BUFFALO, N.Y. — Donald Trump and Joe Biden are the presumptive Republican and Democratic nominees for the 2024 presidential election. And those names don’t inspire a lot of confidence for many Americans.

That group of voters that doesn’t like either main-party candidate in an election has been dubbed "the double haters."

“I'm terrified no matter who wins,” said Wendy Lankton of Buffalo.

“It's really just, which ones do you hate the least,” added Wheatfield resident Bill Bilson.

This population is nothing new. Just ask University at Buffalo political science associate professor Jacob Neiheisel.

“We've always talked about picking the lesser of two evils,” he said. 

This presidential election and that population is bigger than usual.

“We have a lot of different indicators of polarization on the rise and it's at a relatively speaking high point," Neiheisel explained. "All of those things suggest that we're kind of in for a difficult campaign season.”

Spectrum News 1 Buffalo hit the streets to see what voters think.

“We don't have many solid options,” said Bilson.

He's one of the undecided.

“I actually have bowed out of the politics situation,” he laughed. "Feels like everything's just gonna end up the way it is."

While the double haters likely won’t greatly impact New York, people are keeping an eye on what happens elsewhere.

“If there's a huge chunk of people that are so angry and negative and disenchanted that they don't vote at all, that can really change results,” added Lankton.

They have some ideas on what might change minds.

“Immigration certainly is a big one,” said Buffalo resident Dennis Hinterberger.

“I think the big ones are gonna be crime and abortion,” said Lankton.

Whether the issues or current events will sway voters is up in the air.

“Which way am I going to go at that point? Who knows," said Bilson. "Will I go third party? Will I actually go with one of the main candidates? I don't know.”

There aren't many demographics that set the double haters apart, but according to a Monmouth University poll, they do tend to skew younger. Some 27% of those under 35 don’t like Trump or Biden. It’s 16% in those ages 35 to 54, and down to 10% for those 55 and older.

“It's hard to say what the double haters are going to do,” said Neiheisel.

In 2016, the number of double haters was similar, but Trump took that population, and the win. In 2020, Biden won the double haters, but their numbers were lower, according to exit polls.

However, they’re not the end all be all.

“They tend to be expensive, right? The cheap ones to get are people who are already supportive of you," Neiheisel explained. "In 2012, Barack Obama lost independents by a bit, but ended up getting such a huge chunk of Democrats that it didn't matter.”

Neiheisel says we’re far out enough that people might say they won't vote for either candidate, but as we get closer to Election Day, that will likely change.

“We know that low 90% of partisans come home. So if they have a party idea at all, they're going to vote it," he said. "Even though they're going to say things in polls like 'really, I don't like either one.'”

While there are third-party candidates, polls show that a small percentage of double haters would actually vote for them.