In terms of the economy the period 1977 through 1981 was marked by double digit inflation, double digit interest rates, and increasing high unemployment. I'm not saying it was all President Carter's fault, but some of it was due to how the Carter Administration handled the economy. Someone else in there as President at the time might have handled the economy issues differently and kept it from being as bad as it was in OTL.
Also President Carter made some very big mistakes that angered a lot of Americans.
He gave amnesty to draft dodgers from the Viet Nam War era. That angered those who had served in Viet Nam and the families of those who died in Viet Nam.
Carter gave the Panama Canal to Panama. A lot of Americans felt it was "our canal" because The United States built the Panama Canal.
President Carter made a number of mistakes like that and it angered the American people and hurt him a lot when he ran for re-election.
Then there was the Iranian hostage situation where Iran took the staff of the US embassy hostage for 444 days. Carter had by the way scaled back the military. I think one reason the Iranians felt confident about doing that is they viewed President Carter and America as being weak and thought we wouldn't fight back.
Had someone else, Democrat or Republican, been elected in 1976 they probably wouldn't have made those kinds of mistakes and would have handled things differently, and they might well have been re-elected in 1980.
Also President Carter made some very big mistakes that angered a lot of Americans.
He gave amnesty to draft dodgers from the Viet Nam War era. That angered those who had served in Viet Nam and the families of those who died in Viet Nam.
Carter gave the Panama Canal to Panama. A lot of Americans felt it was "our canal" because The United States built the Panama Canal.
President Carter made a number of mistakes like that and it angered the American people and hurt him a lot when he ran for re-election.
Then there was the Iranian hostage situation where Iran took the staff of the US embassy hostage for 444 days. Carter had by the way scaled back the military. I think one reason the Iranians felt confident about doing that is they viewed President Carter and America as being weak and thought we wouldn't fight back.
Had someone else, Democrat or Republican, been elected in 1976 they probably wouldn't have made those kinds of mistakes and would have handled things differently, and they might well have been re-elected in 1980.