Trump won because he pulled people off their couches and to the polls.

[annabanana]

We are MUCH greater in number. When our folks get off their couches, the streets will rumble.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

1. Yup...worked the polls in a red state. They would walk in and just gush out loud about Trump

and tell poll workers how much they love him and how much they want him to win. One guy said "I just want you all to know, I read, I graduated from college, and I love Donald Trump." Had a bad feeling then but thought - hell it's just Texas - no worries.

Agree too - we are greater in numbers - and lots of repukes I know equate protesting to those anti-American, Anti-Vietnam Jane Fonda types.

I am jealous to see everyone out there. It's bad when you have no where to go.

[frazzled]

2. No more so than in any previous election for Republicans

Republican voting numbers remained stable from the last few elections. Ours fell a bit. Why? I'd say that we never should have expected the massive African American vote that turned out for Obama: the black voter turnout returned to more normal percentages; and the Hillary hate engendered during the primary season depressed the youth vote to more normal numbers. And then there was the third-party voting, which although smallish, was significant enough in such a tight circumstance.

So no, Trump did not pull people out in greater numbers.

[samnsara]

3. we still out voted him....

..but we did it legally and with honor.

[hollowdweller]

4. he pulled people off their couches in the right places.

[Denzil_DC]

5. The fact he was an established media celebrity was not insignificant.

Many of us look at him and listen (either on TV or on the stump), and think "buffoon" or worse, but obviously others don't.

He had strong brand recognition without being identified as a politician. Now he's a politician, despite his protests and discomfort with that role. (Schwarzenegger had to adapt similarly, but he's way more capable than Trump, whatever you think of his politics.)

It's similar, too, to Reagan's appeal (another media star), down to the yearning for a "lost" America and simpler times, but Reagan, till he succumbed to the ravages of older age, had more natural charm and didn't have a track record of screwing people over on TV on a regular basis. Maybe Trump's boorishness is more fitting with our more callous, decadent times.

I don't know what it takes to get people out to vote in their best interests (we face similar problems in the UK, though without a clear, powerful demagogue like Trump, just some wannabes). Hope you manage it. Hope we manage it.

[leftstreet]

6. Meh, those people would have voted GOP anyway

They would have held their noses because the nominee didn't want to execute abortion providers, but they'd have voted straight GOD(P) ticket anyway

[annabanana]

8. a bunch of those people wouldn't have bothered..

a bunch of those people didn't "do" politics until the reality-tv star was running.

Bunches of them wouldn't have been able to NAME another president except maybe Obama

[KittyWampus]

7. Actually true. Not a popular sentiment here, but true. But voter suppression also mattered.