Actually Ted Kennedy was a factor in Jimmy’s downfall as well. They hated each other. And the lukewarm support of Kennedy toward’s Carter’s re-election, hurt Carter with the liberals.
That’s true, Carter was not the kind of Democrat the coastal elites wanted.
But I think the energy crisis that denied Americans the ability to travel and live the way they pleased, the hostage crisis that Carter fumbled, and watching a President who acted weak and apologetic was a real eye-opener for most Americans who saw for the first time the country was on the wrong track. Reagan was a correction as was Trump - we’ll see if it can happen again.