Hunley2, I'd love it if you were right, I seem to remember Reagan won 49 states for his second term but we're in a different era today.
In the table below I've shown the margin of the win to Clinton in the states I listed in my initial post. It'd be really hard to overcome such gaps in only 4 years.
You can see why I think New Mexico is plausible and Oregon is possible but as we move up the tree the gap to bridge becomes wider and wider.
Having said all that, if enough Dems and Independents are demotivated and decide to not bother voting then anything is possible. I know that Republicans are highly motivated to get out and vote and support for Trump amongst Republicans is in the high 90%'s. Last time I looked I think it was 95%+
To get to 40 states Trump would have to also take Delaware and Connecticut which I guess could happen, I'd love it if it did.
