Though Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump appear headed for a general election face-off, a majority of Americans don't favor either candidate. Poll shows both Clinton and Trump with unfavorable ratings above 50 percent. Numbers that high are unprecedented, as Washington, D.C. bureau reporter Geoff Bennett explains.

If New Yorkers Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton emerge as their party’s picks for president, both would enter the general election as the two of the most disliked candidates in modern American history.

“These two are going to be in our faces, and many of us don’t like either candidate,” said Kyle Kondik, managing editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball -- a nonpartisan research blog run by The University of Virginia's Center for Politics.

A staggering 61 percent of Americans view Donald Trump unfavorably, according to national polls. The real estate mogul has been a polarizing figure right from the start -- famously smearing Mexican immigrants while kicking off his presidential bid.

“They’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime. They’re rapists and some, I assume, are good people,” Trump said during his June 2015 announcement.

Said Kondik: “Part of the problem for Trump, too, is that he’s almost universally known. I mean, he’s been in the public sphere for many people’s entire lifetimes.”

Hillary Clinton is more popular than Trump but not by much. She carries an unfavorable rating of 55 percent, according to national polls.

The former secretary of state has weathered a slew of scandals and political battles during her roughly 30 years in the public eye. She was the first lady of Arkansas; then the first lady of the United States. Add to that eight years as a senator from New York. By the time she first ran for president in 2008, her likability was a defining issue.

So, what might this all mean for a Clinton/Trump face-off?

Political watchers expect a slash-and-burn, race-to-the-bottom campaign, with both candidates doing their best to make the other appear even less popular.

 “Trump certainly is not afraid of throwing haymakers, and I don’t think that Hillary Clinton is either,” said Kondik. “And there’s plenty of negative material to use against both candidates.”

Here’s a preview:

"I want to run against crooked Hillary Clinton! We’re gonna beat her so badly!” said Trump during a recent campaign rally.

Clinton, in an interview with CNN, responded: “He can say whatever he wants to say about me.  I could really care less.  I've laid it all out there, and he can't or he won't ... I can't tell which.”