Jimmy Carter was, in many respects, pretty conservative. He was a deficit-hawk, increased military spending, initiated deregulation (trucking, beer, finance, and airlines being the big ones), and appointed Paul Volcker, who would end the stagflation crisis with his tight-money policies, Federal Reserve Chairman. He also was the first evangelical president.
Here's an interesting 1977 Washington Post piece in which liberal democrats are complaining about the president being to the right of Nixon economically:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/arch...b90-a3fe-f954c2986b30/?utm_term=.a729828d2eb3
So what if Carter narrowly lost the electoral vote in 1976 while winning the popular vote but came back in 1980 as the "rightful winner" with a Conservative (in one area or another) or Pro-Business running mate. It'd only take ~13,000 votes in Mississippi and Ohio in 1976 for this to happen, meaning Carter would win the PV by 1.9%.
For running mates
Henry Jackson helps with cultural/social conservatives and foreign policy hawks
Lloyd Bentsen helps to double down on fiscal conservatism
Gary Hart is an economic shift to the right while also being fairly refreshing and young
Tom Bradley would diversify the ticket and was supported by the Los Angeles business community
Could Carter end up being the champion of the emerging evangelical movement, deregulators, fiscal conservatives, foreign policy hawks, and monetarists in the 1980s?