I'm saying that both elections were decided based on hate of the opponent, not support for the winner. That's backwards from what it should be.

I don't think so. They wanted Trump. And people wanted Clinton, I have seen them. And people wanted Biden.

It is denial to say they don't want Trump. They truly do want him.

I assumed the same, but I've seen in CNN's live coverage on election day (unfortunately I can't find it now) that in an exit poll (I don't remember where) only 2 of 5 Trump voters said they voted against Biden (and not for Trump), but 3 of 5 Biden voters said they voted against Trump (and not for Biden).

That's how it's been for at least decades. Democrats voted for Gore from hate of Bush. So this is a structural problem you're stuck with. Unless you come up with a stronger force than a pandemic with 100,000 fatalities.

Ranked choice elections, or something that gives seemingly fringe candidates a chance. Skip primaries for party candidate and use the extra time for more debates.

Have not people checked and realized that trump got more votes this time ?

I think he did 62.9 million last time and is at 70.5 now.

More people got out and voted, and more people voted for trump than before.

Yeah. It's all about getting us off our asses and into the voting booth.

I think this also explains why more partisan rhetoric wins. It gets more people mobilized, while not really hurting you with moderates. It only hurts you with people who think. Who're a tiny minority. (I'm not convinced I'm one of them.)

> most Americans will vote for anyone who wins "their" party's primary

I agree in principle, the majority of people will just vote party line. But there is no doubt that Trump supporters came out in force in 2020 far greater than 2016. I cannot for the life of me understand why so many people think Trump is an ideal choice for President, but I do continue to try and listen, maybe I will finally get hit with the clue bat. I've got Trump fans as friends, but they can never really articulate why I should agree with them other than 'democrats bad'. And that doesn't resonate with me, because I need something more than simple tribalism to guide my choice.

Tom Nichols, Never Trumper and former GOPer:

> A Large Portion of the Electorate Chose the Sociopath

* https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/11/large-port...