Elections have (health) consequences: Depression, anxiety, and the 2020 presidential election

Abstract

In this paper, we examine the effect of the 2020 presidential election on anxiety and depression among Americans. We use data from the 2020 Household Pulse Survey (HPS), a nationally representative rapid response survey conducted weekly from April to July of 2020 and then bi-weekly until December of 2021. The high-frequency nature of the survey implies that we can identify week-to-week changes in mental health outcomes. We find that self-reported symptoms of moderate to severe anxiety and depression increased steadily up to the presidential election and declined after the election. The anxiety and depression levels are significantly higher around the 2020 election than in April 2020, when most of the U.S. was under mandatory or advisory stay-at-home orders due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, anxiety and depression-specific office visits and usage of mental-health-specific prescription drugs show similar patterns. Robustness checks rule out alternative explanations such as a COVID-19 surge or vaccine development.