I think he helped a lot. There's no reason whatsoever for an anti-abortion, anti-LGBT equality voter to have any interest in Trump, but they almost all voted for him, and I think Pence is a big reason why they took a chance on him.
If Pence had quit the ticket like he supposedly almost did after the Access Hollywood tape, I'm pretty confident Trump would've lost bigly.
Precisely right. Pence was a genius VP pick, although it wasn't obvious why at the time to everyone, he balanced the party and reassured the stalwarts after a contentious primary.
In contrast, picking a pro-banker, pro-TPP candidate from a state including the beltway/Washington DC suburbs and who 88% of Sanders supporters said was unacceptable, did not help Hillary balance her party or reassure progressives.
