It's disappointing but inevitable. I have posted before on how
surprised I have been at the depth of feeling against the tram in the
Ealing area where I have been working for 2 years.

My own take on it is that whilst the majority of people quietly
thought it was a good idea, there was a very vocal minority of NIMBYs
who felt their car usage was under threat and launched a campaign
against the tram. Those in favour of the tram didn't have anywhere
near the same depth of feeling, so there was never much of a "pro"
campaign to counter the vocal and passionate "anti" campaign, which
successfully managed to invoke reactionary tendencies and spread
anti-tram feeling (using plenty of lies, half-truths and
exaggerations[1]) amongst a population that did not hear (and did not
care to find out) both sides of the argument. The local Tories saw an
opportunity and, together with the "anti" lobby, made it an election
issue, which stepped up the campaign to a reactionary frenzy (with
"Vote No Tram" posters all over Ealing).
See, for example,http://www.ealingstreets.org/ses_10reasons.htm.

You're right about the vocal "anti" campaign and the Tories' hijacking
of the issue, but I think the "majority of the people" didn't have a
strong opinion either way. However, the reason why those in favour of
the tram did not have a strong opinion (and I would put myself in to
that group, along with many people who I know who live and work in
Ealing) was that there was always a sneaking suspicion that this was
not money well spent, rather than objecting to the investment in
public transport in the area per se. My previously posted new station
at Acton Wells as well as the road improvements I mentioned (amongst
others) would still come in cheaper than the tram and be substantially
less disruptive.

2. Prioirity bus lanes/traffic lights on the Western end of the High
Street in Acton (and to the west of that stretch going the other way)
4. Priorirty bus lane/traffic lights on the A406 crossing both ways

Priority traffic lights won't work for buses because, if bus
frequencies are increased to cope with the rising demand over the next
few years, they will simply be too frequent, and traffic on the A406
etc would experience something too close to a constant red light.

A tram would have been able to satisfy the demand with just one every
3 minutes, allowing traffic light priority to work.

Sorry, I was not at all clear in my numbered comments. By "priority
traffic lights" I did not mean that as a bus approaches, it favours a
green light (which, you are right, would cause chaos on the A406) but
a bus lane from Ealing Common Tube to the traffic light which then
gives the bus a few seconds ahead of queuing traffic (much like the
light at Chalk Farm Tube southbound towards Camden from Belsize Park).