Your reply is a bit incoherent.

The "number of states" controlled is meaningful because it represents the parties strength around the country. It's also meaningful because that means they get to write things like voter id laws and other laws for disenfranchising voters that favor Democrats. The GOP isn't going anywhere, especially after they distance themselves from the disaster of Donald Trump.

The GOP might have stumbled by running no one with a name after the ascendancy of the nativist/racist wing championed by Donald Trump, but after losing to the second least popular candidate in the history of polling even the knuckle-draggers are going to want to win in four years. They aren't going to put up a Trump or even a Cruz. It's going to be a Nikki Haley, a Mitt Romney, or a John Kaisich. Unless Clinton does something remarkable I don't know how she's going to win.

Lack of popularity may actually work in the party's favor,

Forgive me for not subscribing to that notion in this example. 2020 is a census year, and if the GOP wins then, they get to redistrict and gerrymander for at least another ten years.