Analyzing the Trump victory: The almost insurmountable odds Trump overcame to win

Just consider the obstacles Trump had to overcome to win:

1. In Utah, there was a strong third party candidate, presumably propped up and funded by Romney and/or some other (political) enemy of Trump.
2. In Ohio, the incumbent republican governor Kasich and incumbent republican senator Portman openly declared that they do not support Trump and will not vote for him. Kasich (and possibly also Portman) did not attend the Republican party convention in which Trump was formally declared the nominee despite the fact that it took place in Cleveland, Ohio.
3. The Bush family publicly said they were not supporting Trump. George W Bush said he would not vote for Trump. Jeb Bush continued taking pot shots at Trump throughout the election campaign.
4. After the Access Hollywood tapes were released, Arizona senator John McCain said he was no longer supporting Trump and would not vote for Trump. Paul Ryan, House speaker, said he would vote for Trump but would no longer defend him. All throughout the campaign Ryan continued taking pot shots at Trump, on one occasion characterizing Trump's objection to a Mexican judge hearing his case (i think the Trump university case) to be "a text book example of racism."

[Ryan had two incentives in trying to destroy the Trump presidency. First, Ryan's financial backers (which include the Koch brothers) were not supporting Trump, and may have been opposed to Trump. Second, Ryan thought a Trump loss would smoothen the path for a Ryan candidacy in 2020 or 2024. One thing to watch for is whether Ryan is sacked as Speaker of the House. If he remains the Speaker, it would only be because Trump wishes to convey an aura of magnanimity, particularly in the beginning of his term. But i doubt it. Hannity, the journalist closest to Trump along with O'Reilly, has said that Ryan will not remain the Speaker.]

5. Mitt Romney had of course tried to scuttle the Trump nomination and Trump candidacy on multiple occasions by making anti-Trump comments like claiming that Trump's economic policies would lead to a recession. (This despite the fact that, when he had  run for president, Romney had asked for, and had received, Trump's endorsement.)

6. Clinton had massively outspent Trump during the election campaign.*

*What’s notable, however, is that Trump notched those gains while being massively outspent by his opponent.

According to figures compiled by the Center for Competitive Politics, an Alexandria group that opposes caps on political spending, Clinton’s campaign outspent the Trump campaign by more than 2 to 1. While full spending reports are not yet compiled, campaigns typically spend just about all they raise. As of October 28, Clinton had raised $687 million compared to Trump’s $307 million—a 124 percent advantage.

And that doesn’t even count the spending by outside groups (better known as “outside groups”). When added to the candidates’ own ads, Pro-Clinton ads outnumbered pro-Trump ads 3 to 1—a mind-numbing 383,512 ads for Clinton compared to 125,617 supporting Trump. Outside groups raised and spent more than three times as much on Clinton as on Trump. Super PACs and other groups supporting Clinton raised almost $190 million; those supporting Trump pocketed only $60 million.

The results speak for themselves, obviously, but the striking thing here is that Clinton actually did worse in the places where spending was highest. In the six states where Clinton targeted the most spending—Florida, Ohio, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Nevada and Iowa—she and groups supporting her ran 299,067 ads compared to 89,995 supporting Trump—a ratio of 3.3 to 1. She lost all of those states except Nevada.

http://observer.com/2016/11/donald-trump-didnt-just-win-he-won-with-unprecedented-efficiency/

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