Skip to main content

The context you need, when you need it

When news breaks, you need to understand what actually matters — and what to do about it. At Vox, our mission to help you make sense of the world has never been more vital. But we can’t do it on our own.

We rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. Will you support our work and become a Vox Member today?

Join now

The most common feeling in Vox’s Election Day emotion tracker: “anxious”

We’ve gotten 6,799 submissions so far about how our readers are feeling.

At 7 o’clock this morning, we published Vox’s Election Day emotion tracker, a way to share your emotions and see how others are feeling about the election. You can submit one emotion an hour and see how other readers are feeling, as well.

Twelve hours later, we’ve gotten 6,799 submissions about how our readers are feeling. The most popular emotion of them all? Anxiety.

Bar chart of the top words in Vox’s Election Day emotions tracker, from 7 am to 7 pm EST.
The top words in Vox’s Election Day emotion tracker, from 7 am to 7 pm EST.
Soo Oh / Vox

“Anxious” made up 24 percent of the emotions submitted to Vox. Then there’s a very steep drop down to the next word, “excited,” with about 7 percent of emotions.

To be sure, our readers are not representative of all voters or all Americans. But it’s a small window into how some people are feeling today.

I got some feedback that perhaps the accompanying text under the tracker primed you to feel anxious. But many Americans have been feeling a great deal of stress over the results of the election, independently of our tracker. Others thought that maybe the alphabetical list was skewing the results:

A screenshot of a tweet from a reader.
Did the alphabetical list incentivize the popularity of the word “anxiety”?

I admit I worried about this too, but I don’t think I needed to. I designed and developed the tracker, and even I’ve been scrolling up and down the list every hour trying to find the word that best describes my mood. It’s true that the top results are skewed a bit to the top of the list, but you can see “nervous,” “proud,” and “worried” pop up in the most frequent emotions as well.

You can track yours and other readers’ emotions over at the emotion tracker now.

More in Politics

Podcasts
The Supreme Court abortion pills case, explainedThe Supreme Court abortion pills case, explained
Podcast
Podcasts

How Louisiana brought mifepristone back to SCOTUS.

By Peter Balonon-Rosen and Sean Rameswaram
Politics
Trump’s China policy is nearly the exact opposite of what everyone expectedTrump’s China policy is nearly the exact opposite of what everyone expected
Politics

As Trump heads to China, attention and resources are being shifted from Asia to yet another war in the Middle East.

By Joshua Keating
Politics
Are far-right politics just the new normal?Are far-right politics just the new normal?
Politics

Liberals are preparing for a longer war with right-wing populists than they once expected.

By Zack Beauchamp
The Logoff
Flavored vapes doomed Trump’s FDA headFlavored vapes doomed Trump’s FDA head
The Logoff

Why Marty Makary is out at the FDA, briefly explained.

By Cameron Peters
Politics
Virginia Democrats’ irresponsible new plan to save their gerrymanderVirginia Democrats’ irresponsible new plan to save their gerrymander
Politics

Democrats just handed the Supreme Court’s Republicans a loaded weapon.

By Ian Millhiser
The Logoff
Can Trump lower gas prices?Can Trump lower gas prices?
The Logoff

What suspending the gas tax would mean for you, briefly explained.

By Cameron Peters