US polls enter crucial leg after complex selection process

The electoral fight between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton has captured international attention, with American media describing the heated 2016 presidential election as the most unconventional in the country's history.

Both candidates have set records for unpopularity and have emerged as the most hated US presidential hopefuls ever. For instance, a Pew poll conducted last month showed widespread disenchantment towards this year's presidential contest among American voters.

According to the poll, as many as 57 per cent of voters said they are frustrated and 55 per cent said they were disgusted with the campaign, dwarfing 31 per cent who said they are interested, 15 per cent who said they are optimistic and 10 per cent who said they are excited for the November 8 showdown.

Traditionally, a fair number of supporters on either side express negative opinions about the other party's candidate, but the latest poll found that a majority of voters express negative feelings about both leading candidates, the blistering negativity bruising both candidates.

This presidential election saw a campaign in which sober policy discussion has been drowned by personal insults and base offensives.

Both Clinton and Trump are among the oldest general election candidates in US history. If Trump wins the election, it will make him the oldest newly-elected president in US history – Ronald Reagan was just about 70 years old when he was elected to office in 1981. If Clinton wins, it will make her, at 69, the second oldest behind Reagan.

Leading think-tank the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) described the presidential nominating process in the US as one of the most complex, lengthy, and expensive in the World.

Several candidates jump into the fray almost a year before the primaries and begin their campaigning informally in early-voting states like Iowa and New Hampshire.

The series of presidential primary elections and caucuses took place between February and June 2016, staggered among the 50 states, the District of Columbia and US territories. This nominating process was also an indirect election, where voters cast ballots for a slate of delegates to a political party's nominating convention, who in turn, elect their party's presidential nominee.