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I often hear it stated as "We disliked Hillary so much, we voted for someone worse".

You can phrase it that way. But it's a deceptive statement. For the most part, people don't switch parties they vote for. They just choose not to vote instead. So taken in aggregate, you could say "we disliked Hillary so we voted for someone worse".

But the more accurate statement is that some groups of people decided not to vote at all because they disliked Hillary, and other groups of people decided to show up and vote.

> way. But it's a deceptive statement. For the most part, people don't switch parties they vote for.

You are forgetting that most Americans are self-proclaimed independents and not sworn to support either of the two parties.

Not "most": it's a plurality, not a majority (31/37/28 D/I/R)

https://news.gallup.com/poll/15370/party-affiliation.aspx

If you look at the week by week numbers, you see variance; I suspect most independents lean one way or another, but their willingness to commit in a poll varies based on various affairs.

Most independents reliably vote one party or the other. The number of "true" independents, who will frequently switch the party they vote for, is about 10%.

The American voters’ approach to government often reduces to “cutting off the nose to spite the face.”

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