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   Jamiee Peterson has never voted in a "non-Trump America."   
      
   A registered Democrat in Colorado, Peterson was a 20-year-old junior at   
   the University of Colorado-Boulder when Donald Trump was elected in 2016.   
      
   "I was excited to vote in 2016 cause I thought no way he would win,"   
   Peterson told Newsweek in an interview.   
      
   She recalled that Election Night, watching the returns come in with her   
   college roommates and feeling scared and hopeless when they realized   
   Hillary Clinton was going to lose. "We drank a lot of wine after. We all   
   did not want Trump to win."   
      
   "It's been a steady decline in hopefulness since then," she said.   
      
   Liberals and Democrats of all stripes are remarking to each other in   
   group chats, dinner conversations and social media posts about the   
   familiar feeling of despair creeping in as Election Day nears. A   
   pit-in-the-stomach dread that has overtaken the joy and relief so many   
   felt after Kamala Harris replaced a faltering Joe Biden at the top of   
   the ticket this summer.   
      
   November 8, 2016 still rents space for free in the heads of many such   
   voters. The day that Clinton supporters believed the nation would elect   
   its first female president was the day that Trump would pull off the   
   biggest political upset in American history.   
      
   He would not only prove the polls and pundits wrong, but would also   
   shake the confidence of Democrats who knew — just knew — that someone   
   like Trump could not get elected, regardless of how flawed their   
   candidate might be.   
      
   But unlike that landmark election nearly a decade ago, Democrats have   
   something working in their favor this time around: their anxiety.   
      
   Clinton's ascent to the presidency was considered by many to be a   
   foregone conclusion eight years ago. Such a sure thing that the number   
   of registered voters who stayed home on Election Day was probably enough   
   to cost her the election.   
      
   This year, by contrast, no liberal in America thinks Kamala Harris has   
   things locked up. And that could help juice turnout where it's needed   
   most, from western Pennsylvania to the suburbs of Atlanta.   
      
   Joy Turns to Fear   
   The liberal "bedwetting," to use a term coined by Obama campaign manager   
   David Plouffe, has exhausted Emily Clemons.   
      
   A registered Democrat in New York who works in sales, Clemons, 28, told   
   Newsweek she's tired of seeing politics flood her Instagram feed, of   
   hearing about how close the race is when she turns on the radio, of   
   playing worst-case scenario with her friends.   
      
   And yet, Clemons said, "We can't stop worrying about it because so much   
   is at stake."   
      
   "I truly believe [Trump] will continue to undo some of the   
   constitutional rights and perpetuate a sense of fear, disrespect to   
   minority groups, and bring more instability to an already extremely   
   fragile and divided country," she said.   
      
   Peterson, from Colorado, echoed those concerns.   
      
   "I'm honestly just scared things will never go back to how they were,   
   having debates where the parties are professional, respectful and   
   actually care about the people they're representing," she said.   
      
   "It's become a whole spectacle and it's so polarized that it does scare   
   me how far back things can go in terms of policies I would've thought   
   would never be overturned."   
      
   "I don't feel optimistic about the election," she added. "As much as I   
   would like to think the Democrats will win, I really think the rage-bait   
   and fear mongering Trump creates has seized a lot of Americans and put a   
   lot of distrust in the whole election process as a whole."   
      
   Anna Holcombe, a lawyer and registered Democrat in New York, said she   
   felt more angry than dejected about the state of the race.   
      
   "The amount of people that claim to be sitting this one out, because   
   they dislike both candidates is not only scary, it is infuriating,"   
   Holcombe, 38, told Newsweek.   
      
   "I really try to understand people's reasoning for things based upon   
   their different lived experiences, even if I disagree. But to be faced   
   with the options we have and think 'nah, not for me' is honestly   
   disgraceful, and a dereliction of one's duty to their neighbors and   
   country."   
      
   Anger mixed with existential dread and anxiety is exactly the kind of   
   organizing principle that could fuel a massive turnout of the party's   
   base for Harris, said Steve Schier, a political scientist and author.   
      
   "That can be important in closely contested states," Schier told   
   Newsweek. "Combine that with voters' dislike of Trump and you have   
   powerful turnout motivations."   
      
   Fear is the biggest difference between the motivating factors for   
   Democrats and Republicans this cycle, according to Doug Gordon, the CEO   
   of UpShift Strategies, a left-leaning communications firm. It could be   
   that difference that decides an election that every political pundit   
   predicts will be won on the margins.   
      
   "Republicans might dislike – or even despise – Kamala Harris," Gordon   
   told Newsweek, but Democrats "flat out fear a second Donald Trump term."   
      
   "There is no question that fear, more than simple dislike, can be a real   
   motivator to vote," he said.   
      
   'Healthy Anxiety'   
   Since their collective traumatization in 2016, the Democratic base has   
   religiously showed up at the ballot box. They delivered a "blue wave" in   
   2018, ejected Trump in 2020 — when 85 percent of registered Democrats   
   who voted for a third party four years earlier pulled the lever for   
   Biden — and blunted a predicted "red wave" two years later.   
      
   In those midterm elections of 2022, a base of engaged, high-propensity   
   voters became an even more prominent fixture of Democratic politics   
   after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The hope for Democrats   
   is that those reliable voters, many of whom are women of all races and   
   classes, remain engaged enough to vote in November.   
      
   "The anti-MAGA coalition, which has fueled Democratic victories in 2018,   
   2020 and 2022, is going to vote in this election. [Mean]while Trump and   
   Republicans are depending on far more irregular voters," Gordon said.   
      
   "At this point of the race, I'd much rather be depending on reliable   
   voters than irregular voters."   
      
   Eric Schmeltzer, a Los Angeles-based political communications   
   consultant, also expressed cautious optimism that Democratic anxiety   
   could fuel a turnout surprise in Harris' favor.   
      
   "Everyone is scarred by 2016. I'm no exception," said Schmeltzer, who   
   also served as the former press secretary to Howard Dean and   
   Representative Jerry Nadler. "But what we also need to remember is that   
   since 2016, Democrats have competed and, in many cases, over-performed."   
      
   "Some of the anxiety that Democratic voters have felt in successive   
   elections has ultimately contributed to a string of solid victories,"   
   added Brad Bauman, principal at the Raben Group and the former executive   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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