--- title: Why We don't Know who will vote description: A historically high share of the American electorate dislike both nominees of the major parties and that will change the way people vote. canonical: https://time.com/4542340/why-we-dont-know-who-will-vote/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-24T15:02:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T01:22:09.209Z article:section: Politics og:title: Why We don't Know who will vote og:description: A historically high share of the American electorate dislike both nominees of the major parties and that will change the way people vote. og:url: https://time.com/4542340/why-we-dont-know-who-will-vote/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb24c27fcf0ec0da8/6986837dcd6848a30809364f/morning-must-reads1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Morning Must Reads og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why We don't Know who will vote twitter:description: A historically high share of the American electorate dislike both nominees of the major parties and that will change the way people vote. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb24c27fcf0ec0da8/6986837dcd6848a30809364f/morning-must-reads1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why We Don't Know Who Will Vote > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Oct 24, 2016 3:02 PM UTC  The early morning sun rises behind the US Capitol Building in Washington, DC. The early morning sun rises behind the US Capitol Building in Washington, DC. Mark Wilson—Getty Images by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Oct 24, 2016 3:02 PM UTC **_If you only read one thing:_** _You’ve read and heard commentary for months about how this election features the two most historically disliked nominees in history—and that’s really changing the way people vote. (Some polls have it as #1 and #3 now as Hillary Clinton’s numbers have inched up somewhat, but the following stands.) While a majority of Americans like their preferred candidates, a historically high share of the electorate dislikes both. Republican pollster Ed Goeas put it this way, “In a normal year 25 percent of the American people like both candidates, and about 2-3% are what I call cynics, and dislike both. This year those numbers are reversed, give or take a few percentage points.” What that means is that there is a lot of uncertainty over how that historically large vote share will cast their ballots (though recent polls show a clear trend toward Clinton) and even whether they will bother showing up. At an even more fundamental level, it’s why this election will be won by voters against the loser, rather than “for” the winner._ The newly announced AT&T-Time Warner merger is drawing scrutiny from both presidential nominees in a year of populist awakenings. Donald Trump on Saturday said he would oppose the merger, and also pledged to try to break up other media conglomerates like Comcast/NBCUniversal—in part as retribution for their news divisions’ reporting that has put him on the defensive. Clinton, meanwhile, said she wanted the deal subjected to significant regulatory scrutiny. Trump’s Saturday speech was supposed to lay out his 100-day plan, but for the first 15 minutes, not only did he wage war on the press, but he promised to sue the now-11 women who have come forward with accusations against him of sexual assault or harassment. Trump’s campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, seemed to indicate in interviews Sunday she was unaware that he had planned to make that threat. Obama steps up his efforts to help Democrats down-ballot. A Facebook c0-founder spends big against Trump. And what a Trump rally clash reveals about a divided nation. _Here are your must reads:_ **Must Reads** [Kaine Says Clinton Will Try to Work With GOP ](https://apnews.com/d50e28d0817f414589ba36c28c8b94ca/AP-Interview:-Kaine-says-Clinton-will-try-to-work-with-GOP)Democrats look beyond Election Day \[Associated Press\] [A Constellation of Influencers: Behind the Curtain at Teneo ](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/23/business/a-constellation-of-influencers-behind-the-curtain-at-teneo.html?%5Fr=0)Clinton allies in conflicted role \[New York Times\] [Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton Skeptical Of AT&T, Time Warner Merger ](http://time.com/4542040/att-time-warner-merger-clinton-trump/)Lawmakers are increasingly concerned about mega mergers, TIME’s Haley Sweetland Edwards reports [Donald Trump Says He Will Sue Sexual Misconduct Accusers ](http://time.com/4541780/donald-trump-threatens-lawsuit-against-accusers/)Law Experts Have Doubts \[TIME\] [How Mega-Donors Helped Raise $1 Billion for Hillary Clinton ](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-mega-donors-helped-raise-1-billion-for-hillary-clinton/2016/10/22/a92a0ee2-9603-11e6-bb29-bf2701dbe0a3%5Fstory.html)Clinton lifted Obama-era restrictions on donors \[Washington Post\] [Obama to Endorse 30 More House Candidates ](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/obama-endorse-house-candidates-2016-230219)Steps up down-ballot efforts \[Politico\] **Sound Off** “This guy has spent all his time simply trying to obstruct, to feed the same sentiments that resulted in Donald Trump becoming their nominee. I think somebody called Darrell Issa … Trump before Trump, and now is sending out brochures touting his cooperation with me. That is shameless.” — President Obama stumping for House Democratic candidates Sunday “Frankly, a lot of people lack my sense of humor.” — Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway to CNN on her tweets that seemed to share criticism of her candidate **Bits and Bites** [Eleventh Woman Accuses Trump of Sexual Misconduct](http://time.com/4541817/donald-trump-jessica-drake/) \[TIME\] [Clinton Ally Aided Campaign of FBI Official’s Wife](http://www.wsj.com/articles/clinton-ally-aids-campaign-of-fbi-officials-wife-1477266114) \[Wall Street Journal\] [Joe Biden Wishes He Could Take Donald Trump ‘Behind the Gym’](http://time.com/4541405/joe-biden-take-donald-trump-behind-gym/) \[TIME\] [Donald Trump’s Lawyers Want to Bar His Campaign Comments From Trump University Trial](http://time.com/4541275/donald-trump-university-lawsuit-motion/) \[Associated Press\] [Donald Trump Targets Michelle Obama as Hillary Clinton Ramps Up Attacks](http://time.com/4541516/hillary-clinton-attacks-donald-trump-khan/) \[TIME\] [Weird Al Yankovic Moderates Fiery Auto-Tuned Version of the Final Presidential Debate](http://time.com/4540529/weird-al-yankovic-auto-tuned-final-presidential-debate/) \[TIME\] [Al Smith V Says Donald Trump ‘Took It a Little Too Far’ at Catholic Charity Roast](http://time.com/4540681/donald-trump-alfred-smith-roast/) \[TIME\] [‘Not a Regular Day’: What a Trump Rally Clash Reveals About a Divided Nation](https://time.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=3820169&action=edit) \[New York Times\] [Khizr Khan, Father of Fallen Muslim-American Soldier, Attacks Donald Trump in New Hillary Clinton Campaign Ad](http://time.com/4540867/khizr-khan-ad-hillary-clinton/) \[TIME\] [Black Jeopardy with Tom Hanks](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7VaXlMvAvk) \[Saturday Night Live\] [Facebook co-founder drops unprecedented cash to stop Trump](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/facebook-co-founder-drops-unprecedented-cash-to-stop-trump-230201) \[Politico\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4542340/why-we-dont-know-who-will-vote/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4542340/why-we-dont-know-who-will-vote/"},"headline":"Why We Don't Know Who Will Vote","datePublished":"2016-10-24T15:02:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T01:22:09.209Z","description":"Morning Must Reads: October 24","url":"https://time.com/4542340/why-we-dont-know-who-will-vote/","keywords":["Morning Must Reads"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb24c27fcf0ec0da8/6986837dcd6848a30809364f/morning-must-reads1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zeke Miller","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb24c27fcf0ec0da8/6986837dcd6848a30809364f/morning-must-reads1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Morning Must Reads","caption":"Capitol","creditText":"Mark Wilson—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4542340/why-we-dont-know-who-will-vote/","name":"Why We Don't Know Who Will Vote"}}]}] ```