Agreed. “Beto” O’Rourke came very close becoming a Senator for Texas even though his policy goals were overwhelmingly unpopular among Texans (“hell yes we’re coming for your guns”, ban fracking, open borders, etc). But he got glowing media coverage and Ted Cruz is lacking in charisma.To expand upon that point, I would argue that over the last 60 years, if Democrats either run a candidate based on charisma (Kennedy - “ask not...”, B.Clinton - “I feel your pain”, Obama - “Hope and Change”) or effectively demonise the Republican candidate (Goldwater, Nixon, Trump), the Democrats win the election. If the Democrats run on “the issues”, the Democratic coalition is so broad, that it causes infighting and the Democrats lose the election.
Biden came close to losing the election just by admitting in passing that he wants to end oil and gas production. Fortunately for him his forced support for whacko fringe issues and obviously shady business dealings were overshadowed by Trump’s unhinged personality over four years and especially in debate one.