More Than Two-Thirds of Voters Are Stressed About Personal Finances and Costs, Public Safety, and Threats to Democracy
By Rob Todaro
Millions of Americans experience mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety as well as thoughts of suicide each year. According to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), suicide was among the 10 leading causes of death for those ages 10-64 and the second-leading cause of death for those ages 10–24. Alarmingly, rates of seriously considering and attempting suicide have significantly increased among high school students in the past decade, especially among girls and those who are queer. The American Psychological Association’s 2023 Stress in America survey found that a majority of Americans ages 18 to 34 (58%) said that their stress is “completely overwhelming” most days.
A new Data for Progress survey examined which issues cause voters to feel stressed and gauged their support for policy proposals that could address underlying risk factors for suicide, as well as voters’ perceptions of social media and its impact on mental health.
Of the 14 issues tested, voters feel the most stressed about their personal finances (73%) — including 40% who say their finances make them feel stressed “often.” At least two-thirds of voters also express feeling stressed “sometimes” or “often” about crime and public safety (72%), the cost of health care (71%), the cost of housing (70%), threats to democracy (67%), and gun violence (67%).
Additionally, 62% of voters say they are stressed “sometimes” or “often” about the 2024 election, including 67% of Democrats, 56% of Independents, and 60% of Republicans.
There is a preponderance of data demonstrating the association between socioeconomic factors — such as unemployment, financial debt, evictions and homelessness, and physical health conditions — with increased risk for suicide. A 2022 study suggested: “Regarding interventions, unemployment benefits, employment protection legislation, higher minimum wage and active labor market programs may reduce suicide at the population level.”
To this point, Data for Progress tested voter support for a range of policy proposals that could work to address risk factors for suicide across society. This survey finds broad support for these policies, including expanding access to mental health care, such as teletherapy services (81%), investing billions of dollars to create more public and affordable housing (70%), creating a federal job guarantee program to ensure all Americans have access to good-paying jobs (67%), expanding Medicare to cover all Americans under a "Medicare for All" national health insurance program (65%), implementing new gun safety measures (64%), and reducing or eliminating student loan debt for borrowers (51%).
Recently, there has been much discussion, as well as bipartisan legislation, around the impacts of social media on mental health, particularly among young people. When voters are asked if social media has had a mostly positive impact on their mental health and well-being, 28% say it has had a mostly positive impact, while 20% say social media has had a mostly negative impact. A majority of voters (52%) say social media has not impacted their mental health and well-being at all.
On this question, there is a significant disparity across age groups, with voters 18-29 years old saying by a +24-point margin that social media has more of a positive impact on their mental health and well-being, compared with a +13-point margin of voters ages 30-44 and a +7-point margin of voters ages 45-64. Voters ages 65 and up are evenly split, with 70% saying social media has not impacted their well-being (likely due to lower rates of social media use).
However, even though a majority say social media has not negatively impacted them personally, voters are split on whether they think social media is more helpful or more harmful to young people. Younger groups of voters, including a majority of voters ages 18-29 (61%) and a plurality of voters ages 30-44 (48%), think social media is mostly helpful to young people, while a plurality of voters ages 45-64 (47%) and a majority of voters ages 65 and up (58%) think access to social media is mostly harmful to young people.
There is also a slight disparity among voters across gender, with a plurality of women (49%) saying social media is mostly harmful, and a plurality of men (46%) saying social media is mostly helpful to young people. The figures are also flipped across party lines, with a plurality of Democrats (50%) choosing “mostly helpful” and a plurality of Republicans (50%) choosing “mostly harmful.”
These findings demonstrate that voters are feeling stressed about many contemporary issues, especially personal finances and costs, public safety, and threats to democracy. Voters are also supportive of bold policy proposals that could work to reduce risk factors for suicide. Lastly, this survey underscores that voters are especially divided by age on the impacts of social media on mental health, with younger voters having a more positive impression of social media than older voters.
Rob Todaro (@robtodaro) is the Communications Director at Data for Progress.
Survey Methodology
From May 3 to 4, 2024, Data for Progress conducted a survey of 1,206 U.S. likely voters nationally using web panel respondents. The sample was weighted to be representative of likely voters by age, gender, education, race, geography, and 2020 recalled vote. The surveywas conducted in English. The margin of error is ±3 percentage points