jimmy carter was completely out of his league as president. the only way that he was going to win was if the voters thought reagan was unfit to be president instead of them actually having confidence in carter's leadership. he won in 76 mainly because of watergate as americans needed someone they could trust in the white house after the nixon and agnew scandals. by 1980 after carter had butchered his presidency the american people were looking for competence, a quality that president carter was most surely lacking.
