Media Tip Sheets

Does Fear and Anxiety Get People to the Polls?

Wednesday, October 30, 2024, By Ellen Mbuqe
Reporters looking for an expert to discuss issues around the election and the ongoing anxiety and fear permeating society, please see comments from Shana Gadarian, professor of political science at the Maxwell School at Syracuse University and co-author of “Anxious Politics: Democratic Citizenship in a Threatening World” and “Pandemic Politics: The Deadly Toll of Partisanship in the Age of COVID.”
Professor Gadarian can discuss how anxiety impacts voter participation. Please contact Ellen James Mbuqe, executive director of media relations at ejmbuqe@syr.edu, to schedule an interview.
From Professor Gadarian:
  • “I think that there are high levels of anxiety about this election because the stakes of the election are very high. Anxiety comes from the sense of uncertainty about the future and here that anxiety is what is the nature of the US government and society going forward,” said Gadarian.
  • “Harris and Trump have very different visions for who has power and who benefits from government in the future. Trump’s vision is of a future where the federal government deports immigrants, takes revenge on enemies foreign and domestic, and keeps ‘America for Americans’. This is a vision that appeals to a part of the electorate who feels left behind, but it is not one that is widely shared even among people who may ultimately support Trump at the ballot box.
  • “Harris’s vision is more about using the federal government to broaden who shares in power and who benefits from programs like Medicare. The uncertainty and anxiety that she is focusing on is about Trump’s unique threat to the democratic institutions of government and that the future might bring a diminished democracy or no real democracy under a second Trump term with fewer guardrails than in the first term,” said Gadarian. “Anxiety alone is not a motivator for action, in fact, it can lead to avoidance in very high levels.”
  • “But pairing anxiety with a solution and telling people how to resolve it can allow people to feel efficacious. Importantly, the best antidote for anxiety at this point is the same no matter which candidate’s vision you subscribe to and it’s to vote,” said Gadarian.