INDEPENDENCE, Ohio ― A focus group of undecided Ohio voters are disgusted by both major party presidential candidates and are demanding a third option ― a stable person who possesses strong moral fiber.
Republican public opinion guru Frank Luntz convened the group of 27 voters Sunday in a suburb of Cleveland, the host of the GOP convention this week. That panel said they would rather vote for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney or former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
In one poll, presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton received seven votes, presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump received two and Romney received 18. Romney ruled out a bid earlier this year, despite a late push by the #NeverTrump movement. So, too, did Bloomberg.
The focus group was near unanimous in its distaste for both Clinton and Trump. They described the brash real estate mogul with words like “intolerant,” “greedy,” mean-spirited,” “fascist,” “outrageous,” “a dumpster fire,” “narcissist,” “media whore,” “unstable,” “repulsive” and “bat shit crazy.”
The former secretary of state, meanwhile, was “dishonest,” “not trustworthy” “a serial fabulist,” “insular, “power hungry,” “corrupt,” “the establishment,” “entitled,” “greedy,” “dishonest,” “self-centered,” “an opportunist,” “a washed-up has-been” and “a fascist.”
Their attitudes reflect the latest national polling on the race, making Clinton and Trump the least liked major party presidential candidates in modern political history.
Every time the image of Trump or Clinton was projected on a television screen in the room, opinion among the group, which the participants registered by turning a dial, nosedived. Speaking to reporters following the panel, Luntz described the two candidates as “their own worst spokespeople.”
Several voters on the panel had good words for Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, Trump’s recently announced vice presidential running mate. They described the governor as a “good American country boy” who could help “balance out [Trump’s] outrageous behavior” and “tone him down.” Others were more skeptical, however, saying that the Indiana governor was “not going to be able to control Trump.”
More broadly, the attitude of both the 17 Republicans and 10 Democrats who participated in the focus group could be summed up as plain fed up with their choices this year, the political system that enabled the candidates, and ― most of all ― the reviled media covering it all.
“The American people are tired of voting for the lesser of two evils,” said one Republican voter, summing up the story of the 2016 election.
Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims ― 1.6 billion members of an entire religion ― from entering the U.S.
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