You're sorta whistling past the graveyard if you don't take issue with the current GOP leadership direction. It's easy to scare dumb people, and that's Trump's tactic. Let's demonize the media and the liberal public educators and keep folks scared. That's his plan.
I grew up in suburban Dallas and have voted Republican/Libertarian in every election since 1996. I just turned 40 this year and voted for a slew of Dems for the first time in my life. Even typing "I voted for Dems" is a bit of a shock to my system. Sure, my worldview has changed somewhat over the years. But more than that, I've come to realize that the current GOP does not stand for the kinds of things that I thought it stood throughout my 20s and into my 30s.
My default position is to be skeptical of politicians in general, any of them really. So while the issues matter to me, I don't trust many politicians to maintain integrity on their stated positions on the issues. This election, for me and many others, went beyond the issues. It came down to decency and leading with hope rather than fear. Is Beto a perfect candidate? Hardly. But unlike Cruz, he focused on hope and moving our country forward as a diverse group of people, while Cruz cowered to Trump and tried to win my vote by telling me that I need to be scared of brown people and baby-killing liberals. He gave me zero reason to actually vote for him.
It might be anecdotal, but I've talked to a lot of friends and acquaintances in the same position. Me (40), my wife (37), and my mom (70) all punched D on our ballots for a lot of candidates for the first time in our lives this month. I just found out this week that my mom voted for a lot of Dems. I was shocked. "Unfortunately for him, I cancelled out your Dad's vote."