That ' s not the point . What matters is perception I ' d say that this is what the entire election came down to . Everything that Trump did , said , and acted was deemed more attractive than Clinton . Does it seem that Trump ' s comments about banning Muslims is arrogant ? Do Clinton ' s comments about Trump ' s base being deplorables and how she doesn ' t want them even though she would have to have them if she won sound arrogant ? At the end of the day , a lot of people thought that Clinton ' s comments were worse . Politicians have to cultivate a public persona , and Clinton , who should have blown Trump out of the water , won the popular vote with less than 1 % of the population . That means that the perception of Clinton , who had every advantage in the world , was about the same as that of Trump . When you almost lose the popular vote , and lose the electoral college to an opponent that you absolutely undernocircumstances should have lost to , that ' s a defeat in any book .