They literally just beat us . <| sep |> Eh , kind of ? I mean , he had good strong popularity among the populace in terms of polling . The whole young , vibrant Camelot thing played well . He was charismatic . He was charitable . But he barely won the election and there was much talk that it was rigged still not an impossible idea , and I say that as someone who appreciates Kennedy and is a registered Democrat , he had complicated stances on issues lauded for Civil Rights criticized for being silent on Civil Rights lauded for Civil Rightsfucked up the Cold War but was also really nuanced and effective with it , etc . Kennedy likely would ' ve won again in 1964 . And Johnson won heartily on his legacy . But a lot of Kennedy ' s superpopularity is posthumous to a degree . He was somewhat divisive at the time in certain circles . Still , he polled great and was hardly the best example for that sentence , I think . Kennedy is one of those figures like MLK Jr . who is more popular becauseafter being martyred . But he wasn ' t an unpopular President at the time by any means .