With less than a week to go before election day, many Americans are facing a choice.

Which of two candidates who they strongly dislike do they want to make the most powerful person in the world?

A Washington Post poll of voters in Virginia highlighted just how unpopular both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are among the people they seek to govern.

Some 60% of Virginians who are likely to vote said they viewed Trump unfavourably while 57% also view Clinton similarly.

Almost three-quarters of those polled said Clinton is "too willing to bend the rules" while nearly one in six voters in the state believe Trump is "biased against women and minorities".

These numbers are unprecedented. Never before have Americans so ferociously disliked the nominees of both major parties.

Before I even got through passport control in the States I was introduced to this undercurrent of dread in the electorate.

"You do not want to witness our election," says the border guard after he asked me what was the purpose of my trip. "It is awful".

On Tuesday, I visited the Washington Post's new marble-clad building just a few blocks from the White House.

Little over a month, ago the Post published video footage of Trump boasting of how his celebrity fame allowed him to grope women.

The footage shocked America and the rest of the world. It seemed people's worst fears about the property tycoon had become reality.

A sign of just how toxic it was for the Republican nominee came when Trump issued a rare apology for his actions.

Understanding why Trump is so divisive and unpalatable is, perhaps, easier for us in Scotland and the rest of the world to grasp. What many of us can't comprehend is just why his Democratic rival is also polling badly.

"A lot of people feel there is something fishy about Hillary Clinton," explains the Post's senior politics editor Steven Ginsberg.

According to Ginsberg, the mistrust of Clinton did not begin with the news that as secretary of state she used a private email server instead of her official government one.

The email scandal erupted again on Friday when the FBI's director James Comey announced the bureau was looking into new emails related to the would-be president.

Ginsberg believes the public's cynicism towards Clinton began in 1998 when she dismissed Monica Lewinsky's truthful claims to have had an affair with her husband as part of a "vast right-wing conspiracy".

It seems Clinton's long involvement in American public life is actually damaging her campaign against Trump, who is aiming to be president without ever holding previous public office.

The distrust of both candidates is coming to a head in the traditionally Republican state of Utah. Recent polls show an independent candidate, Evan McMullin, has a real chance of winning the state.

A rolling average of polls shows he is behind the Republican nominee by only 3.8%.

McMullin, a Mormon like many voters in Utah, announced his candidacy only three months ago. The former CIA operative is running on an anti-Trump conservative ticket.

When announcing his candidacy, he said: "I'm not sure I want to remake the Republican Party. I think we need a new conservative movement in this country that rededicates itself to the cause of liberty and to equality, the truth that all men and women are created equal.

"That's what this country needs. That's the kind of leadership it needs. The Republican Party has drifted away both from the cause of individual liberty and equality. And so we need something new."

His ratings in a state that has voted for every GOP presidential candidate since 1964 might seem out of kilter.

But, as Ginsberg argues, "a lot of voters are seeing McMullin as a safe place to go".

Clinton is undoubtedly the establishment figure in the election. The professional politician who would do anything to claim victory on November 8.

Combined with the embarrassing email scandal, a huge swathe of the American public feel something is not quite right with Clinton but they "can never quite nail what it is", judges Ginsberg.

The news that the FBI is examining more emails has rocked the Democrats' campaign in the final weeks.

Clinton will fly to Virginia and Michigan in the next few days, two states which just a week ago looked certain to go blue on election night.

The polls are tightening. A survey for ABC on Tuesday had Clinton and Trump tied on 46%. The opinion poll also found the American public finds Trump more trustworthy, at 46%, compared to his Democratic rival on 38%, down 7 percentage points since the last poll.

Over the next few days Clinton will aim to frame the election around Trump's controversial views instead of her integrity.

The battle to be the least disliked candidate continues.

Analysis by Aidan Kerr, STV's digital politics reporter. Aidan is covering the election from Washington DC and a number of swing states.