It doesn’t matter if you’re a Republican, Democrat, or somewhere in between; we can probably all agree that the current political climate is doing a number on us. From behavior by a former contentious president to an administration that’s struggling to do the best it can but not always pleasing the people who voted for it, the last several years have been strange and stressful, to say the least. In fact, a 32-question survey found that politics is actually making people sick — physically and psychologically.

The 2020 survey, conducted by author Kevin Smith, Ph.D., was the second survey he had conducted on the topic. In 2017, he conducted the same survey and wanted to see if, in 2020, things had changed — they didn’t.

What he found was that 25% of Americans had seriously considered moving because of the politics in the U.S., and 40% could point their finger directly at politics as the source of the major stress in their life, citing politics as the reason for their lack of sleep, anger, compulsive behavior, and difficulties in not acting out on those angry feelings. 

“The fact that so many people are pointing at politics as a chronic source of stress and as exacting a negative toll on their psychological health suggests that politics certainly isn’t supporting mental health and is likely detracting from it,” Dr. Smith tells Very Well Mind.