So if he was already so popular he was outshining Clinton and Trump, why didn’t people vote for him? Could it maybe be because he’s only popular in highly populous cities that have relatively few electoral votes when compared to the rural areas where he’s not as popular, and so nationwide polling isn’t indicative of actual electoral success?

Also, as we all know now, presence on major TV news networks doesn’t align with electoral success either. Trump basically cornered the podcast market and he won the election. People don’t watch TV news anymore.