McCain and Romney were willing Designated Losers.
Those weren’t elections, they were elaborately staged plays.
W was a designated loser. Gore/Lieberman was supposed to be a sure winner. Until Hillary, the Clintons had never even reached 50% of the popular vote.
Obama wasn't supposed to win against McCain, he was supposed to lose, giving Democrats 4 years of race riots to pump up their numbers in the house and gain them two more senate seats before 'an injustice was righted'
Romney was a designated loser; get just enough support to win the nomination, then take the fall (without too much damage so he could come back and win the next go around.) Only he loved government mandates at a Republican debate and PelosiCare was an abysmal failure.
Time and time again, the people have somehow seen through a whole lot of horrible situations and taken the path of least damage to our nation (or in the case of Trump, just said screw it, America first this time.)