How on earth did this happen? It is a question many Americans are asking themselves when they look at the candidates for the 2016 presidential election. The decision between the presumptive Republican nominee, Donald Trump, and the Democratic front-runner, Hillary Clinton, is a choice that many people are not looking forward to making come this November.

A recent poll by ABC News shows that Clinton and Trump make up two of the most disliked presidential nominees ever. Hillary Clinton brings in 53 percent unfavorable rating and Donald Trump’s unfavorable rating is at an astonishing 60 percent. These ratings are setting historical records for our nomination system.Clinton is the first ever Democratic candidate or nominee to have an unfavorable rating over 50 percent. And while there have been a handful of Republican candidates that had similar or higher ratings than Trump none of them were ever in serious contention for the White House. Trump has the highest unfavorable rating of any major party nominee ever.

So how is it that the two people vying for the most important job in our country are strongly disliked by over half of our population? I believe one reason for this is the widening gap between the two political parties in America. This is evident in our Congress where some representatives would rather let our government completely shut down, as it did in October of 2013, than reach across the aisle to work together.

This boils over to everyday people who are exposed to nasty attack ads aimed at discrediting challenging candidates and making political races about “us versus them” instead of “who best represents my ideals and beliefs". The gap among the parties is widened even further by TV and radio personalities that personally attack anyone who goes against their own belief system. They use words like “conservative” and “liberal” as insults to push the idea that if you don't follow that particular party’s beliefs then, well, you’re an idiot.

However, you cannot entirely blame the peoples’ disdain of our two candidates solely on our sour political climate. The candidates haven't done much to help themselves either. Trump does himself no favors by standing on stage and mocking other candidates calling them by obnoxious nicknames that he has made up. It also doesn't help when he offends (intentionally or unintentionally) large groups of Americans he refuses to acknowledge that what he says could possibly be offensive. His larger than life and I don’t give a care personality may have won him the primary but also may cost him the election.

Clinton, on the other hand, just gives off the air that she really cannot be trusted. Almost everything she says seems very insincere which isn't unusual for someone who has been a part of the federal government for such a long time since it tends to make people seem untrustworthy and disconnected by many people. Clinton has also done herself no favors as her email scandal is growing to be a much bigger issue than she ever let on that it was.

So how did we end up with these two strongly disliked candidates running for the most important job in the world? I think that part of the answer lies in our far from perfect primary systems. But it also can be found in the state of politics in our country. Trump is a response to the political correctness movement and other radical left movements in our country. These movements are easily visible on many college campuses and political events across our country. Trump is the no nonsense candidate who will never bend to anyone and promises to “Make America Great Again”. Trump is the response from a large group of voters that believe that these movements only represent a fringe of the populations’ beliefs.

As for Clinton, many just believe that it is her turn for the presidency. She is undeniably qualified and being the first women president would be a huge historical milestone but is all of that more important than her like-ability and trustworthiness?

However this election ends up playing out it will no doubt make for an entertaining fall but still the thought of a President Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton will sit uneasy on a majority of Americans’ minds.