AMERICA goes to the polls on Tuesday in what has been the most divisive election campaign in a generation.
There are so many ways in which America is now almost perfectly divided. Some polls put support from African-Americans for Donald Trump as low as two per cent, with Hillary polling an impressive 92 per cent.
Hillary Clinton’s support among Latinos has also soared in recent weeks with as many as seven in ten voting for her in early polling.
And, for obvious reasons, the split between the genders is the greatest it has ever been. Gender usually splits fairly evenly along party lines. But this year the Republican candidate has, at times trailed Hillary Clinton among women voters by an astounding 21 points (as the race has tightened, this has been reduced to a nine-point lead).
On the flip side, Donald Trump has polled 66 per cent support among white males. And he enjoys an astounding 28 point lead among rural voters.
So is there anything that both sides can agree upon?
It turns out there is. You might remember in the closing moments of the third Presidential debate a couple of weeks ago, Donald Trump accused Hillary Clinton of being “such a nasty woman”.
In the wake of those comments, we went to a Trump rally in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and asked Trump loyalists whether they agreed with his assessment of the former First Lady. Everyone we talked to there agreed that Clinton was a nasty woman. Some were very keen to elaborate at great length on why.
The next day, we took the same question to a rally for Hillary Clinton about an hour down the road in Pittsburgh. As it turns out, Clinton supporters are also inclined to believe that Hillary is a “nasty woman”. In fact, many of them sported badges and hats declaring their solidarity with their favourite “nasty woman”.
Hillary Clinton’s supporters are proud of her being ‘nasty’. They say it’s how she gets stuff done. Picture: AP Photo / Steven SenneSource:AP
It turns out the only thing every American can agree on is that Hillary is nasty. But they disagree whether being nasty is a good or bad. For Hilary detractors, the ruthlessness that she has brought to thirty years of public life disqualifies her for the job. For her supporters, it is those same qualities that make her eminently qualified and shows she is able to get things done in a man’s world.
As one Hillary supporter put it when asked why Donald had called her nasty: “Because Donald Trump can’t stand to lose to a woman.”
So even though Donald Trump has been blamed for dividing America in this election, he can take comfort that his comments about Hillary being nasty has brought both sides of politics together.
Watch the full video above.
The Chaser’s Charles Firth and James Schloeffel are currently in the USA on the campaign trail. You can catch all their antics over the coming weeks at www.chaser.news and news.com.au.