Politics is kinda like being a fan of a sports team for many people. If my team blows the game I’m still a fan of the team. If some players on the team suck, sure I might want those players traded, but I still root for my team even if they aren’t.

And when we’re talking about being a fan of sports there’s nothing wrong with that. Sports are more fun when you’re rooting for a team, even when we know it’s fairly arbitrary which team you root for. But once you’ve chosen your team, you stick with that team otherwise it ruins all the fun. And people respect you for sticking with your team even when they have a bad season.

Of course politics isn’t sports, and shouldn’t be treated that way. But people do. Like wanting the team to trade the shit players but sticking with them even if they don’t, people may want their party to change their stance on some issues but will stick with them even if they don’t. They think sticking with the team, no matter what, is admirable. But unlike sports, the team you root for isn’t an arbitrary thing that doesn’t matter, choosing to stick with a party no matter what has consequences.