React/vue/etc are not massive libraries. The problem usually comes from websites loading 5 versions of jquery and then 30 ad network scripts.

And yes, doing anything mildly responsive with jquery is too hard. And not in the "I don't know how to do this" way. Its just a huge waste of time. What takes 100 lines of jquery code can be done for free with jsx. Usually jquery sites settle for sub optimal UX because its too hard to do the things react sites do.