I agree that conservatives have been conditioned to HATE Hillary Clinton for decades. I don't dispute that.
However, I'm not convinced that most Trump supporters actually dislike him. People know his positions are unpopular, people know he's unpopular and they know what saying they support him means to the minorities and liberals around them. I'm not sure I can really trust any data on this point because it relies on voters telling the truth about something they know is in their best interest to lie about.
I also don't trust the mindset of anyone who says they thought Trump was the lesser of two evils. Those people are either complete idiots not worth our time or flat out lying. If someone supports Trump because they agree with them, I can sorta respect that, as much as I could respect, say, a foreign army that I must kill at all costs but respect none the less, they're my enemy but I can respect that, if they blanket themselves with some bullshit excuse like "lesser of two evils" they can fuck right off.
again, you have to look at this from the perspective of someone who has been conditioned to hate Hillary more than anyone else in politics.
To put it another way, around 10% of Trump supporters currently APPROVE of Obama and probably voted for him.
Edit: And I brought up Bernie because a popular narrative for some is that Bernie was the preferred Democratic nominee but was cheated by his party, which is false he lost and Hillary got more votes. Same with Trump, for being so hated he sure did beat down a bunch of other candidates by getting the most votes.
And no where have I been pushing the idea that Bernie would have done better, because I know of numerous conservatives who would rather have voted for Hillary than Bernie, some of whom DID vote for Hillary.
The primaries are over. The election is over.
His base are the people who voted for him.
Look at the Southern states. Look at Alabama. Republicans habitually vote in people who then continue to plunge their states into poverty. Do not underestimate the loyalty of the Republican voter. Any winning strategy for Democrats moving forward needs to take into account the (very real) possibility that every single person who voted for Trump in '16 will vote for him again.
How do you get the votes? How do you mobilize YOUR base? How do you mobilize the voters who didn't come out? These are the questions Democrats need to be worrying about. Stop salivating over Republican voters. We don't need them.
Stop assuming that every Trump voter is exactly the same. MOST Trump voters are not worth our time, but lets not dismiss Trump voters who fall into 1 or more of these categories:
1) Trump voters who voted for Obama
2) Trump voters who were desperate enough to get their old job back that they would do something stupid like vote for Trump
3) Trump voters who APPROVE of Obama
4) Trump voters who say they only voted for Trump because of how much they hate Hillary
Ground game is probably the most overrated idea in politics.
Correction: Groundgame is important but it needs to be enhanced by a good rally setup. Otherwise the ground game, especially the GOTV, will just involve treating your voters like children, which the campaign claimed works but from my experience it only pisses off your supporters.