Trump Vs Hillary: Polls Show That Americans Will Choose 'Lesser of Two Evils'

It is one of those expectation-versus-reality moments when one might think that Americans are picking their president amongst the most well-versed, charismatic and upstanding politicians the nation has to offer when in fact on November 8, 2016, US voters will have to choose "the less hated" candidate, as political analyst Gevorg Mirzayan put it.

This is hardly surprising taking into account that both Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump have registered record negative ratings in what some believe has been the "dirtiest" election campaign in the US history.

"Essentially, Americans are not choosing the one who is better, but the lesser of two evils," Mirzayan wrote for RIA Novosti. "Both campaign HQs understand that the candidate, who will win, will not be the smartest and the most charismatic, but rather the one who will be less hated."

This is why PR experts on both sides have focused all of their efforts on discrediting either Hillary or Trump, with each new scandal reflected in poll numbers, he added. These fluctuations might seem insignificant, but they could have game-changing implications in states like Florida with its 29 electoral votes. If it does not seem like much, consider this: this is more than 10 percent of the votes needed to win on Tuesday.

Hillary took a hit in the polls in mid-September, when the former US secretary of state abruptly left a 9/11 ceremony in New York and cancelled several other campaign events due to pneumonia. On September 11, 2016, Clinton had 46 percent of the vote, with Trump trailing with 42.9 percent. Six days later, Hillary's lead in the polls decreased to 1 percent – 44.9 percent versus 43.9% for the New York billionaire.

"Perhaps, unaffiliated voters would have picked the Democrat when choosing between 'less hideous Hillary' and 'more hideous Trump,' however, their choice was obvious when the formula changed to a healthy candidate versus an unhealthy one," Mirzayan of Moscow-based Financial University noted.

September might have been a challenging month for Clinton, but October proved to be a tough month for Trump, with poor debate performance and a scandalous recording of Trump saying explicit things about women that the real estate mogul tried to dismiss as a "locker room talk." His support slipped from 45 percent on October 2 to 41.4 percent on October 14 due to the former, while the latter prompted some Republicans to call on Trump to withdraw from the race.

Trump VS Clinton: US Presidential Nominees Ratings

© Sputnik

By the end of October, it seemed that Trump had reached a point of no return and become unelectable, but it was too early to open Champagne in the Democratic camp. Last week, Hillary's email demons came back to haunt her when FBI Director James Comey said that the agency would reopen an investigation into Clinton's handling of confidential information and her use of a private email server while she headed the US State Department.

Although the agency has not said whether Clinton has done anything wrong, the FBI decision itself has apparently changed the minds of some voters, with Trump's support rising from 42.5 percent on October 29 to 45.3 percent on November 2.

Americans "have once again shifted their view on who is the lesser evil. Who should they vote for – radical Trump or Hillary who could go behind bars prior to inauguration?" Mirzayan asked.