In 2016, nearly one-fifth of the electorate didn't like either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, and exit polls showed Trump won that group of voters by a 17-point margin that easily could have accounted for his narrow wins in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
But according to newly released Quinnipiac University polling, this bloc of double-hater voters now prefers Joe Biden by a 27-point margin—an ominous sign for Trump.
That Quinnipiac poll also found Biden leading the horse race nationally by 15 points, along with an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll also released Thursday that gave Biden an 11-point margin. Those numbers aren't exactly good news for Trump either. In both polls, Biden made significant gains over the last month—rising seven points in the Q poll and four points in the NBC/WSJ poll.
The NBC/WSJ poll also showed that fully 72% of voters say the country is on the wrong track—the highest (i.e., worst) of Trump's presidency.
But if the Trump campaign has been planning on eking out a victory based on voters who don't particularly like either candidate, that doesn't seem to be in the cards. As the following Washington Post graphic shows, Biden is winning 95% of those who only view him favorably, and Trump is winning 97% of those who only view him favorably. But Biden has a 27-point advantage among those who don't view either favorably.
And if you're wondering how much those double-haters helped Trump in 2016, the Post's Philip Bump did a good analysis several months ago. The margins in the Rust Belt states alone were enough to tilt the states in his favor.
Several outlets have written recently about Trump's inability to settle on a single attack line against Biden. These Quinnipiac numbers also suggest Trump's efforts to drive up Biden's unfavorables are flailing.
Three-plus years into Trump's presidency, it turns out it's nearly impossible to make himself nominally more palatable to voters by simply driving his opponent's unfavorables into the stratosphere.