I'm sorry but I disagree. Yes a president represents and is the spokesperson for that party, however, the president is not supposed to exclusively represent one party. Before Obama was elected the amount of hatred from the right was undeniable. Earliest candidate to ever require secret service protection and he was only a candidate. I am bored to death hearing it's both sides. Another dare I say, HUGE, difference. Obama never spoke the way this president speaks. He didn't play the victim card where anything negative said about him he had to tweet or get on tv and complain. The racist right hated Obama and it's part of the reason the can't stand democrats. The right views all democrats as socialist liberals who want equal rights for all. It threatens their diminishing white america.
History has shown that approximately 90% of Republicans and Democrats will vote for candidates of their party. Sometimes a bit higher, others a bit lower. It's independents I was talking about, it is how they view the party in power via the president, the spokesman as you put it. The face of the party in power.
Hatred of one party for the other, there was probably some in their deep dedicated members all the time. But During Bill Clinton GOP hatred for him and the Democrats raised it ugly head. For the most party Democrats loved him, Republicans hated him, independents neither, but based what they thought about the Democratic Party on Bill's actions. When independents really disliked Bill and the Democrats for their tax increases, 56% of them voted Republican in the 1994 midterm giving the GOP the House for the first time in 40 years.
The Democrats really didn't like G.W. Bush either. Independents who had been voting Republican since 1994 switch to vote Democratic in 2006 as they got angry at Bush. They equated the Republican Party with Bush, the face, the head of the GOP and 57% of them voted for the Democrats in 2006. Angry at the Republican Party, not really. just sick and tired of G.W. Bush. Independents again equated the Republican Party with Bush.
Democratic hatred of Bush was more than the GOP's hatred of Bill Clinton, but no all that bad. Obama, for sure the Republican hatred of him was a lot more than they had for Bill. Also the Democratic hatred of Trump is out of this world compared to their hatred of G.W. Bush.
Independents do determine on how they vote in how they see, like or dislike the president. The image of they have of the president is the image they have of his party.