According to conservative political strategist and polling expert Sarah Longwell, both Donald Trump and President Joe Biden are facing challenges with voters who are dissatisfied with their options in the upcoming presidential election. This poses a particularly difficult situation for Trump – Or does it?
In an interview with CNN host Chris Wallace, Longwell discussed the concept of “double haters,” a term used in a New York Times/Sienna College poll to describe voters who disapprove of both Biden and Trump. According to the poll, these “double haters” make up 19 percent of the electorate. Longwell emphasized that this sizable portion of voters will play a crucial role in determining the outcome of the election.
Longwell explained that she frequently conducts focus groups, and based on her experience, “double haters” are indeed a significant demographic. With both candidates essentially serving as incumbents due to their familiarity with voters, the pool of persuadable voters is different this time around. These voters are characterized by their dislike for both candidates.
She further elaborated that this election is likely to be highly negative because winning over persuadable voters will require convincing them to dislike the opposing candidate more.
Longwell noted that in focus groups, a common sentiment expressed by these voters is the idea of choosing the “first lesser of two evils,” indicating that they are essentially selecting the candidate they dislike slightly less. In this regard, Biden tends to fare better because people tend to dislike Trump more.
However, that’s not necessarily good news for the president as many of those voters will “vote their conscience” instead of the candidate they believe is the lesser of two evils. In 2016, Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton were both unpopular as well. And a lot of voters who rejected both options supported third-party candidates in fairly strong numbers, taking small but solid portions of the vote in a handful of key swing states.
In Michigan, for example, Trump won by only 10,704 votes while third-party candidates received a whopping 250,000 votes.
In summary, although Biden has an edge in favorability among undecided voters, it’s not necessarily a plus for him. Unfortunately, a lot of voters, instead of supporting who they consider the lesser of two evils, will support a third-party candidate they like who doesn’t have a chance of winning.
If you’re an undecided voter who believes Trump is more dangerous than Biden, it’s your duty to support the latter.
