behavioural tendency called uncertainty aversion.

On top of that, especially during election season, we see a surge of information circulating the internet and on the ground. This can be particularly overwhelming for the layperson not typically engaged in such copious amounts of information about important decisions, and this adds on to the stress we feel to make the right decision. 

We are unsure of what is to come for our future, and this causes us worry. Worry is our brain’s natural response to the perception of uncertainty of the future, and is defined as a chain of thoughts and images that are negatively affect-laden and relatively uncontrollable. It is often unpleasant and has also been associated with depressed mood and anxiety (Rankin and Sweeny, 2019).

Secondly, undesirable electoral outcomes. 

Especially if contesting political parties hold vastly different views on topics, someone who is personally affected by a matter of interest might be strongly adverse towards the other party and therefore, feel more strongly towards an outcome of partisan loss. The perception of a possibility of an adverse outcome causes the voter to experience significant distress and worry, which could possibly lead to anxiety and related mood disorders, etc. (Matthews, 1990)

This thus tends to place significant stress on voters, who feel like they are responsible for electing the right people to represent our needs for change. Nonetheless, country-wide elections feel big, and our individual power often feels like nothing sizable relative to that. We feel personally obliged to elect the right people to power, but we also know that the outcome also depends on the other millions of voters – this makes us feel helpless. 

For these reasons, electoral stress can cause voters to experience voter anxiety, which may cause a negative impact on their mental health and daily functioning (Roche and Jacobson, 2019).

Ways that voter anxiety might show up:

• Refreshing nonstop for news, even though it stresses you out: The more you read, the more anxious you feel about the outcome. You don’t want to take in more information, but you can’t stop yourself from checking for updates

• Having a pit in your stomach on election day: Whether it’s fear about the outcome or anxiety about the voting process itself, voting can be nerve-wracking

• Dreading voting altogether because it feels like too much: It’s not that you don’t care, but the pressure and stress of making the right choice feel paralysing

• Feeling responsible for the future of the country: Putting so much weight on your vote that it starts to feel crushing

If these sound familiar, you're not being dramatic. It is all part of being human. Politics significantly affect the trajectory of our country and our lives as citizens, and it's only natural to feel anxious about things that matter to you. However, we can always try to stay engaged without letting ourselves burn out. 

Here’s how you can feel better: 

• Set time limits: Allow yourself to stay informed about updates, but give yourself a limit to prevent yourself from going down an anxiety-inducing rabbit hole. 

• Identify a few trusted sources of information and stick to them: Actively protect yourself from information overload to avoid overwhelming yourself.

• Make a voting plan ahead of time: Find out in advance where your polling stations are, and decide in advance when you’re planning to go. Feeling prepared can help ease the pressure of the actual day.

• Remind yourself that your vote plays a part, but it alone will not determine the entire future of our country: Just do your part, and hope for the best.

Conclusion: 

As Singapore’s GE2025 draws near, so much seems to be at stake. With the copious amounts of information going around, it’s completely natural to feel overwhelmed. As you do your part, remember to protect your peace too! Take breaks, lean on trusted sources, and breathe. We may not control every outcome, but when we vote and stay politically engaged, we are already beginning to contribute to the future that we want to see.

References: 

Koerten, H. R., Bogusch, L. M., Varga, A. V., & O’Brien, W. H. (2019). The Perceived Impact of the 2016 Election: A Mediation Model Predicting Health Outcomes. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 7(1), 651-664. https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v7i1.1065

Mathews A. (1990). Why worry? The cognitive function of anxiety. Behaviour research and therapy, 28(6), 455–468. https://doi.org/10.1016/0005-7967(90)90132-3

Mukhopadhyay S. (2022). Elections have (health) consequences: Depression, anxiety, and the 2020 presidential election. Economics and human biology, 47, 101191. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ehb.2022.101191

Rankin, K., & Sweeny, K. (2019). Divided we stand, united we worry: Predictors of worry in anticipation of a political election. Motivation and Emotion, 43(6), 956–970. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-019-09787-5 

Roche, M. J., & Jacobson, N. C. (2019). Elections have consequences for student mental health: An accidental daily diary study. Psychological Reports, 122(2), 451–464. https://doi.org/10.1177/0033294118767365