Carter won the presidency through sheer grinding campaigning, not early support
Evidence
At a remove of more than four decades, it is easy to lose sight of the improbability of Carter’s ascent to the presidency in the mid-1970s. In November 1974, just before Carter announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination, Gallup conducted a survey to gauge support for thirty-two potential candidates for president of the United States; Carter’s name was not among them. The governor of Georgia determinedly headed for the small towns of New Hampshire and the precincts of Iowa. “Jimmy Who?” worked harder than anyone else. — Randall Balmer, Bad Faith, 80