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Democracy & Voting Rights

As election 2020 stirs up stress, anxiety and anger, some people are tuning out entirely

UCLA political science and psychology professor Efrén Pérez says one of the strongest emotions activating this year’s election is anger.  “When you trigger anger collectively among some groups of people, that’s one of the most  energizing emotional states,” he says. “You’re already seen snippets of this, people waiting in  rainstorms, waiting hours to cast their…

UCLA political science and psychology professor Efrén Pérez says one of the strongest emotions activating this year’s election is anger. 

“When you trigger anger collectively among some groups of people, that’s one of the most  energizing emotional states,” he says. “You’re already seen snippets of this, people waiting in  rainstorms, waiting hours to cast their ballot. And it’s not lost on me that a lot of those individuals  happen to be people of color. And it’s because they’re mad.”