I wouldn't put Cruz in the same league as Taft/Goldwater/Gore/Dole etc because all those people were popular within the Senate, and considered relative titans in their party. Most of the GOP in Washington hates Cruz, because Cruz uses his Senate Seat as a stick to bash the national GOP. He did it against Dewhurst in 2012 and then closed down the government with Obamacare.
I think the campaign exposed that Cruz really is an unlikable Jerk. The whole thing with his children not wanting to kiss him, the bacon on the gun, trying to push Huckabee off stage with Kim Davis, lying about Ben Carson, 'vote your conscience' and then endorsing Trump.
Generally politicians who are ideological like Cruz need to be extremely likable. Reagan and Obama are the most obvious (but there's a host of lesser pols like Edwards/Rubio who use their backstory to justify more 'radical' policies). Cruz is the fatal combination of a social Conservative, a Tea-Bagger and a spineless, sleaze.
I think the 2016 campaign exposed this; but their traits that always existed.
The irony is that whilst he ran an awful Campaign, it's going to perfectly possible for Marco Rubio to run for President in 2024, and win. Even though Ted's 2016 campaign was great, he's still a sh**t product to sell
Nixon won a landslide in 1972 despite not being 'likable', and he won the nomination again after losing a presidential election the first time around.
The point is that, while he might not have been particularly “likable”, he wasn’t particularly ideological either. By 1968, Nixon had practically mastered the art of being a political chimera.
