CHRIS CRUCIAL: Sick of the election? You're not alone! 🤒

PLUS: The Ohio ballot glitch is fixed

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1. Is it over yet?

The 2024 election is 161 days away. That’s five months and eight days. But, who’s counting!

Apparently, a lot of people. Because they are already very, very sick of seeing and hearing about it.

Here’s a data point from a new Pew poll that tells that story vividly:

SIX in ten people say that they are “worn out by so much coverage of the campaign and candidates.” And it’s not even the end of May yet!

This is ahead of where people in past campaigns have reported being tired of the campaign and the coverage. As Pew notes:

This is similar to the share of Americans who said they felt worn out at later points in the last two presidential election years. In June and July 2016, 59% of Americans said they felt worn out, and in October 2020, 61% felt this way.

If you take a step back, this makes sense. We have a current president and a former president running against one another. Both are totally known commodities. Neither are well liked. Majorities of the public have been telling pollsters for months that they wished there were other options from which to choose.

Despite that fact, neither Joe Biden nor Donald Trump wound up facing a serious fight for their party’s nomination. The competitive primary season ended earlier than ever before — meaning that the general election was always going to be a long slog.

And we are right in the heart of that slog. School is finishing up around the country. People are ready for the summer — and their vacation plans. The thought of more politics isn’t something that they want to contemplate.

So, it makes sense. The real question is who does it help? And who does it hurt?