Americans wait, wonder and cope with high-stress vote

A few dozen people lay with eyes closed in a Virginia yoga studio as a gong sounded. Like many in America, they were seeking a little peace ahead of Tuesday's high-stress election.

White House contenders Donald Trump and Kamala Harris have placed maximum pressure on voters, urging them to protect the nation from cataclysmic doom as part of a political fight that has been going on for years.

The battle has left many Americans exhausted, riled up or at the very least wanting it all to be over.

"It feels out of my control. It's like this base level of stress," said Cheryl Stevens, 55, after the yoga and meditation session in Reston, Virginia on Saturday that organizers billed as a way to address election stress.

"What if we have to do this all over again?" she asked, referring to the possibility of Trump again leading the United States.

Stevens, a Harris supporter, said the stress has led to her getting just four hours' sleep some nights and has left her in a state of hypervigilance.

Tens of millions of American voters have to pick a side between an ex-president accused of trying to overturn his 2020 election loss and a vice president who would be America's first woman leader.

That jarring dichotomy has caused conflict between spouses, friends and relatives while provoking deep feelings of concern over the nation's course.

"Americans are feeling increasingly stressed about politics," said a post on the American Psychological Association's website.

"It's been a tumultuous election season, with assassination attempts, a late-breaking candidate change, debate drama and legal battles."

According to an APA survey released in October, 69 percent of US adults said the presidential election is a significant source of stress.

That figure tops the level of 68 percent in 2020, when America was at the tail end of Trump's turbulent presidency, the Covid pandemic was raging and social justice protests were going strong.

It is far above the 52 percent reported in 2016, the dawn of the Trump era of American politics.

Homesteader and hemp farmer Joe Upcavage was among a crowd of Trump supporters gathered Saturday to hear their leader in Salem, Virginia -- four hours' drive and a political world away from solidly Democratic Reston.

That togetherness will be tested on Tuesday when Americans will have to come to terms with the fact nearly half the country doesn't agree with the result.