We don’t want either of them! One in 6 voters have unfavorable views of Biden and Trump

People who can’t stand either candidate could shape the 2024 campaign

John Bowden
Washington DC
,Eric Garcia
Tuesday 30 April 2024 00:53 BST
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Biden jabs back at jokes about his age during White House dinner

A new poll shows that one in six voters dislike both former president Donald Trump and President Joe Biden – and that group could decide the 2024 presidential election.

A Monmouth University poll released on Monday shows 60 per cent of voters were slightly or not at all enthusiastic about the election given the matchup between the presumptive Democratic and Republican nominees.

In addition, a large group of voters fall under the category of “double haters,” a name for those who dislike both Mr Trump and Mr Biden. Some 78 per cent of “double haters” say they are not happy about either man leading the top of their party’s ticket.

Mr Biden holds a slight lead with this group, with 26 per cent saying they will either definitely or probably vote for Mr Biden, while 17 per cent say they will either probably or definitely vote for Mr Trump. But 55 per cent of this group say they are unlikely to vote for either candidate.

Just 20 per cent of all voters said they were “very” enthusiastic about the choices this election cycle. The highest-performing alternative to those candidates, independent candidate Robert F Kennedy, is not popular either: 24 per cent of voters had a favourable opinion of Mr Kennedy, compared to 34 per cent who said they had an unfavourable view and 30 per cent who had no opinion. Another 13 per cent had not heard of him at all.

The “double haters” also do not seem to have a favourable opinion of Mr Kennedy. Only 15 per cent of them say they will definitely vote for him and 23 per cent say they will probably vote for him.

Just five per cent of voters said they would “definitely” vote for Mr Kennedy, while another 13 per cent said they would “probably” support him in November. That could be complicated by ballot access, which is often a major hurdle for third-party candidates — although Mr Kennedy’s campaign says it is on track to be on the ballot in all 50 states.

The poll comes on the heels of a survey from CNN released on Sunday, which found Mr Trump leading Mr Biden nationally by single digits as well – 42 per cent to Mr Biden’s 33 per cent. More alarmingly for the Democratic president, a greater share of Americans in that survey viewed Mr Trump’s presidency as a success compared to his.

Another survey in early March found that majority of Americans are concerned about the mental faculties of both major candidates. Again, Mr Biden faced a disadvantage to his opponent in that poll. Approximately 63 per cent of respondents said that they are not very or not at all confident in Mr Biden’s mental abilities. Fewer, but still more than half — 57 per cent — of the respondents said they felt the same about Mr Trump.

Monmouth’s survey included responses from 746 registered voters from a random national sample between 18-22 April. The margin of error is 4.3 per centage points at a 95 per cent confidence rating.

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