On November 5, New Yorkers will have the opportunity to pray, party or simply partake in a communal moment of pause, all in an effort to alleviate election day anxiety in a year rife with uncertainty.
The Church of St. Matthew & St. Timothy — located at 26 W 84th St. — is hosting an election night prayer with this goal in mind.
“In recent months, it’s been one of the most common concerns people have brought up to me as a priest,” said Rev. Flourish Klink in an email. “People feel deep fear.”
The New York Insight Meditation Center, situated at 115 W 29th St., will also host an election day open meditation space rooted in the Buddhist tradition of silence.
“We were talking about how difficult things are,” said Kathy Ferrea, who organized the event. “Especially right now, and the anxieties around this.”
Starting with President Joe Biden’s last minute decision to exit the race, this presidential election season has been anything but typical.
Data from the American Psychological Association shows that 69% of adults are stressed about 2024 election outcomes. In addition, 82% state that the 2024 election season has been a “rollercoaster.”
Dr. Trachman is a psychiatrist with more than 30 years of experience. Her recent piece for Psychology Today highlights how political polarization can also contribute to increasing rates of anxiety.According to Trachman, many of her own patients have expressed their fears about the upcoming presidential election.
“One of the things that makes people the most anxious is uncertainty,” Trachman said.
The race is still too close to call according to a poll this week, conducted by ABC News and the marketing research firm Ipsos. The data found that voter turnout will be a deciding factor in the race’s outcome.
A July 2024 AP News and National Opinion Research Center study revealed that 59% of those surveyed believed democracy to be at stake, depending on the outcome of the presidential race.
In New York, polls close at 9 p.m., leaving hours to wait until initial results are broadcast.
To assuage the anxiety that comes with the wait, Brooklyn Comedy Collective will host a 7 p.m. event in partnership with SLOP comedy.
“Tensions are going to be high and people might be doomscrolling or whateverWe just wanted to offer something between 7:00 and 8:30 p.m., when nobody knows anything on the East coast anyway.”
The show will feature sketches, improv and guest performances.
“Rather than lose your mind at home, watching Kornacki (an NBC journalist known for his election night analysis via his “Big Board”) give you math that doesn’t have any information behind it, come see a comedy show,” Markle said. “Be with people and community.”
Others are hosting fancier soirees. Kim Mackenzie of KM Strategies, for instance, is throwing an election night watch party in Lower Manhattan, equipped with Liquid IV and elegant cheese boards.
The event’s product sponsors are all female-owned businesses, including hard liquor brand, San Matias and alcohol free company Curious Elixirs.
“Everyone’s feeling a lot of anxiety about this,” Mackenzie said. “So (I’m doing) everything I can do to make this party anti-anxiety for everyone.”
Kevin Smith, a professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, led a 2023 study that looked at anxiety spiraling before the 2020 presidential election.
“There’s data out there that suggests that the closer you get to an election, more people display symptoms of anxiety and stress,” Smith said.
Election day isn’t the only instance Americans feel stressed. Due to our current political environment, political stress has become increasingly commonplace, according to Smith.
“One of the unusual things of the current environment that we live in is that politics is omnipresent,” he explained.
Smith isn’t sure that election night watch parties are always the best way to relieve stress.
“It’s a case by case,” he said. “If you’re coming together to process the results, that’s one thing. If you’re coming together in the sense of watching a football game or something and your team loses, then it’s probably not particularly conducive to your wellbeing.”
Klink recalled his own tense feelings around prior elections.
“I never went to church on those days and I wish I had,” he said. “I think it would have helped me feel less anxious and frightened,.”
Klink hopes that his church will be a safe space for anyone feeling stress on election day.
“It isn’t a bipartisan event,” he explained. “It’s a nonpartisan event. There will be no public prayers for particular political outcomes of any kind, although I’m sure people who attend will be making private prayers for the path they think is best for the country.”
It took four days for a winner to be declared in the 2020 presidential election. It’s unclear how soon the race will be called this year, which could leave New Yorkers stewing in their uncertainty even after election night commences.
(Photo credit: Cindy Shan)