With election anxieties high, a lesson in accepting defeat offers hope for future of democracy
CBSN
On the eve of Election Day, tensions are high and voters are feeling anxious — that's been a theme throughout this entire election season.
"There's a lot of drama everywhere. People have lost contact with humanity," said voter Connie Wilson.
The U.S. was also an anxious country when George Washington took the first oath of office at Federal Hall in Lower Manhattan. The fledgling nation was riddled with debt, the Constitution was weak and the judicial system was in its infancy.
Five presidents in U.S. history have won the presidency without winning the popular vote, and the most recent to do so was Donald Trump in 2016. His opponent that year, Hillary Clinton, won over 2.8 million more votes than Trump nationwide, but she lost enough key states to be defeated in the Electoral College, 306 to 232.
We've all seen a lot of political ads lately. But in battleground states, it's a tsunami. Jack Levis is an independent voter in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, which makes him one of the most desirable voters on the planet: "Emails, texts, phone calls, it's in my news feed, it's in social media. In the last two days, I counted, I had 30 spam emails in there all about the election," he said. "It's unbelievable."