Sorry, someone can be wildly popular now even if they got about 50% of the vote 10+ years ago. They are not in any way mutually exclusive - someone could have won 40% of the vote and be wildly popular a decade later, or 60% of the vote and be wildly unpopular a decade later.
Or someone can win 52% of the vote two or so years ago and be widely unpopular today.
I don't see why you think this has to do with credibility since it's clear the two things you attempt to link are not necessarily and inexorably linked.
Ronald Reagan 1984: nearly 60% of the national vote and 525 electoral votes.
THAT is "wildly popular".
Perhaps best of all, he didn't need to sell out his principles to get there.
Republicans should learn the lessons of their own history.
~faith.