throughout the tumultuous and unpredictable 2016 presidential campaign, one thing has been constant: voters have been seething with frustration over the state of american politics. as election day approaches, they are even more disgusted than ever, after a protracted campaign that descended to new depths of vulgarity and vitriol . consider the scene in eau claire, wis., on a recent fall day. taunts flew across police barricades lining a street, with thousands of donald trump supporters on one side waiting to get into a rally for the republican nominee and hundreds of anti-trump protesters on the other. <u+201c>it worries me. there is too much ugliness on both sides,<u+201d> said soren staff, a 25-year-old hillary clinton supporter who stood behind one barricade. <u+201c>eau claire has never been a really divided place. we<u+2019>re usually wisconsin nice.<u+201d> capital journal is wsj.com<u+2019>s home for election 2016 news. a trump supporter on the other side of the street expressed a similar sentiment. <u+201c>i<u+2019>m ready for the campaign to be over,<u+201d> said drew suttles, 22, who was in line for the trump rally. <u+201c>it has brought out a lot of bad things. you<u+2019>re sitting in a bar and people start arguing. people don<u+2019>t respect your opinion.<u+201d> the 2016 election was supposed to be about change. but regardless of who wins the white house, congress is likely to remain narrowly divided between the parties and prone to gridlock. even if democrats win control of the senate, winning a house majority as well is a long shot. view interactive if mr. trump wins, he will have done so without the full support of republicans in congress , many of whom ran away from him. if mrs. clinton wins, she will face a senate where many members will have saved their seats by promising to serve as a <u+201c>check<u+201d> on her presidency, meaning their mandate will be to oppose rather than work with her. yet, after nearly two years of political battle, the campaign may have changed the country, leaving it more polarized and intolerant of opposing views than when the campaign started. <u+201c>every negative feeling people had going into this election has been amplified,<u+201d> said peter wehner, a former white house adviser to george w. bush. <u+201c>it<u+2019>s been ugly and mindless, primarily because of trump but not exclusively. by the time [the new president] is elected and inaugurated, the public will be exhausted.<u+201d> even so, voters have been riveted by the 2016 campaign<u+2014>if only in the way rubberneckers gaze at a car crash. television<u+2019>s nielsen ratings soared for candidate debates throughout the primaries. the audience for the first clinton-trump debate was record breaking , more than 80 million viewers, making it the most watched political showdown in u.s. history. primary-election turnout for both parties was strong. but the campaign has taken a toll, with many voters doubtful that either candidate will be able to unify the country. some worry the campaign will diminish the country<u+2019>s standing in the world. <u+201c>i<u+2019>m so embarrassed by the vitriol and vituperation,<u+201d> said wayne anderson, a retiree waiting to get into the trump rally in eau claire. <u+00a0><u+201c>i<u+2019>m embarrassed by the candidates, calling each other names. i<u+2019>ve been on every continent in the world and i know people are laughing at us.<u+201d> mr. anderson said he will be voting for mr. trump, but about half of his motivation is his opposition to mrs. clinton. he is part of an electorate with a historically high number of voters who are <u+201c>nose-holders<u+201d><u+2014>people who have negative feelings about both candidates. in past elections, most voters have been willing to move on after the election and accept the victory of a rival. even in the bitter 2000 fight between democrat al gore and republican george w. bush, two-thirds of voters said the week after the contested election that they were comfortable with mr. gore if he won and prepared to support him as the new president; more than two-thirds said that about mr. bush, according to wall street journal/nbc news polls. the campaign has the potential to poison personal relationships as well.<u+00a0> a pew research center poll found that 4 in 10 trump supporters said they had a hard time respecting people who support mrs. clinton. there was even more hostility among clinton supporters: nearly 6 in 10 said they had a hard time respecting trump backers. <u+201c>i don<u+2019>t want to think about it,<u+201d> bill mills, a clinton supporter on the protest side of the eau claire street, said about the prospect of a trump victory. meanwhile, trump supporters say a clinton victory would be hard to swallow. his backers have been hearing for weeks a campaign message that casts doubt on the legitimacy of a clinton victory if she wins. mr. trump alleges, without evidence, that the election system is <u+201c>rigged<u+201d> and accuses mrs. clinton of being a <u+201c>criminal<u+201d> who shouldn<u+2019>t have been allowed to run for president. <u+201c>there will be demonstrations, a lot of protests, rallies whenever she is in town,<u+201d> said cindy nicolosi, 70, a retired banker from delaware, ohio, who attended a trump rally in her hometown in october. <u+201c>i won<u+2019>t listen to her. when she comes on tv, i will turn it off.<u+201d> even fellow republicans are worried that mr. trump won<u+2019>t be able to unify the country because it will be hard to build bridges to those who didn<u+2019>t vote for him. <u+201c>trump is not a unifier,<u+201d> said paula dockery, a former republican member of the florida state senate who supported ohio gov. john kasich. <u+201c>he is going to have a tough time governing.<u+201d> but if mr. trump doesn<u+2019>t win, the republican party will have a hard time holding on to voters like russ price, a trump supporter from walled lake, mich., who has been dismayed by the party<u+2019>s failure to bring major changes after winning control of the house in 2010 and the senate majority in 2014. <u+201c>i was done with the republican party until trump came along,<u+201d> said mr. price. <u+201c>if trump doesn<u+2019>t win, i<u+2019>m done with the republican party.<u+201d> democrats, for their part, face losing voters like mike albert of lake worth, fla., who backed sen. bernie sanders in the primary and is now supporting mr. trump. <u+201c>i will definitely be changing my registration,<u+201d> said mr. albert. <u+201c>whether you like donald trump or not, he has brought a tremendous amount of attention to politics and corruption.<u+201d> a majority of sanders supporters rallied behind mrs. clinton , polls show, but many will continue to agitate for more change if she is elected. <u+201c>we need to keep mobilized,<u+201d> said megan e. green, a st. louis alderwoman who was a sanders delegate at the democratic convention. one of the biggest casualties of the negative 2016 election may be to discourage young people who are participating in their first presidential campaign. <u+201c>for many young voters, this was their first experience in politics, and it was not positive,<u+201d> said ms. green. but she held out hope that it will be motivation, not discouragement, for former sanders supporters to remain involved. <u+201c>hopefully,<u+201d> she said, <u+201c>that will give them energy to keep fighting, since we were close, rather than retreating altogether.<u+201d> write to janet hook at janet.hook@wsj.com
an early result of election 2016: angry voters  - wsj
janet hook