Republicans are still exploiting the fact that some voters don't know that Medicare is government-run healthcare.
And they're still taken seriously as a viable party. In fact, people want to elect MORE of them this year. It confounds logic and reason. Yes, the Democrats tend to be spineless and they dither around a lot. But the Republicans are cynical, factually wrong, lying flim-flam artists who take advantage of their, shall we say, less than savvy base.