"a few days before the announcement went badly, however. Kennedy gave an "incoherent and repetitive"[9] answer to the question of why he was running, and the polls, which showed him leading Carter by 58–25 in August now had him ahead 49–39."
Who knows how this could have gone had that interview not bombed his ratings.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_United_States_presidentia...
"a few days before the announcement went badly, however. Kennedy gave an "incoherent and repetitive"[9] answer to the question of why he was running, and the polls, which showed him leading Carter by 58–25 in August now had him ahead 49–39."
Who knows how this could have gone had that interview not bombed his ratings.