Double Haters
I’m not sure that I had heard of the term “double haters” before this month. But I’ve since learned that pollsters use that phrase to describe respondents who really don’t like either choice. Over the past week, I’ve written several stories about the results of the Grinnell College National Poll. And that’s where I encountered talk about the double haters in this 2024 presidential election.
Polls can be fascinating to me. Although I think the media can make too big of a deal about them. The “horse race” stuff gets most of the mainstream media attention (Candidate “A” leads Candidate “B” blah, blah, blah).
This Grinnell College National Poll does the topline horse race. In this latest poll of 1,005 Americans, Donald Trump leads Joe Biden 45-38%. The race was neck-and-neck in the poll last October. The results to me show the current struggles of Biden (inflation, southern border, Middle East, his age).
See the full poll results here.
But the poll offers much more than that. For example, Trump beats Biden 2-1 with men. Is this a reflection of the concerns by some that Biden is no longer fit for office? And that more men like the Trump tough guy persona?
Biden leads Trump with women. But it’s not 2-1. It’s by 10%.
(Although, I still think that reproductive rights could end up being a major motivator for women — even those who are lukewarm about Biden — to vote for Biden/vote against Trump in November.)
But back to the double haters. They make up about 11% of the poll. What do they do on election day? Stay home? Skip the presidential race? Find a third party alternative? 11% seems like a significant number of people if the race is close.
They know their choices. Both Trump and Biden have been president. So they know how each one performed/behaved as president. And in Trump’s case, they also know what he has been like since he left office.
The poll didn’t get into what will ultimately help these double haters decide on which candidate to support (if they end up choosing a candidate). I have some guesses. As long as the economy doesn’t get worse, I wonder if more of these double haters end up choosing Biden rather than Trump.
It is just a hunch. But it seems to me that if you blame Biden for inflation or think that he has deteriorated too much mentally, then you would have already chosen Trump. They aren’t huge fans of Biden but they dislike Trump more?
So the double haters may end up deciding that they hate one candidate less than they hate the other? What do you think? Which candidate eventually gets the love of those double haters?
Side Note: One of the best parts of doing TV stories about this poll was getting to talk to two great people. J. Ann Selzer and her company conducted the research for this poll. Any day that I get to talk to Ann is a good day. She is remarkable at what she does for a living but is also absolutely brilliant. Ann is also so good at sticking to what her research shows and not letting outside factors cloud her analysis of the numbers.
Dr. Peter Hanson, a Grinnell associate political science professor, is the poll’s director. He, too, is a brilliant person. But he is also thoughtful and kind. Grinnell is lucky to have him.
Here is a link to my conversation with Ann and Peter about the Biden vs. Trump poll results.
Where’s the love for Caitlin Clark? This is the link where we discuss Americans, particularly women, who said in this poll that they wanted more focus on women’s sports. (The poll also explains which people like Taylor Swift and which ones don’t.)
Thanks for watching, thanks for reading and thanks for your support.
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You are also focusing on the horse race and not the consequences of the election. I thought you could further develop the paragraph:
"They know their choices. Both Trump and Biden have been president. So they know how each one performed/behaved as president. And in Trump’s case, they also know what he has been like since he left office."
There is no mention that we also know what Trump is planning if he is returned to office. It is NOT the same as what he did before, when he surrounded himself with more traditional Republican staffers who at times acted as guard rails.
The plans outlined in Project 2025 are the stuff of nightmares. More people need to see reporting on these authoritarian plans!
I'm a double hater and I don't know what to do... I've always believed the lesser of two evils is still evil, so to speak. However, I can't fathom an impeached sex offender president becoming re-relected, so I might have to hold my nose and vote for Biden. I'm undecided at this point.