Liz Wolfe at Reason: Many have theorized that the fence sitters in this election aren’t really looking to be persuaded—it’s not as if much light will be shed on the economy or immigration, the two issues that matter most to people this cycle, or how to treat the war in Gaza—but will merely check the box for the less odious of two horrifying alternatives (or sit the whole thing out).
“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,” one 64-year-old homemaker from Wisconsin told The Washington Post.
She speaks for many of us, I think. Interestingly but perhaps unsurprisingly, the share of “double haters” has reached a historic high, with roughly 25 percent of voters holding unfavorable views of both candidates. (This compared with 5 percent in 1988; 13 percent in 1992; 9 percent in 1996; 6 percent in 2000; and so on and so forth. Polling was done prior to Trump’s felony conviction.)
“That is the highest share expressing negative views of both candidates in surveys conducted at about this point in the election cycle by the Center and other organizations dating back to the 1988 election,” notes the Pew Research Center. “And it’s nearly twice as high as four years ago, when 13% of Americans expressed unfavorable opinions of both Biden and Trump.”
More here.
