Nicholas held his nose and voted for Joe Biden in 2020 just to dump Donald Trump out of power.
‘I normally don’t vote for Democratic candidates,’ he said. ‘I knew he would not be the greatest president. But I felt that that was the only way to remove Donald Trump … to get Donald Trump out.’
The graduate student says he will do the same next year if the choice on the ballot is between one candidate who has, in his words, done ‘stupid’ things at home and abroad, and another candidate who is simply ‘dangerous.’
He is one of the ‘double disapprovers:’ Voters who don’t want a rerun of the 2020 election and would rather face a fresh choice.
They will likely decide who wins in 2024. Polls suggest that almost one in six voters want neither Biden or Trump to win a second term. That’s about 23 million people.
Pollster James Johnson took a trip around Georgia’s ‘swing country’ interviewing voters
Graduate student Nicholas voted for Biden in 2020 just to keep Trump out. And he’ll likely do the same thing again next time around. Not that he cares much for Biden anyway
Armed with that data, pollster James Johnson set off on a road trip across Georgia, one of the key swing states that will decide the outcome.
He interviewed seven voters in two counties that voted for Biden in 2020 but which also backed the re-election of the state’s Republican governor, Brian Kemp, last year.
‘2024 is shaping up to be the election no one wants – but that voters suspect they will probably end up with anyway,’ said Johnson, co-founder of J.L. Partners.
‘The voters I spoke to in Georgia were utterly despondent at the idea of a Trump-Biden rematch which they felt summed up the worst aspects of America and its politics.
‘They yearn for “more love, less anger” and a “Christmas truce” for America, but they know deep-down they will be getting the divisions that both candidates bring along with them.
He used standard focus group techniques to find them, trawling voting records to find registered voters and then contacting 5000 people before screening them down to seven.
Nicholas, who lives in Milledgeville, the county seat of Baldwin County is typical. He split his 2020 vote, choosing Biden for president but a Republican senator over his Democratic challenger.
A second Trump term would be one of turmoil, impeachments, and revenge, he said.
‘I don’t want Donald Trump back in office. Trump is a disgrace to this country,’ he added. ‘Joe Biden may also be a disgrace to this country by the time he’s finished, but you know that the jury is still out on that.’
The polls show a similar pattern. An average maintained by statistics site FiveThirtyEight has Biden’s approval well underwater: Only 39 percent of respondents said he was doing a good job, compared with 56 who said he was performing poorly.
The same goes for Trump. Some 53 percent said they had an unfavorable opinion of the former president, while 43 percent said they had a favorable impression.
Gabriel: Trump is ‘the a**hole’
Gabriel, 23, lives in Tenille, Georgia. He voted Trump in 2020 but likes Vivek Ramaswamy now
A recent New York Times/Siena College poll of swing states showed Trump with a six-point lead over Biden in Georgia. But the big winner is apathy, says pollster James Johnson
Gabriel, 23, identifies as biracial, and grew up with his African-American grandmother. His black father is in prison and his mother is a drug addict.
He voted for Trump in 2020 because he liked the idea that his business mindset would shake up vested interests in Washington, D.C. But by the end of his time in office he wasn’t so sure.
‘Trump is the a**hole,’ said the Tenille resident. ‘He would say the messed up stuff. I wasn’t 100 percent for him.’
Although he thinks the former president has learned since losing office, he prefers biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy this time around.
African-Americans have tired of Biden, he added. Most will stay with the Democratic candidate, he said, but enough will switch to perhaps influence the election.
But people are now seeing that Democrat ways don’t help,’ he said. ‘And that Donald Trump actually did more to help them out than what the Democrats claim to do.
‘They’re waking up.’
Johnson said that African-Americans make up a third of Georgia’s population and their turnout would likely predict who carries the Peach State.
‘Their enthusiasm for Biden is very low, and some black and biracial voters told me that the left-wing extremes of the Democrat Party are turning them away and towards Trump,’ he said.
‘There’s little doubt that Biden would win big again with African Americans overall but just a small decline in how much they turn out to vote – or even the most minor shift to Trump – would put the race firmly in Republican territory. For now apathy rules the day in Georgia, and that helps Trump in this most unsavory of match-ups.’
Christy – Biden is a ‘placeholder’
Christy voted for Biden in 2020 and will likely do the same again in 2024, but without huge enthusiasm. She would prefer the chance to vote for Stacey Abrams, who was the first African-American female major-party gubernatorial nominee in the nation when she ran in Georgia
Today’s Republican and Democratic parties are not so far apart, said Christy, a middle-aged state employee, who sees vested interested at work.
Things won’t change until ordinary people are voted into positions of power.
‘I’m not sure, if we don’t do something about it, how well this country is going to do in the next 100 years,’ she said. ‘Or if we’ll be this country in 100 years.’
She said she would vote for Biden this time around just as she did in 2020, but without great enthusiasm.
‘He’s a placeholder,’ she said, the sort of leader who operates in the background.
‘He came in after Trump. And I don’t think he was the person to do it. You needed a stronger candidate than him and we didn’t get one.
‘In part because he is older. And part because he seems like more of a background player all the time.’
Frank – Trump was the best and the worst
Frank voted for Trump in 2020. Now he thinks he will vote for a third-party candidate
‘I thought it was, on one hand, one of the best presidencies of my life, because Trump somehow basically was able to do the economic turnaround,’ said Frank, a teacher in Milledgeville.
‘But on the other hand, one of the worst presidencies of my life, because at that point, everything seemed like there was this huge split because of the intense hatred against him.
Everything is on the one hand or the other, for an archetypal independent voter.
Neither of the likely choices excites him this time around. Both Biden and Trump, he said, divide the nation making it hard to get things done.
He is crossing his fingers that Trump does not get the nomination.
‘I wish there was somebody else with a little bit less ego, and a little bit smaller mouth, or a little bit more control over his mouth, that held to the same type of policies, but was a little bit more dignified,’ he said.
Sen. Tim Scott, who announced he was withdrawing from the Republican primary race after a poor third debate showing, would have been his pick.
Eric – Biden has been a ‘disaster as president’
Biden has been a ‘disaster as a president,’ said local college professor Eric
Eric, a professor at the local college, voted for Trump last time but really does not want him to have to vote for him 2024. That’s not because of any great love for Biden.
‘I don’t buy into conspiracy theories, or at least certainly try not to, but it’s kind of hard not to believe some things when he seems to not know what he’s saying half the time,’ he explained.
‘So I think he’s been a disaster as a president.’
If it is a choice between Trump and Biden then he would have to go with Trump. But he hopes that is not the final choice on the ballot.
He would be happier if Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis could turn his campaign around and win the nomination.
‘He seems to have a lot of the same policies and courage the Trump did without the Trump personality and juvenile behavior,’ he said. ‘He’s someone who actually seems to know how to comport himself.’
Joseph: Biden is ‘not a Bill Clinton’
Even traditional Democrats like Joseph, a military veteran, can’t be counted on for 2024
Joseph, a 53-year-old veteran, counts himself as a Democrat. But he said Biden compared poorly with the last two Democratic presidents, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.
‘He’s definitely not a Bill Clinton. You know, everybody loved Bill Clinton,’ he said at the veterans home where he works in Milledgville.
‘I’m so glad we have a Democrat in the White House. But you know, I didn’t throw Biden bumper stickers on my cars.’
Maybe it’s age but he added that he has gradually withdrawn from politics. He’s not much of a fan of Biden and his enthusiasm for Kamala Harris has died.
‘But even the last few years, you know, I have stopped going to meetings,’ he said.
‘And the only reason I can come up with is just, you know, I’m just getting older and I guess I’m wanting to spend my time sitting on my sofa with my dog.