By the Students of ENG 116.
The presidential election is today, but no matter who wins the election, the real losers may be Americans who remain stressed out by the long and hostile campaign.
According to the American Psychological Association, “election stress” has impacted more than half of all Americans.
People of all ages, races and parties – 52 percent of Americans – say the 2016 presidential campaign has been a significant source of stress in their lives.
Among millennials, the portion of stressed-out Americans is 56 percent.
Keith Bellon, 21, a welding major, says he is not politically motivated, but the election is coming between him and his father.
“I’m not even planning to vote,” he said. “But my dad said if I don’t vote for Trump, he’ll be pissed.”
Lindsay Mitchell, a 19-year-old general art major at Delta, says she feels more stressed out than she was during the previous presidential election.
“Hearing or seeing people talking about it gets me stressed out,” she says. “It really gets people fired up. It just seems that the more I stay on social media, the more I hear about it, and it distracts me from just going about my life.”
The Stress in America survey by the APA in fact found that those who use social media are more stressed by election matters.
Ariana Sutton, an 18-year-old student who lives in Bridgeport, says she doesn’t have social media, but that does not mean that she is immune to the conflicting nature of this year’s election.
“At work sometimes, there have been some conflicts about it,” she says. Sutton also says that she thinks about the election more than she thought that she would.
Dakota Doyen, an 18-year-old student from Bay City, says she’s overwhelmed by all the information about the candidates, but that voting is a rite of passage.
“I wasn’t old enough to vote previously so I didn’t really keep up with the different issues and candidates and what was going on,” Doyen says. “But now that I am old enough to vote, I feel like it’s my responsibility to stay updated and it stresses me out.”
She said that she likes to keep her opinions to herself on social media because of the amount of backlash that is possible, including from her grandparents.
Raymond Eddy, 18, a finance major, says he’s ready to vote but believes that “America is about to go on a righteous decline” and he’s worried about his “personal future.” He plans to write in the name “Bernie Sanders” today.
Travis Gould, 24, an art major from Merrill, doesn’t feel very affected by the stress, though his family has worries.
“My dad’s not sure. He’s a hunter and he’s not sure if it will impact his freedom,” says Gould.
Michele Pratt, 49, from Bentley, has seen the popularity of this election firsthand.
“This election, politics is really big at my house,” she says. “My husband is glued to the TV ever since the primaries. He has been very vocal.”
According to statistics, Democrats and Republicans, as well as Independents, experience stress equally.
“I’m not happy. I wish there were better choices than these two,” says Pratt.
Nick Hall, 20, of Mount Pleasant, said the constant coverage doesn’t always lead to greater comprehension of the issues. “There’s a lot of opinions out there and trying to separate the facts from the lies can be hard,” he says.
Nicholas Good, 22, a Criminal Justice major from St. Charles, Saginaw, calls this year’s choices for president “absolutely horrible.”
“One of the candidates is a money-grabber, the other killed four of our soldiers,” he says. “The election hasn’t been a source of stress for me. I will vote, though.”
However, some Delta College millennials found the election to be quite the opposite of stressful. David Lane, an 18-year-old graphic design student from Burt, isn’t bothered.
“I’m not stressed, not really focused on it,” Lane said, adding that he wasn’t sure if he’d vote or not.
Harmoni Tipmore, 19, an occupational therapy student from Essexville, also felt that she wouldn’t bother to vote in the election.
“Both the major party candidates are awful,” states Tipmore. She didn’t register to vote and has no remorse about it.
Accounting major Linda Kaczmarek, 52, of Midland, blames the media for the sorry state of the election.
“The candidates are ridiculous but the media is more stressful,” she says.
Felice Kruger, 29, of Bay City, says one of the most stressful things she faces about the election is the fact that, “We’re still going to be dealing with them after the election.”
[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”17″ gal_title=”Election Day”]Photos by J. Maxim Schofield
