Election-Related Post-Traumatic Stress: Evidence from the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election

Politics Life Sci. 2023 Nov;42(2):179-204. doi: 10.1017/pls.2023.8.

Abstract

The 2020 U.S. presidential election saw rising political tensions among ordinary voters and political elites, with fears of election violence culminating in the January 6 riot. We hypothesized that the 2020 election might have been traumatic for some voters, producing measurable symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). We also hypothesized that negative sentiment toward the opposing party correlates with PTSD. We measured PTSD using a modified version of the PCL-5, a validated PTSD screener, for 573 individuals from a nationally representative YouGov sample. We modeled the association between affective polarization and PTSD, controlling for political, demographic, and psychological traits. We estimate that 12.5% of American adults (95% CI: 9.2% to 15.9%) experienced election-related PTSD, far higher than the annual PTSD prevalence of 3.5%. Additionally, negativity toward opposing partisans correlated with PTSD symptoms. These findings highlight a potential need to support Americans affected by election-related trauma.

Keywords: PTSD; Trauma; elections; polarization; politics; survey.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Humans
  • Politics
  • Prevalence
  • Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic*
  • United States
  • Violence