The 2024 election season was highly contested and high stakes for many voters, but the voting process went smoothly overall. It was a great thing that so many people turned out to vote, and they were able to do so without major disruptions. With that in mind, we’re now moving into a phase of uncertainty as the results come in. Pundits will debate, and misinformation may spread, but you can take steps to stay grounded and protect your mental well-being as you await election results.
This article provides tips for handling heightened emotions around the election results, explains why it’s normal to experience frustration or fear when the results don’t align with your hopes, and recommends strategies to stay positive and healthy as you wait for the final official results to be certified by state and local officials.
When voters are uncertain about the legitimacy of an outcome, they may feel less satisfied with democracy in general. However, there is little evidence that expectations of electoral integrity influence the satisfaction with democracy gap between losers and winners. In fact, the smallest gaps appear when expectations are low. This could be because of the relatively low degree of expectation-disconfirmation for unexpected outcomes. It also could be because the differences in satisfaction between expected and actual winners are not as large as the gaps between predicted and actual losers. (See Figure 2.)