THIS coming Tuesday evening, Democratic US voters will face a choice: whether to settle in front of their televisions with a large mug of strong coffee or a triple vodka tonic.

To watch or not to watch? That is indeed the question on November 5, when our own version of gunpowder, treason and plot could unfold, plunging the country into chaos and fascism should Republican Donald Trump defeat Democrat Kamala Harris and take back the White House.

Is it nobler to stay awake, optimistic in the belief that what passes for US democracy will survive? Or would it be better to sink quickly into alcohol-induced oblivion and hope that when dawn breaks —  and despite the hangover — a vulgar, racist felon isn’t president and Harris is?

“Whether it’s dread or optimism will depend on early returns,” said one Democratic voter to whom I posed the question.“If it looks like dread I’ll go to bed.”

For another, election night raises an existential question: Who are we as a country? “Are the majority of voting Americans ready to move forward and accept and embrace becoming a diverse country?” she asked. Or will white male hegemony prevail?

A Vietnamese-American friend is still in shock that two of his three siblings plan to vote for Trump. “Yes, we'll be cancelling each other out, but why oh why are they voting for someone who hates them? It makes me angry to think about it,” he said.

Some say they will leave the country should Trump win, not necessarily an idle threat. According to figures from the Canadian government, the number of Americans applying to emigrate to Canada saw a spike after Trump’s 2016 win, rising by several thousand over previous years.

Others say a Trump victory will spur them to become more engaged. “I’d see myself becoming more directly and actively involved with organisations that are protecting migrant, LGBTQ, and women’s and voters’ rights,” said another Democrat I spoke with.

Of course not all progressives are thrilled about the Harris candidacy, mainly due to her still unwavering support for Israel’s bloody and unrelenting attack on Gaza and now Lebanon.

In recent weeks, President Joe Biden has given Harris — the current vice president — the leeway to separate herself from his agenda. But she hasn’t done it, observed former Ohio state senator, Nina Turner, during a recent panel discussion on the US election hosted by Jeremy Corbyn’s Peace & Justice Project.

“Trying to politically separate herself from the administration she is part of is like walking a tightrope,” Turner says, “but she has not done that as expansively as one would want.” And yet, adds Turner, “poll after poll shows that a majority of Democratic voters want to see a ceasefire and an arms embargo.”

Amy Goodman, the host of the progressive US news programme Democracy Now! thinks that could change once Harris is president. She noted that it was consistent protests against Biden’s funding and arming of Israel that eventually helped push him from the race.

With Harris, there is still hope she may listen, and shift, Goodman says, an opportunity that won’t be there under a second Trump presidency.

While Trump “quite literally represents a wall,” Harris “represents a door,” said Goodman, speaking on the same panel with Turner. “Granted, the door is slammed shut. It might even be locked from the inside, but these grassroots movements have the capacity to burst open that door, to break it open, and I think that is the hope.”

That optimism is shared by Senator Bernie Sanders who urges a vote for Harris despite disagreeing profoundly with her current stance on Israel.

“After Kamala wins we will, together, do everything that we can to change US policy toward Benjamin Netanyahu — including an immediate ceasefire, the return of all hostages, a surge of massive humanitarian aid, the stopping of settler attacks on the West Bank, and the rebuilding of Gaza for the Palestinian people,” he said.

The polls, however, don’t reflect Bernie’s bullish mood, with most showing a tied race or even a slight edge to Trump in key swing states. That fills much of the country with an existential fear of what a second Trump presidency could mean for basic freedoms such as “still having the right and opportunity to vote,” as one voter noted with appreciation after turning in her ballot early last week.

Those concerns were shared by my Vietnamese friend who fears a Trump administration, “will roll back advances in women’s rights, racial minority rights, and gay rights. Roe vs Wade was overturned by the conservative Supreme Court,” he said, referring to the landmark law on abortion rights, “so why wouldn't they do the same with marriage equality and other rights?”

Who will stand up for those rights? Not members of Congress, says Turner. “Nobody is really coming to save the progressive movement here. I don’t think it’s going to come from anybody that is inside and actively elected right now. It is very much going to come from the outside forces pushing,” she said.

It will be up to the rest of us.

So once the November 5 ordeal is behind us and the election result is truly known — something that might take days or even weeks if the outcome is contested — we will have one task left. To get up from that couch and fight back, no matter who wins.

Linda Pentz Gunter is a writer based in Takoma Park, Maryland.