Meet the ‘double haters’ who could decide the election
[V]oters 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.
There is also the matter of the potential impact of Trump’s New York conviction on 34 counts of felony business fraud in connection with paying hush money to an adult-film actress ahead of the 2016 election. A New York Times-Siena College poll following Trump’s conviction found a slight decline in Trump’s advantage over Biden, though a national poll by Monmouth University showed no clear shift.
But the Times-Siena poll found that double haters were especially likely to abandon Trump, who lost more than one-fifth of those who previously supported him. Roughly half of this group said they now preferred Biden, while the other half said they remain undecided.
In Hudson, voters repeatedly mentioned both Biden’s and Trump’s ages as a concern, though many described the issue as more acute for Biden than for Trump. Otherwise, many voters cited either Biden’s handling of the Israel-Gaza war or the economy as reasons they were loath to support him, while they said their reluctance toward Trump largely stems from issues of character and behavior. [Continue reading…]