Source: Aljazeera

Feelings of frustration, disgust and fear are mounting among US voters, a poll has found, as many Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump supporters say their presidential choice is driven by a dislike of the other candidate.

The Pew Research Center survey, which was released on Wednesday, found that far more respondents felt frustrated (57 percent), disgusted (55 percent) or scared (43 percent) than interested (31 percent), optimistic (15 percent) or excited (only 10 percent).

Trump and Clinton supporters expressed similar levels of frustration, 55 percent and 53 percent respectively, and differed little in their feelings of disgust, 53 percent and 48 percent.

According to the poll, 33 percent of Trump supporters said the main reason for supporting the Republican candidate is that “he is not Clinton”, while 32 percent of Democrat Clinton supporters back her because “she is not Trump”.

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The same percentage of Clinton supporters also listed her political experience as the main reason to vote for her, while 27 percent of Trump’s supporters chose him because he is a political outsider they believe will bring change, according to the poll.

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The research centre said that it characterised the views expressed as signs of “a negative campaign”.

“Majorities of Americans describe themselves as ‘frustrated’ and ‘disgusted’ with the campaign, while few declare themselves ‘interested’, ‘optimistic’ or ‘excited’. And these negative takes have only become more widespread over the course of the summer,” Pew said in its report on the survey.

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