Anxious State

Stephen Neely, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the School of Public Affairs at the University of South Florida. He is Director of the School’s Master’s program in Public Administration, a Senior Faculty Fellow with the Global and National Security Institute at the University of South Florida, and an Academic Program Director with the Florida Center for Cybersecurity. Kevin B. Smith is the Leland J. and Dorothy H. Olson Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He is also the Director of the Political Pyschophysiology Lab in the Center for Brain, Biology and Behavior at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Savannah Havird is a Graduate Teaching Associate and PhD student in the School of Interdisciplinary Global Studies at the University of South Florida. She holds an MPA from the University of South Florida and a BA in political science from Saint Leo University. She has published survey research in the Tampa Bay Times and presented at multiple research conferences across various disciplines. Megan Corn is a Graduate Teaching Associate and PhD student in the School of Inter-disciplinary Global Studies at the University of South Florida. She also holds an MPA from the University of South Florida and has published survey research in the Tampa Bay Times and South Florida Sun Sentinel.

• Acknowledgments vii1 The Anxious State 1Section 1 Stress 172 Political Stress: A Primer for the Anxious Citizen 193 The Public Health Problem Hiding in Plain Sight 364 Age, Gender, and Education: Understanding the Comorbidities of Political Stress 525 How “Breaking News” Is Breaking Us 626 Political Stress and Social Relationships 78Section 2 Polarization 917 Understanding Affective Polarization 938 Unwarranted Disdain 1149 Cross-pressures and (More) Comorbidities 13210 Does the Media Really Divide Us? 145Section 3 Conclusion 16311 The Big Picture 16512 The Anxious Cycle 181Appendix: Survey Respondents 191Index 193