With the midterm elections 2½ weeks away and early voting underway in some states, Black voters are heading to the polls with a familiar knot in their stomachs, worried that democracy itself — and their civil rights — is on the ballot.
The anxiety is palpable: A Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights survey found 82% of likely voters fear their rights are being rolled back. Nearly as many believe democracy is threatened, and a national survey of Black women found that 9 in 10 are dissatisfied with the direction of the country.
Roughly 37% of Black Americans doubt or don’t believe their governments will run fair elections, compared with 27% of White Americans. Concerns about voting rights and civil rights protections have intensified since President Donald Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024.
“People are at their edge, and understandably so,” said Dr. Wendi Williams, president of the American Psychological Association.
Voters, she said, want answers: “When will the vote that I cast be counted? Will someone figure out a way to take away the vote that I cast, and so on and everything in between? Can we trust the people who are running to follow up and do the things they say that they can do or that they will do?”
In St. Louis, psychologist Dr. Timika Edwards said election anxiety can add to the stress of experiencing racial discrimination, although its impact varies from person to person.
Edwards, president of the St. Louis chapter of the Association of Black Psychologists, said research links chronic racial discrimination to anxiety, depression and physical health concerns. More research is needed, she said, to understand election-related anxiety among Black St. Louisans.
Some residents still face displacement, financial strain and uncertainty following the May 2025 tornado.
“When people are already managing trauma and unmet basic needs, additional political and racial stressors can compound their burden,” Edwards said.
Distrusting the process
A Gallup/Kettering Foundation survey of 23,683 adults found 67% were concerned about political leaders pressuring election officials to change outcomes. Half worried their ballots would not be counted. Heavy social media users reported more concern than nonusers.
More than 3 in 4 Black adults were concerned about peaceful protesters being harmed by federal agents, the military or police, compared with 60% of White adults.
Edwards said the history of denying Black Americans the right to vote shapes how some view today’s political battles. People who understand that history may also feel pressure to educate others, adding to their stress.
Williams, author of ‘Black Women at Work: On Refusal and Recovery,’ sees the anxiety as part of a broader struggle for Black women.
“I think that we are living through a simultaneous reckoning of the devaluation of Black women and Black women’s leadership, and also the consequences of not having it in key places and spaces right now,” she said. She described politics, the economy and public systems marked by what she called “a lack of care.”
That reckoning played out in late August, when far-right activist Laura Loomer posted racist and sexist attacks aimed at Florida state Rep. Angie Nixon, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, and other Black women.
“When you normalize a dehumanization response or treatment of people, then it gives it a permission structure,” Williams said. The cumulative effect, she said, is “giving permission that we still don’t have to care about anybody, and that becomes pretty nihilistic.”
Taking back your power
Clinical psychologist Dr. Calvin Fitch calls the accumulated effects of discrimination and oppression “disempowerment stress.” Over time, he said, it “starts to erode core psychological faculties,” weakening a person’s sense of control and safety.
Fitch, who founded Courageously You, self-help resources for Black gay, bisexual and trans men, developed the concept based on minority stress research.
“It starts to feel like life is just happening to you,” Fitch said, “and you sort of start to become accustomed to things happening to you.”
To help patients cope, Fitch separates the “flame” from the “gas.” The flame is an immediate trigger: a headline, social media post or political event. The gas is accumulated stress from racism or anti-LGBTQ+ stigma that “makes this hit even harder,” Fitch said.
“We cannot solve every systemic issue in one interaction, but we can choose meaningful actions: finding validating community, platforming people and organizations that are speaking out, giving less of a platform to people who are remaining silent or [seem to be] supporting” the attack.
Edwards recommends seeking reliable information, limiting distressing news and connecting with supportive people. Voting together and participating in civic activities can help people stay engaged without sacrificing their well-being, she said.
Whatever their politics, Williams hopes Black voters recognize the stress and “vote for the care of each other.”
She also urged people not to dismiss small acts of restoration: rest, spirituality, time in nature, a 10-minute walk or a call to someone who “just loves the pants off of you.”
“It is not a waste,” she said.
St. Louis American Executive Editor Rod Hicks contributed to this report.
This economy weighs on our anxiety everyday.