I’m not a Republican, but probably as a pure centrist I’m much closer to being a Republican than the average poster. It seemed fairly obvious to me that there would be very high Republican turnout. I think things have just gotten to a boiling point, and people are either moving to one side or the other. I do not believe you can really compare politics and political alignment to the past, even 10 years ago.
There is a cultural war going on like I have never seen before; I wasn’t born yet in the 60’s so politically life was pretty bland - I can remember a time when people would describe politics as boring, and things like having been divorced were scandalous to some degree.
The two cultures in this country hate each other, there is no room for compromise and they fundamentally are unable to understand each other. Politicians on both sides whip up this hatred in an attempt to maintain power, but I don’t think D and R are necessarily what its all about.