As we have previously discussed, this election has become a hate fest as both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton who seem to be trying to get people to vote against their opponent rather than vote for them. These remain the two least popular candidates in the history of presidential politics. It is a bizarre campaign as Republicans selected the only person who could lose to Clinton and Democrats selected the only person who could lose to Trump. In the meantime, a recent poll shows that Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders now stands as the most popular politician in the United States. If Clinton loses today, many are likely to blame DNC officials in pushing Clinton over Sanders who might have not only won the White House but swept Congress. Clinton is still favored to win but the popularity of Sanders raises the question of whether he was the crossover candidate that both parties were seeking. Of course, he has not been the target of attacks in this general election, which has left his image strongly positive. However, it is remarkable that we now have elections between people who are viewed negatively as dishonest or untrustworthy by 60 percent of voters.

While Obama’s favorable ratings have risen to his highest numbers in 45 months, Sanders is still above him. More importantly, he is 10 points higher than Hillary Clinton’s and 19 points higher than those of Donald Trump.

The question is how a hate-focused campaign can get voters out of bed and in line for hours. This is why I previously called this the “Game of Thrones election” and quoted Sandor “The Hound” Clegane, “Hate’s as good a thing as any to keep a person going. Better than most.”