For many readers of this site, the choice between Joe Biden and Donald Trump is a no-brainer. They reason that Trump has flaws, but a second term for Biden would be a mortal blow to the American experiment.
For millions of Americans, however, it's not that simple. Those voters hate both candidates, and trying to decide between them will likely be the decisive factor in the 2024 presidential contest.
For some of these voters, it's the age of both men that gives them pause. For others, it's a question of, "Is this the best we can do?"
“Three-hundred-and-some-odd million people and that’s all we can get?” one voter in Western Wisconsin told the Washington Post. The Post interviewed sixty voters in the small town of Hudson, Wis., and heard a constant refrain from most of them.
“I am praying nightly that there comes somebody else and I think we have a lot of time for that youngster to step up, but I am hoping to God that those aren’t the only two choices come Election Day,” said Sue Daniels, 64, a homemaker in Hudson. Daniels voted for Trump in 2020 but now says she's genuinely undecided.
The Post calls them "double haters." But perhaps the most remarkable thing about these voters who don't like either candidate is that most of them are going to vote anyway.
That means they're up for grabs. And that's why both campaigns are targeting these voters and spending tens of millions of dollars to win them over.
They are more likely to be younger, Hispanic or Black, and women living in larger cities or with no religious affiliation, according to a Washington Post-Schar School Deciders poll in six key states focused on the voters who will probably decide the 2024 presidential election.
But voters opposed to both candidates are not monolithic. Some mildly dislike both candidates, but have made peace with voting for the one they prefer. Others deeply disdain Biden and Trump, and seem incredulous that they find themselves choosing between “the lesser of two evils” — a phrase more than a half-dozen voters used in describing their Election Day calculus. And others plan to not vote or to opt for a third-party candidate, be it independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr. or someone else.
Trump actually lost ground in some polls among the double-haters after his felony convictions. About 20% of them either switched to Biden or moved into the "undecided" camp. Other polls, like the Monmouth Poll, show little or no movement away from the former president.
The Democratic campaign to portray Donald Trump as a threat appears to have hit home with some voters who don't pay a lot of attention to politics.
One Hudson voter, Kimberly Nelson, 55, voted for Biden in 2020 but is now not so sure. She said she is “very sad — angry — that our two choices are like, ‘Do you want Stalin or Hitler? Which one? Which one?’”
“Either one of those guys are horrible — I don’t know what to do,” Nelson said. “I guess I have to vote for Biden, but I don’t like him either. But I’m terrified of Trump even more.”
“We don’t really have many options,” said Nelson's daughter, Lily. “All we can do is vote.”
Many of these double-haters will vote for a third-party candidate. That, too, could swing the election. In 2020, most swing states had more votes for other candidates than votes within the margin of victory — Biden's margin of victory. Of the eight swing states where more voters cast ballots for a third-party candidate than the margin of victory, Trump only won North Carolina.
The Post-Schar School poll surveyed 3,513 registered voters in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. These six states narrowly voted for Biden in 2020, but five of them backed Trump in 2016. The poll also focused on a group characterized as “Deciders” — voters with sporadic turnout or who are uncommitted to Trump or Biden.
Nearly 1 in 5 voters in these states are double haters (18 percent), saying they would be unhappy if either Trump or Biden wins the presidency in November. That rises to nearly 3 in 10 among the Deciders group (28 percent). Just 5 percent of Deciders would be at least satisfied with both, while 36 percent would feel positive only with Trump and 30 percent only with Biden.
Related: GOP Plan for Democratic Convention: Make Chicago the Poster for Democratic Policies
The only way to reach the "double-haters" in both campaigns is to make the other guy "smell" even worse. This is how the campaigns target the "hold your nose and vote" caucus.
It's why the race is eliciting such disgust in ordinary people.
