I also think the story that all these people who voted for Obama switched to Trump isn't true. The people who voted for Obama didn't even vote this election [1].
[1] http://www.forbes.com/sites/omribenshahar/2016/11/17/the-non...
Washington Post (if you trust it, I don't much, but got nothing else here) says this
---
Nearly 1 in 5 Trump voters say they approve of Obama's job performance. That would mean about 8 percent (note: large margin of error) of Americans went to the polls on Election Day liking what Obama was producing as president but deciding to vote for the other party's unpopular nominee anyway.
---
They are quoting Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University there
Romney 2012 - 60,933,504 votes, Trump 2016 - 61,000,837 votes.
Obama 2012 - 65,915,795 votes, Clinton 2016 - 62,109,875 votes.
Let's not forget that second term presidencies typically attract fewer voters, and 2012 was a low point for Obama, whose personal record is 69,498,516 votes in 2008.
People who traditionally vote Republican showed up and voted Republican. People who traditionally vote Democrat simply didn't show up.
You maybe right. I think some of traditional Republicans voted against Trump. I don't have hard numbers, but at least from my circle of acquaintances two life long Republicans voted for Hillary and against Trump, and a life long Democrat voted for Bernie then Stein. I would say it is probably not as simple as "simply didn't show up".
Edited in response to rdtsc's reply below: This comment was in response to "Hillary having the worst Democratic performance in 28 years"
Right but what's the point though? What is it in response to?
Yes electoral college is how presidential elections happen. To win the election one needs electoral college votes. I've heard she had a stellar team and a tremendous experience as a politician. You think they didn't know and instead went for the popular vote?
I believe both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump targeted swing states, neglecting the rest of the country. Clearly Donald Trump did this better. I'm not fond of either of those candidates, but neither do I mean to blame them. Above all it is the electoral system that has failed.
So, it is possible that the popular vote with the electoral college would not be mirrored by a popular vote without the electoral college.
The electoral college distorts not only the results of presidential elections, but also the conduct of presidential election campaigns.