Yes it's by far not optimal, and more of a damage control, but people deliberately chose (more) damage. Also if progressive politics were more popular, the dems would be more forced to submit to the voters will...
After seeing what Trump has done and will do, I don't think the majority like what's happening. Sucks that they didn't vote though, which might not be their fault since voter suppression is a thing
A better way to put it is that a large enough fraction of voters chose this to make their seizure of power somewhat plausible. Even by the official numbers, trump didn't get 50% of the vote and nowhere near 50% of eligible voters. And that's with all the acknowledged and undebatable fuckery like gerrymandering and voter suppression that went on, even if they didn't actually rig the election in any way - something that of course they would never do because they have a principled faith in democracy.