WASHINGTON, D.C. – The lead-up to the U.S. 2024 presidential election has been intense. Nearly every American will have some degree of anxiety about what might happen this week.
For a British visitor, being in the U.S. during election season has been both thrilling and overwhelming. In the UK, politics has its share of passion. Yet the American experience has been all-encompassing. It’s felt like one of national-scale, collective emotional investment and suspense.
There has been a constant buzz, with politics permeating nearly every aspect of life. Everywhere I go, I have been unable to escape the campaign signs, adverts, and political discussions, even when just taking a walk around a local neighborhood.
It has been hard to disconnect from politics even as a foreign tourist.
UK elections are also heated. The most recent general election in June 2024 was an example of such passion. It was the first time I had been eligible to vote in a general election, one that would determine who became our next prime minister.
For the weeks leading up to that election, I was anxiously watching the news coverage and reading the predictions. It felt like, and it was, a high-stake moment for our country.
Yet the polarization in U.S. politics has meant that the election has left a heightened sense of urgency emphasizing it as a ‘make-or-break’ moment for the country.
When what should be easy decision issues, such as the autonomy a woman has over her own body, are politicized at such an elevated level, the election takes on a different feel.
It becomes impossible not to feel drawn into the discussions and I have found it hard not to share the same anxieties as many Americans are feeling.
The whole world is watching America at the moment.
During the final weeks before Election Day, political rallies and protests increased in size and frequency. Rallies for presidential candidates often resembled major events, drawing in thousands of supporters. Protest marches, especially around controversial issues, can also add to this intensity.
On the Saturday before Election Day, I found myself in Washington, DC where the 2024 Women’s March took place in support of Kamala Harris.
I attended, eager to delve deeper into the grassroots involvement and community action surrounding the election – something that the UK does not experience to the same extent.
I was overwhelmed and taken aback by the electrifying atmosphere. Thousands of women, men, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, friends had gathered to share their voices. There were countless signs and posters, political messages sometimes serious and sometimes humorous.
I cannot do anything to help America with this election. It is not my election to vote in. Yet some of its major talking points are issues that affect young women like me. Joining the rally allowed me to channel some of the unease I have felt while being in the U.S. at election time.
While there is some grassroots engagement in the UK, our political campaigns don’t usually reach the same level of public involvement. Door-knocking and volunteer campaigning occur, but they are less visible, and you are less likely to encounter campaigns on every street corner.
Nearly every person I have seen has been wearing some kind of hat, sticker, or shirt that supports a political candidate. It is difficult to find anything comparable in the UK, where public displays of political affiliation are not as common. The contrast has made the U.S. election feel almost like a cultural phenomenon as much as a political process.
As with every person in America on Tuesday, I will be glued to the around-the-clock election coverage, anxiously hoping for the better outcome.
Holly Hostettler-Davies is an Associate Editor with Youth Journalism International.
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