‘Americans are indeed fed up with polarization,’ one public-opinion expert says As Americans awaited the results of the most divisive election in modern memory, at least two things were apparent: The “blue wave” Democrats had hoped for hadn’t materialized, and the race between President Trump and Joe Biden appeared closer than polls had suggested. But even in a deeply polarized country, Americans still manage to find common ground on certain ideas, past public-opinion surveys show. For...

Mental-health professionals are trying to practice what they preach while they await results in one of the most emotionally fraught elections in recent history. Election experts warn that Election Day could be more like Election Week or Election Month: The historic surge in mail voting due to COVID-19 could result in some states’ vote counts extending days or weeks after Election Day, and pivotal swing states Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin may take longer to report results. Meanwhile,...

87% of Democrats expect Joe Biden to win the 2020 election, while 84% of Republicans expect President Trump to triumph, a new paper says Democrats and Republicans are both highly assured that their candidate will prevail in the presidential election, a new working paper suggests — and the election’s ultimate outcome could have implications for some Americans’ spending decisions. Some 87% of Democrats expect former vice president Joe Biden to win the 2020 election, while 84% of Republicans...

‘In some ways, what we are engaging in is a national exercise in deferred gratification’ A potentially longer-than-usual wait to find out this year’s election results doesn’t have to mean stress-eating, doomscrolling or impulsively moving around your money. Experts say the unprecedented, pandemic-induced surge in-mail voting could lead to some states’ vote counts stretching days or even weeks after Election Day. Partisan splits in early and Election Day voting preference, along with different...

Voting in person this election season — whether early or on Nov. 3 — means coming prepared, understanding the rules and knowing your rights, elections experts say. Twelve days before Election Day, more than 42 million people in the U.S. have already voted, according to an analysis by the Washington Post, about 89% of the total early voting in 2016. Most states have expanded mail voting options due to the pandemic, and some have also increased opportunities to vote early in person. Some 59% of...