Election fatigue higher than normal this year, experts say

Only 12 days remain until we cast our ballots and for many Americans, Election Day cannot get here soon enough. It is not unusual to see election fatigue at this point in an election year, but candidates and political leaders say this year campaign fatigue is as high as it has ever been.

With strong turnouts reported at early voting sites across the country, you have to wonder how much of that is because voters have had enough. 

Minnesota DFL chair Ken Martin is seeing it in voters, even those who support them, who have zero interest in talking issues as he's been out campaigning door to door with candidates.

“Every night for the last several weeks and what we're seeing a lot of people who are completely checked out now,” Martin said. “[They] just want the election to be over with.” 

According to numbers from the Pew Research Center, voters felt this way in July. A survey taken almost four months ago show that 59 percent of voters were already worn out.

Professor David Schultz throws a lot of blame on the candidates, all of them, because they all got into the race so early and spend too much time on the strategy of making the other more disliked than they already are. 

“Trump, Clinton, the Democrats and Republicans and their surrogates have really run a scorched earth campaign that's really been largely devoid of issues and really negative and so many people are turned off by that,” Schultz said.

Martin says it is tough to reach undecided voters.

“What that means is when people disconnect and disengage is we can't have that type of conversation we need to in these final few weeks,” Martin said.

Schultz worries they may have already decided to remain undecided.

“Are we going to see a really abysmal turnout this year as people are just saying that's it, I’ve had enough, I don't really like anybody and I [will] stay home on election day?” Schultz said.

Schultz points to social media posts that are so partisan, factually questionable and are also nothing but attacks. A more recent Pew Research Center poll from Tuesday shows one third of social media users are sick of political content. Two thirds say it has stressed them out.