New York has always been thought of as an in-your-face sort of place, and yesterday's primary election ratified that status. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump both have far more people rating them negative than positive when asked about favorability. If New York plays the role of bellwether (an unusual status for that state), Americans will end up choosing between two widely-hated candidates when we vote for president.
In a year full of surprises, the triumph of the most-hated is perhaps the most paradoxical phenomenon. I think it must reflect the high level of ambient anger out there. And keep in mind that on the Democrats' side, it is not Hillary, but rather Bernie Sanders who is the embodiment of the anti-establishment anger that animates the Trump movement. Hillary's support is based on her status as the embodiment of Democrat orthodoxy, focused on Republicans rather than the Democrat establishment as the evil that must be fought.
Trump supporters hate both their own party establishment and the other party, probably with the inner-directed ire more powerful. Hillary supporters, in contrast, are other-directed in their ire. While there is no doubt a core of people who actually like their candidate, my suspicion is that the bulk of support for both of them is based on resentment of others.
So, we have candidates more widely disliked than liked by the general public, yet embraced by their own parties' voters in the Empire State. If both continue on their paths to the nomination, we are guaranteed to end up with a president who will take office as a widely-despised leader. Given the fact that the United States faces huge military and economic challenges, the difficulty we face in uniting behind our next leader must give comfort to our enemies and cold comfort to our patriots.
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