Are we really this close in numbers of supporters?
One has to go back to 1984's Reagan re-election win to find a Presidential election with the winner having a double-digit popular vote win. And all the way back to 1972 to find anything close to a 2:1 winning ratio.
2016 -- 47.0 vs 47.7
2012 -- 51.1 vs 47.2
2008 -- 52.9 vs 45.7
2004 -- 50.7 vs 48.3
2000 -- 47.9 vs 48.4 vs 2.7 (Nader)
1996 -- 49.2 vs 40.7 vs 8.4 (Perot)
1992 -- 43.0 vs 37.4 vs 18.9 (Perot)
1988 -- 53.4 vs 45.6
1984 -- 58.8 vs 40.6
1980 -- 50.7 vs 41.0 vs 6.6 (Anderson)
1976 -- 50.1 vs 48.0
1972 -- 60.7 vs 37.5
1968 -- 43.4 vs 42.7 vs 13.5 (Wallace)
1964 -- 61.1 vs 38.5
1960 -- 49.7 vs 49.5
1956 -- 57.4 vs 42.0
1952 -- 54.9 vs 44.4
1948 -- 49.5 vs 45.1 vs 7.3 (Thurmond)
They've been especially tight (if one removes the 3rd-party contingent and pro-rates the votes back to the likely candidates remaining) in the last several elections.
And that also coincides with the rise of 24/7 news channels.
The "news" channels thrive when it's a close race. It boosts ratings. No one wants to watch a landslide. It doesn't excite viewers knowing who's going to win handily. Same happens in sports stadiums and arenas. Once it's out of hand, people file out in droves.
How much of this bi-partisan, two-party, good vs bad, false equivalence bs can be laid at the feet of our "esteemable" M$M??