How Emotions Shaped The Election & Mo News Study Results

Written By Guest User

Plus, a look at how Biden commuted 1,500 prison sentences

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Good morning,

Many of you may have already taken our Mo News audience survey, including a number of our Mo News Premium community members. But we want to hear from everyone, so if you’re newer to Mo News, or more of a quiet lurker who doesn’t usually chime in — this is your moment to shine! Tell us how you really feel (we can take it).

  • The survey will help inform some of the exciting ideas we have cooking for Mo News in 2025. To make sure everybody gets a chance to weigh in, we are pushing the deadline through the weekend.

  • The link is at mo.news/feedback. We hope to see you there!

And have a great weekend!

Mosheh, Jill, Sari, & Lauren

📌 BIDEN GRANTS HISTORIC NUMBER OF CLEMENCIES WITH WEEKS LEFT IN OFFICE

On Thursday, President Biden announced he is commuting sentences for nearly 1,500 individuals released from prison to serve home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic. He also pardoned 39 Americans convicted of nonviolent crimes, who have since turned their life around. This marks the largest single-day act of clemency in modern history.

The record-breaking move follows Biden’s broad pardon of his son Hunter earlier this month — after months of promising not to meddle in the case. An AP-NORC poll released this week found that only 22% of American adults approve of Biden’s pardon of Hunter.

CONTEXT ON THE CLEMENCY
The 1,500 commutations Biden granted apply to individuals placed on home confinement during the pandemic, who have shown commitment to rehabilitation and reintegration into their communities and families. Biden argued that their long prison sentences would have been shorter under today's laws. FULL LIST

  • “America was built on the promise of possibility and second chances,” Biden said in a statement.

    • Commutations are when a person’s sentence or punishment is reduced, but they still have a conviction on their record.

  • Pardons, on the other hand, wipe out a conviction entirely, restoring rights and clearing the individual’s record.

    • The 39 pardons were granted to individuals convicted of nonviolent crimes, including possession of marijuana — which is now legal in 24 states and D.C.

Modern presidents have spent their final days in office issuing pardons. President Barack Obama commuted 330 sentences in one day before leaving office in 2017 — the prior record.

BIDEN’S LEGACY
Critics of the Hunter pardon included a number of prominent Democrats, noting that it reflects badly upon him and the party, especially as he mimicked Trump’s criticisms of the Justice Department.

  • Biden has said he was trying to be a president who turns the page on some of America’s past wrongs and brings the country together.

    • In 2022 and 2023, he issued categorical pardons to people convicted under federal law of simple use or possession of marijuana. This summer, he pardoned LGBTQ+ veterans convicted under the U.S. military’s former laws banning homosexual conduct.

  • Up next: With 38 days left in his presidency, Biden’s staff has been debating whether he should issue blanket pardons for some of Trump’s perceived enemies to protect them from potential “retribution.”

    • Trump has vowed to pardon many of the Jan. 6 rioters on his first day in office — more than 1,000 Americans have been convicted in the attack on the Capitol. He told Time Magazine this week that he plans to issue the Jan. 6 pardons during his first hour in office on January 20th.

📌 WHAT WE LEARNED ABOUT EMOTIONAL REGULATION IN LIGHT OF THE 2024 ELECTION

Understanding our emotions is key to unlocking success in every aspect of our lives: career, friendships, parenting, and personal growth. This type of knowledge has the power to transform our relationships, decision-making abilities, and even health.

🎙️ Mo News spoke to Dr. Marc Brackett, the founding director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and author of Permission to Feel, about ways to better understand, categorize, and respond to our emotions.

  • We recently worked with the center on an election emotions survey of the Mo News community. Here’s a look at the results.

POLITICAL EMOTIONS STUDY
Mo News and Dr. Brackett’s Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence partnered up to survey our community members last month to research emotions before and after the election, and there were some surprising findings.

  • Major takeaways: Trump voters were happier than they expected to be after he won, and Harris voters were not as upset as they anticipated.

    • Between the lines: Before the election, voters on both sides over-predicted their own negative reactions – something we tend to do in many areas of our lives.

      • “When our emotions are running high, we think, my gosh, if this doesn't happen, my life is going to be over. But the truth is, for the most part, life continues,” said Brackett.

    • Brackett argues that this shows us why emotional intelligence is so important: if we can contextualize and manage our negative emotions before a challenging event, we’ll be much more equipped to cope with them.

  • This was Trump’s election: We also found that people’s attitudes toward Trump (for and against) were what best indicated which way they voted – in both directions. Feelings about Harris were less predictive. The biggest emotions expressed were anxiety, fear, and hope.

GIVING OURSELVES & OTHERS PERMISSION TO FEEL
In our everyday lives, Brackett argues that people should actively accept and engage with their emotions, rather than try to suppress them. His research has found that “only about a third of people around the world believe they have permission to feel.”

  • This can have major health implications. The body reacts differently to various emotions:

    • Anger can lead to heart attacks.

    • Stress can increase your chances of getting sick.

    • Crying flushes stress hormones from the body.

    • Laughter repairs cells.

    • Gratitude can boost immunity.

  • How to give someone permission to feel: Brackett says his research shows that the most important qualities for making people feel heard are being non-judgmental, empathetic, and a good listener.

  • Part of the work Brackett proposes is learning to properly identify emotions. For example, what are the distinctions between anxiety, stress, and overwhelm?

    • “We get anxiety when we see a lot of uncertainty in the world around us. Stress is when we have too many demands and not enough resources. Overwhelmed is when we were overcome by emotions and we're just saturated. People use these words interchangeably, but the solutions are very different,” Brackett explains.

Check out the full conversation on the "Mo News: The Interview" podcast — available on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube.

⏳ SPEED READ

🚨NATION

📌 The FBI should have done more to collect intelligence before the Capitol riot, watchdog finds (AP)

📌 US senator says mysterious drones spotted in New Jersey should be ‘shot down, if necessary’ (AXIOS)

📌 New York City is a top mass deportation target. Its Democratic mayor is a wildcard (POLITICO)

📌 Miami luxury real estate tycoon brothers charged with sex trafficking (AXIOS)

📌 Hannah Kobayashi's family offers GoFundMe refunds to those who donated $50K to search for her after voluntary disappearance (PEOPLE)

📌 Trump invites China's Xi Jinping to inauguration; He isn’t planning to attend (WSJ)

 🌎 AROUND THE WORLD

📌 Missing American Travis Timmerman found wandering barefoot outside Damascus (NBC)

📌 Ontario to restrict electricity exports to US and bar American-made alcohol if Trump tariffs applied (AP)

📌 EU countries double down on halt to Syrian asylum claims but won't send people back (ABC)

📌 Hamas concedes on Israeli troops in Gaza, raising hopes for hostage deal (WSJ)

 📱BUSINESS, SCIENCE & TECH

📌 Gen Z to the rescue? How malls are winning over a generation of in-person shoppers (CNBC)

📌 Meta donates $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund (AP)

📌 Stanley recalls 2.6M travel mugs due to potential burn hazard from faulty lids (FOX)

📌 YouTube TV raises Price 14%, to $83 per month, citing ‘rising cost of content’ (VARIETY)

 🎬 SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT

📌 Selena Gomez announces engagement to Benny Blanco (NBC)

📌 At 18, India's Gukesh Dommaraju becomes the youngest World Chess Champion ever (NPR)

📌 ‘Vanderpump Rules’ star James Kennedy arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor domestic violence (AP)

📌 Morgan Wallen sentenced to 7 days at DUI education center, 2 years’ probation after pleading guilty to chair-throwing incident (NY POST)

🎉 CHEERS TO THE FREAKIN WKND

Guest User
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