The base is not made up of the purists who vent on the internet. You are so tiny and irrelevant and you are not the base. As I said before, the main trait of the purists is delusion. You think that you are much more in number than you really are.
The base does not affect elections by their voting numbers. They affect it because they are the minority that does a majority of the volunteer work and donating that ends up winning elections. They are also the people more likely to inform independants about the issues in the election when they are excited. Keeping them interested is essential to winning an election. Compare 1984 with every election since.