Potential Key to the 2020 Election: Voters Who Can't Stand Both Trump and Biden

Voters who can't stand either major-party presidential nominee could be one of the keys to the election—and unlike in 2016, that might be bad news for President Donald Trump.

Four years ago, in a contest between two of the least-liked presidential nominees in history, Trump benefitted from the number of voters who found him slightly less detestable than Hillary Clinton. But a new Morning Consult poll suggests that Trump isn't doing as well with the "haters demographic" this time around. Voters who hold unfavorable views of both Trump and presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden are more likely to hold their nose and vote for the former vice president than for the incumbent.

Exit polling on Election Day 2016 showed that voters who did not like either major party candidate ended up backing Trump over Hillary Clinton by a 17-point margin. With less than four months to go until Election Day 2020, Morning Consult's new poll shows Biden with a 29-point lead with the same group. Among the 43 percent who say they are undecided, Biden has a 19-point lead when they are forced to make a choice.

The group also feels more strongly about Trump than it does about Biden: 66 percent saying they have very unfavorable views of the president, while only 40 percent say the same about Biden. Again, this is only looking at voters who say they have unfavorable views of both.