Lear didn’t create the show he purchased the rights to a British show. For the show to have worked dramatically Archie HAD to be essentially likeable. If he was a hateful character it would have been abrasive and unfunny.
I remember some of the dialogue. It was definitely intended to make Bunker look foolish, with thought processes not worth taking seriously.
That people related with him belies a basic liberal ignorance by the writers of the nature of the average american, which we still see coming from them in spades.