I think people were pulling more for the Conservatives because it seemed like the more winnable choice (this is what tactical voting gets you), and also it seems like Trump's "51st state" comments were effectively weaponized against anyone on the right.

I don't blame Trump for it, I blame the Canadian people for ideological and media capture, failing to realize that Trump being a blowhard is not worse than an establishment that wants them dead in a gutter from a stab wound by a foreigner, or dead in a trench in Ukraine.