One of the great mysteries I have always wondered about is “What if Kennedy had lived?” I was only 13 back then, but I lived in South Texas and remembered the talk.
While he was young and charismatic, many of his policies were NOT popular. And those policies had made a LOT of enemies. Could that have translated into an upset? We'll really never know.
Once he was killed, people I had heard cussing him out just a couple of weeks before, now all spoke of him as a saint. Like most 13 year olds at the time, I thought he was great - but then we didn't vote.
Yes, many of his policies were quite unpopular - but who was going to beat him? Nixon, especially after losing as CA governor in 1962? Not a chance. Goldwater? More or less unknown, and too extreme to win only 20 years after “Saint” FDR. Who else could have won?
May I remind you that B. H. Obola won in 2012 despite EVEN MORE unpopular policies. Shows the power of the incumbancy.
My father believed that JFK’s policies were so unpopular that he would not have been reelected. But then again, what would my Dad know? I remember my Dad lamenting that that Reagan wasn’t running for President . . . in 1959.