Why Trump Won the Electoral College in 2016

No one can know for certain the details of what happened in 2106. However, reasonable estimates can be made from the advantage point that hindsight sometimes affords. Obviously, different people will see things differently and weigh factors differently. For example, some people believe that Russian efforts to help the president in 2016 were completely irrelevant with on effect on even one single vote. Others believe that Russian efforts were necessary. Yet others are unsure. Some do not care and/or have no opinion whatever for any or no reason(s).

As usual for contested political issues, opinions and non-opinions are all over the place. Opinions can be observed with a sense of just about anything, including wonder, confusion, fear, self-congratulatory smugness, etc.

Here's my current list of the main factors roughly in order of importance. Although the individual factors listed here can account for many votes or few votes, their impact on the outcome is important or necessary.

• Most important: White voter unease with (i) perceptions of a decline in America's status in the world, and (ii) impending social and demographic changes, primarily the coming change from majority white to majority minority. (sources here, here and here) 
• Economic complaints about wage stagnation and increasing costs (sources here and here)
• The media's constant coverage of the president due to his entertainment value; this gave the president nationwide advertising with an estimated worth of about $2 billion (source) 
• The president's mastery of dark free speech, particularly his lies and his ability to evoke unwarranted fear, outrage and bigotry, and his ability to play the media to his advantage (source here and here)
• FBI director James Comey announcing two investigation of Clinton in the weeks before the election (sources here and here)
• The inherent advantage to the president that the electoral college conferred (source) 
• Support from Christians, especially Evangelicals
• Clinton's lackluster personality and inept campaign, despite winning the popular vote (source)
• Russian efforts to help the president, which former DNI James Clapper considered to be necessary, but the true impact will never be known with reasonable certainty (source)
• Decades of conservative dark free speech against Clinton including lies, smears and false, crackpot conspiracy theories, e.g., Pizzagate, despite repeated investigations that never led to any indictments, convictions or guilty pleas (source)
• Lackluster voter turnout, induced in part by relentless dark free speech (propaganda) directed against Clinton, which led some voters to not vote (sources here and here)

As will be apparent, the listed factors can be interacting and overlapping to varying degrees, e.g., some Christian voters were also motivated by their religion and unease over ongoing social and demographic changes.