The thing that a lot of people seem to be having trouble grasping is that when voters tell you what they want, and you tell those voters to fuck off, some of those voters won't vote for you. This is the simple reality of politics, it's how it has always worked, it's how it will always work. This is true everywhere, not just the US.
It is not the job of voters to elect democrats, it's the job of the democrats to win votes. They fucked up and they are to blame more than anyone who sat out the election or voted for a 3rd party.