I was thinking that Clinton’s constant negativity about Trump didn’t work for her and to some extent it didn’t work for Jill Stein either. I liken this effect to trying to tell your daughter (or son) that you don’t like their boyfriend or girlfriend. Anything negative you can say only makes the daughter (or son) defend her or his choice more strongly.

The only thing that stumped me about this line of reasoning was that the negativity against Clinton seemed to work for Trump. I think I finally figured out the difference. There were enough people who started out with a strong dislike of Clinton, that Trump’s negativity just reinforced their natural inclinations.

I think the strong negative ratings for Trump were not so much dislike as it was mistrust and thinking of him as a buffoon. Judging from the popularity of his TV shows, there must have been plenty of people who liked to watch his performance especially when they never considered that he would run for President.

My trying to convince Democrats not to support Hillary was more like the daughter and her boyfriend situation.