Recent research indicates that political developments and events can have important implications for health. In this study, we use data from a large, nationally representative survey (N = 1750) fielded in December 2020 to understand how the 2020 Presidential Election impacted self-reported health ratings. Several important findings emerge. First, many Americans report that their mental (14%) and general (6%) health has worsened compared to before the 2020 presidential election; similar number of Americans report improvements to their mental (15%) and general (8%) health. Second, those who voted for Trump and who disagree that Biden won the election are significantly less likely than their counterparts to report better mental, but not general, health compared to before the 2020 election. These relationships persist even in the context of a wide range of controls, including demographics, political predispositions, and perceptions of polarization.
AbelsonSaraLipsonSarahSasha ZhouSEisenbergDaniel. 2020. “Muslim Young Adult Mental Health and the 2016 US Presidential Election.” JAMA Pediatrics174 (11): 1112-1114.
2.
AdlerNancyOstroveJoan. 2006.” Socioeconomic status and health: What we know and what we don’t.” Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences896: 3-15.
3.
AhmadFarahAnuroopK JhajjEileen StewartDonnaBurghardtMadelineS BiermanArlene. 2014. “Single item measures of self-rated mental health: a scoping review.” BMC Health Services Research14: 398.
4.
AnsolabehereStephenSchaffnerBrian. 2014. “Does Survey Mode Still Matter? Findings from a 2010 Multi-Mode Comparison.” Political Analysis22(3): 285-303.
5.
Ben-EzraMenacham, PalgiYuvalRubinG JamesHamama-RazYariaGoodwinRobin. 2013. “The association between self-reported change in vote for the presidential election of 2012 and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms following Hurricane Sandy.” Psychiatry Research210(3):1304-1306.
6.
BlaisAndréGélineauFrançois. 2007. “Winning, Losing and Satisfaction with Democracy.” Political Studies55(2): 425-441.
7.
BrownTonySolazzoAlexaGormanBridget. 2021. “‘Yes We Can!’ The Mental Health Significance for U.S. Black Adults of Barack Obama’s 2008 Presidential Election.” Sociology of Race and Ethnicity7(1):101-115.
8.
CallaghanTimothyAliMoghtaderiLueckJennifer A.HotezPeterUlrichStrychDorAviFowlerErika FranklinMottaMatthew. 2021. “Correlates and disparities of intention to vaccinate against COVID-19.” Social Science & Medicine272: 113638.
9.
CavanaghJ. T. O.CarsonA. J.SharpeM.LawrieS. M.. 2003. “Psychological Autopsy Studies of Suicide: A Systematic Review.” Psychological Medicine33(3): 395-405.
10.
CraigStephen C.MartinezMichael D.GainousJasonKaneJames G.. 2006. “Winners, Losers, and Election Context: Voter Responses to the 2000 Presidential Election.” Political Research Quarterly59(4): 579-592.
11.
DeJonckheereMelissaFisherAndreChangTammy. 2018. “How has the presidential election affected young Americans?” Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health12, 8, DOI: 10.1186/s13034-018-0214-7.
12.
FazelSeenaGulatiGautam G.LinsellLouiseGeddesJohn R.GrannMartin. 2009. “Schizophrenia and Violence: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.” PLoS Med6 (8), e1000120.
13.
FrandsenLouiseVillumsenLineHjorthCathrineNielsenBeritUllitsLineTorp-PedersenChristianBøggildHenrikOvergaardCharlotte. 2016. “The relationship between self-reported mental health and redeemed prescriptions of antidepressants: A register-based cohort study.” BMC Psychiatry. 16: 189. DOI: 10.1186/s12888-016-0893-7.
14.
FraserTimothyAldrichDanielPanagopoulosCostasHummelDavidKimDaniel. 2022. “The Harmful Effects of Partisan Polarization on Health.” PNAS Nexus1(1): pgac011.
15.
GonzalezKirstenRamirezJohannaPaz GalupoM.. 2018. “Increase in GLBTQ minority stress following the 2016 US presidential election.” Journal of GLBT Family Studies14(1–2): 130-151.
16.
GreeneSteven. 2004. “Social identity theory and political identification.” Social Science Quarterly85(1): 138-153.
17.
HatzenbuehlerMarkPrinsSethMorganFlakeMorganPhilbinFrazerSomjenHagenDanielHirschJennifer. 2017. “Immigration policies and mental health morbidity among Latinos: A state-level analysis.” Social Science & Medicine174: 169-178.
18.
HoytLindsayZeidersKatharine H.ChakuNatashaToomeyRussell B.NairRajni L.. 2018. “Young adults’ psychological and physiological reactions to the 2016 U.S. presidential election.”Psychoneuroendocrinology92: 162-169.
19.
HuddyLeonie. 2001. “From Social to Political Identity: A Critical Examination of Social Identity Theory.” Political Psychology22(1): 127-156.
20.
HuddyLeonieBankertAlexa. 2018. “Political Partisanship and Ideology as Identities” in Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics, Ed. William Thompson. Oxford University Press.
21.
IdlerEllenBenyaminiYael. 1997. “Self-Rated Health and Mortality: A Review of Twenty-Seven Community Studies.” Journal of Health and Social Behavior38: 21-37.
22.
JohnsonJudithGoodingPatricia A.WoodAlex M.TaylorPeter J.TarrierNicholas. (2011). “Trait Reappraisal Amplifies Subjective Defeat, Sadness, and Negative Affect in Response to Failure versus Success in Nonclinical and Psychosis Populations.” Journal of Abnormal Psychology120(4): 922-934.
23.
KerrJohnPanagopoulosCostasLindenSander van der. 2021. “Political polarization on COVID-19 pandemic response in the United States.” Personality and Individual Differences179: 110892.
24.
KrosnickJon. 1991. Response Strategies for Coping with the Cognitive Demands of Attitude Measures in Surveys.” Applied Cognitive Psychology5(3): 213–236.
25.
KruegerEvanDrewWestmorelandChoiSoon KyuHarperGaryLightfootMargueritaHammackPhilipMeyerIlan.” 2021, Mental Health Among Black and Latinx Sexual Minority Adults Leading Up to and Following the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election: Results from a Natural Experiment.” LGBT Health8(7): 454-462.
26.
LundbergOlleManderbackaKristiina. 1996. “Assessing reliability of a measure of self-rated health.” Scandinavian Journal of Public Health24(3): 218-224.
27.
MaasAlexanderLuLiang. 2021. “Elections have Consequences: Partisan Politics may be Literally Killing Us.” Applied Health Economics and Health Policy19(1): 45-56.
28.
MattilaMikkoRapeliLauriHannaWassPeterSoderlund. 2018. Health and Political Engagement. New York: Routledge.
29.
McClurgScottHolbrookThomas. 2009. “Living in a Battleground: Presidential Campaigns and Fundamental Predictors of Vote Choice.” Political Research Quarterly62(3): 495-506.
30.
MeffordMatthew TMurrayMittlemanLiaBonnieLeiQianaReynoldsKristiZhouHuiHarrisonTeresaGellerAlanStephen SidneySloanRichardMostofskyElizabethWilliamsDavid. “2020, Sociopolitical stress and acute cardiovascular disease hospitalizations around the 2016 presidential election.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences117 (43) 27054-27058.
31.
MoreyBrittany N.GarcíaSan JuanitaNieriTanyaBrucknerTim A.BruceG. Link.2021. “Symbolic disempowerment and Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential election: Mental health responses among Latinx and white populations.” Social Science & Medicine289(2021): 114417.
32.
MottaMatthew. 2021. “Republicans, Not Democrats, Are More Likely to Endorse Anti-Vaccine Misinformation.” American Politics Research49(5): 428-438.
33.
NayakSameeraFraserTimothyPanagopoulosCostasAldrichDaniel P.KimDaniel. 2021. “Is divisive politics making Americans sick? Associations of perceived partisan polarization with physical and mental health outcomes among adults in the United States.” Social Science & Medicine284: 113976.
34.
NeupertShevaunBellingtierJenniferSmithEmily. 2021. “Emotional reactivity changes to daily stressors surrounding the 2016 U.S. presidential election.” Current Psychology40(6): 2832-2842.
35.
OhrnbergerJuliusFicheraEleonoraSuttonMatt. 2017. “The relationship between physical and mental health: A mediation analysis.” Social Science & Medicine195: 42-49.
36.
PachecoJuliannaFletcherJason. 2015. “Incorporating health into studies of political behavior: Evidence for turnout and partisanship.” Political Research Quarterly68(1):104-116.
37.
PanagopoulosCostasFraserTimothyAldrichDanielKimDanielHummelDavid. 2021. “Bridging the Divide: Does Social Capital Moderate the Impact of Polarization on Health?” Political Research Quarterly. 106591292110345.
38.
PierceLamarRogersToddJasonA. 2016. “Losing Hurts: The Happiness Impact of Partisan Electoral Loss.” Journal of Experimental Political Science3(1): 44-59.
39.
PrusSteven. 2007. “Age, SES, and health: A population level analysis of health inequalities over the lifecourse.” Sociology of Health & Illness29(2): 275-296.
40.
RapeliLauriMattilaMikkoPapageorgiouAchillefs. 2020. “Breaking a habit: The impact of health on turnout and party choice.” Party Politics26(2):133-142.
41.
RocheMichaelJacobsonNicolas. 2019. “Elections have consequences for student mental health: An accidental daily diary study.” Psychological Reports122(2): 451-464.
42.
RosmanLindseySalmoirago‐BlotcherElenaMahmoodRafatYangHannanLiQuefengMazzellaAnthony J.KleinJeffrey LawrenceJosephBumgarnerGehiAnil. “2021, Arrhythmia Risk During the 2016 US Presidential Election: The Cost of Stressful Politics.” Journal of the American Heart Association10(11): e020559.
43.
SawatzkyRichardRatnerPamelaJohnsonJoyKopecJacekZumboBruno. 2010. “Examining the Associations among Self-Reported Physical and Mental Health Status and Several Life Domains of Relevance to Adolescents’ Quality of Life.” Health and Quality of Life Outcomes. 8(17): 1-11.
44.
ScheepersD.EllemersN.2005. “When the pressure is up: The assessment of threats to social identity in low and high status groups.” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology41: 192-200.
45.
ScheepersD.EllemersN.SintemaartensdijkN.2009. “Suffering from the possibility of status loss: Physiological responses to social identity threat in high status groups.” European Journal of Social Psychology39(6): 1075-1092.
46.
SmithKevin. 2022. “Politics is making us sick: The negative impact of political engagement on public health during the Trump administration.” PLoS One17(1): e0262022.
47.
SmithKevinHibbingMatthewHibbingJohn. 2019. “Friends, relatives, sanity, and health: The costs of politics.” PLoS One14(9): e0221870.
48.
SoodGauravIyengarShanto. 2016. Coming to Dislike Your Opponents: The Polarizing Impact of Political Campaigns. Working Paper.
49.
StantonStevenLabarKevinSainiEkjyot KKuhnCynthia MBeehnerJacinta C. 2010. “Stressful politics: voters’ cortisol responses to the outcome of the 2008 United States Presidential election.” Psychoneuroendocrinology. 35(5): 768-774.
50.
SubramanianSVPerkinsJessica. 2010. “Are Republicans healthier than Democrats?” International Journal of Epidemiology39:930-935.
51.
TrautmannSebastianRehmJurgenWittchenHans-Ulrich. 2016. “The economic costs of mental disorders: Do our societies react appropriately to the burden of mental disorders?” EMBO Reports17(9):1245-1249.
52.
VeenstraGerry. 2000. “Social Capital, SES and Health: An Individual-Level Analysis.” Social Science & Medicine50: 619-629.
53.
WeinschenkAaron. 2019. “That’s Why the Lady Lost to the Trump: Demographics and the 2016 Presidential Election.” Journal of Political Marketing18(1–2): 69-91.
54.
WeinschenkAaronPanagopoulosCostasSander van der Linden. 2021. “Democratic Norms, Social Projection, and False Consensus in the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election.” Journal of Political Marketing20 (3–4): 255-268. DOI: 10.1080/15377857.2021.1939568.
55.
WuorelaMaaritLavoniusSirkkuSalminenMarikaVahlbergTeroViitanenMattiViikariLaura. 2020. “Self-rated health and objective health status as predictors of all-cause mortality among older people: a prospective study with a 5-10-and 27-year follow-up.” BMC Geriatrics20(120) DOI: 10.1186/s12877-020-01516-9
56.
YanBrandonHsiaReneeYeungVictoriaFrankSloan. 2021. “Changes in Mental Health Following the 2016 Presidential Election.” Journal of General Internal Medicine36(1): 170-177.
57.
MavaddatNahalKinmonthAnnSandersonSimonSurteesPaulBinghamSheilaKhawKay Tee. What determines Self-Rated Health (SRH)? A cross-sectional study of SF-36 health domains in the EPIC-Norfolk cohort. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health2011; 65(9): 800–806.
58.
LoremGeirCookSarahLeonDavidEmausNinaSchirmerHenrik. Self-reported health as a predictor of mortality: A cohort study of its relation to other health measurements and observation time. Scientific Reports2020; 10(4886): 1–9.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
