It’s been described on social media as everything from waiting for biopsy results to undergoing wisdom tooth extraction. Polls are closing in the west as I write this, but it could be hours or days before we know who the country’s next president will be. Final polling showed the race remained neck-and-neck right through Election Day, with even the most accurate prognosticators struggling to make the call.
And Americans are all up in their feelings about it. Some have pledged to protect their mental health by committing to a news blackout until the results are tabulated and the race is called. Others have simply turned to Jesus for comfort.
“I’m sitting here doing my dishes and watching the results come in,” 64-year-old Simpsonville, South Carolina resident Sharon Payne told me Tuesday evening. “When you’ve prayed about it, you can’t worry yourself to death about it.” Still, the wait after a presidential election is never easy.
It seems particularly painful this year. People are on edge. I’ve heard the word “terrified” repeatedly.
There’s excitement among some, dread among others. Nerves are so raw for so many the bundles might as well exist outside our bodies. This is a consequential election at a consequential time for this country.
And it played out in wild fashion: One candidate had only three months to build a campaign. The other candidate was nearly assassinated – twice. But there can only be one winner: Vice President Kamala Harris or former .
