Double haters. Thus (whose translation could be ““double haters” or “double haters”) is what it is known in the United States to those voters who neither love Joe Biden nor hate Donald Trump, nor vice versa. They are those who equally detest the Democratic and Republican candidates or those who are simply not happy with either of them returning to the White House after the presidential elections in November.
Far from being a minority, these undecided voters (or perhaps it would be better to describe them as dissatisfied) represent approximately one fifth of the electorate. In fact, surveys from Marquette Law School and The New York Times (NYT) and Siena College point out that it is 19% of voters. A percentage that, in a race as close as the current one – where polls predict a technical tie between both politicians – could be key in the election results.
This group of double haters is not new. In fact, they have been of great importance in other electoral cycles, such as in 2016, when exit polls such as the cnn were located in 18% voters who did not like either Trump or the then Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton. In the 2020 elections, in which Trump and Biden also participated, these double agents They barely represented 3%, according to the NYT. What has happened in these four years that the number of dissatisfied people has skyrocketed?
For many analysts, what the data reflects is a fatigue for the fight between two candidates who are already old acquaintances. And, in general terms, the popularity of both Biden and Trump has plummeted.
An unpopular (and older) Biden
In the case of the current US president, throughout the four years he has been in office, his approval levels have been falling until reaching 39%, according to the latest poll published by Gallup. The figure does not reach the historical minimum that it touched in its worst moments (37%), but they indicate the downward trend in Biden’s approval ratings. Especially since the war broke out between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and the current US president promised full support for Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
However, it is not only the discontent of Democratic voters with the Biden Administration’s stance on the conflict in the Middle East that has caused the president’s popularity to plummet. Inflation, the high cost of living and the immigration crisis have been eroding his approval levels. Furthermore, if he arrives so weak at the 2024 elections it is due, in part, to the fact that there is a general perception (among both conservatives and progressives) that Biden, 81, is too old to repeat.
In fact, 73% of all registered voters believe Biden is too old for office, according to a poll a couple of months ago published by NYT/Siena College. His constant mental lapses and blunders haven’t helped. Without going any further, this week, videos began to circulate in which an apparently ‘disoriented’ Biden which has to be rescued by the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, during the G7 summit in Italy. Some images that are not new and that, with all probability, will be repeated again.
Trump, the convicted felon
Unpopularity has not prevented Biden from directing his campaign towards the double haters to try to get votes. And it could turn out well for him, especially because Trump’s strategy has been the opposite: the Republican has chosen to continue appealing, no longer to the Republicans, but directly to his followers. Therefore, in recent months he has reinforced his MAGA agenda and has insisted in converting issues such as abortion or immigration in star arguments of his campaign. This has even led him to say that, if elected, he would order the Army to attack the drug cartels in Mexico, something that would clearly violate international law.
But if Trump is at a disadvantage with this group, it is not just because Biden is trying to capitalize on that disenchanted majority. In recent days several polls have indicated that support for Trump among “double haters“has deflated even more after the Justice condemned him for 34 serious crimes related to paying a porn actress to keep silent about his extramarital affair.
In fact, a recently released ABC-Ipsos poll maintains that “65% of Americans who view both Trump and Biden unfavorably think the verdict is correct, and 67% believe Trump should end his presidential campaign“.
