There will be now endless articles and news items why what happened happened. I like to keep things simple and have said in years past here on FR that the most likeable candidate wins. Policies really don’t matter to the mushy middle who decide elections. My theory was sorely tested in the two 0 elections but maybe indeed for the US electorate he was more media likeable than McCain and Romney. In this one you had Trump and H who both had pluses and minuses although from our perspective here at FR H was close to the devil. Given those pluses and minuses for both the vote was close but Trump flipped enough states to win the EC.
One could say it was the tireless work Trump did or his talking about issues that mattered to the rust belt states which gave him victory but one could argue he was just a bit more likeable than H where it counted in those states he flipped. He also showed up at rallies in those states a lot more than H and maybe that made him more likeable on that factor.
They also vote their pocketbooks. With a national 4.9% unemployment rate one wouldn't think that would be an issue this time around. However, that 4.9% doesn't tell the full story..