JANINE ZEITLIN

JZEITLIN@NEWS-PRESS.COM

Remember the old days when email use and misogyny weren’t soldered into the news cycle? Back then, everyone was still distracted by the physics of Donald Trump’s comb-over. Hillary’s original Twitter bio of “TBD…” seemed quaint.

Those were good days, way back when in 2014.

If this presidential campaign season were a baby, born around the time in 2015 when both candidates announced they were running, it would be staring down the terrible twos. This season has turned out to be one ugly baby, a unique creature in its spastic temperament and grotesque features (Think along the lines of 12 toes).

And, as much as you love the democracy that produced this petulant polydactyl kid, the feeling that comes from raising a toddler is not dissimilar to the fog looming over the final days of this campaign: exhaustion.

Chronic election fatigue is widespread.

Election Politics News Fort Myers, Naples | News | The News-Press

“It’s a very real feeling,” said Susan MacManus, a political science professor at the University of South Florida in Tampa. “It’s all negative, all the time, and people are just weary.”

As early as this summer, a Pew Research Center survey found six in 10 Americans felt worn out by the amount of election coverage.

Florida is in a downpour of campaign ads and appearances. Fort Myers ranked 18th in the nation for the most presidential TV advertising from Sept. 16 to Oct. 13, according to a Wesleyan Media Project analysis of Kantar Media/CMAG data. Orlando and Tampa claimed the top two spots.

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Fort Myers stations ran nearly 3,000 ads costing $1 million. Many of those ads have been attacks.

“We’ve reached a level of vitriol on both sides where historically both candidates are enormously disliked by the electorate,” said Laura Weir, a political scientist at Florida SouthWestern State College. “People just want to be done with it.”

It’s been a long haul compared to elections of yesteryear.

Barry Goldwater, for instance, announced he was running for president in January 1964. Seven months later, he was the Republican nominee for the November election he lost.

There are remedies for election fatigue. You could practice your “aaayyy” so you sound less like the Fonz from “Happy Days” once you move to Canada. Or, you could vote early.

On the first day of early voting, lines stretched up to 100 voters at the Lee Elections Center in south Fort Myers. By Wednesday, nearly 215,000 votes had been cast, mostly by mail, meaning more than half of Lee County voters have made their choices official.

One of those votes came from 18-year-old Tanner Nesbit, a senior at Estero High.

This election felt different to him not only because it was his first time voting but also “since both candidates are a little crazy,” he said. “Both of them don’t seem like good people.”

He tuned out a week ago.

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If you haven’t voted and are still undecided, Weir recommends visiting the candidates’ official websites or the League of Women Voters for analysis instead of plugging into the news cycle. Afterward, hit mute.

“Ignore things for the next week so at least you get a break for awhile because then the fun and games start in January,” she suggested.

Election news can be blocked through web browser extensions like, “Remove All Politics from Facebook.” There are emotional consequences to not heeding Weir’s advice.

An American Psychological Association survey found more than half of adults consider the election a source of “significant stress” and that stress is exacerbated by what people see on social media, particularly in the comments.

“We’re kind of steeping in this all the time so you can kind of pick up this negativity and kind of carry it in your own life,” said Terry McVannel-Erwin, a licensed mental health counselor on the Florida SouthWestern faculty.

She does not watch television and surrounds herself with people, even on Facebook, who tend not to think of the world in black and white terms.

“That has been very helpful for me to avoid the negativity in campaign season.”

The bad news is it won’t end after the election; there are open investigations on both sides.

The good news is reality dulls in memory. One day, we might smile about these nearly two years of turbulence because like it or not, this is our kid, 12 toes and all.

USA Today Network staffers contributed to this report.

KAINE IN FORT MYERS

Vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine will be at Florida SouthWestern State College this morning.

The event begins at 1:15 and runs until 3:15. The doors open at 11:15 in Room 102, Building U on the campus on Summerlin Road.

Kaine will discuss Clinton's economic policy.