I was around: it was a depressing time (and I even liked Carter):
• The Iran hostage situation was ever-present. It was nightly news, to the point that all the major broadcasts started out with “this is day #X of the hostage situation”.
• Carter tried to rescue the hostages, and failed badly - 8 servicemen died, and this was just a few months before the election.
• Carter pissed off a lot of people by boycotting the 1980 Olympics (boycotting USSR’s invasion of Afghanistan - Ironic in that the US eventually did 20 as well years later). Lots of atheletes spoke out, their only or last time to make it to the Olympics. Turning the Olympics into a political weapon left a bad taste in general.
• Inflation rates were incredibly high, I think 12%-ish.
• Housing interest was through the roof, heading towards 13% (it eventually hit 18% under Reagan, I think)
• We were in the beginnings of a severe recession.
• Carter was never very charismatic - he was smart guy, but gave pretty boring speeches (IMO)
And then you have Reagan show up… optimistic, charismatic, and people just wanted change.