[blfr]

It surely helps and Trump exploited every opportunity, spared no effort to make sure he wins but charisma is generally not the path to the White House

https://sociological-eye.blogspot.com/2016/11/does-charisma-...

Overall, 6 of 29 modern elections were won by strongly charismatic leaders (Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, JFK); another 4 elections were won by well-liked but uncharismatic figures, Eisenhower and Reagan. About 80% of the time, an uncharismatic person wins the presidency.

[Retric]

BS. Reagan Like trump was a popular actor and was very charismatic.

Importantly Trump (likely) lost the popular vote by a large margin. But he focused on the few areas that actually count. Remember the extra 250 thousand Hillary voters in DC count for 3, the significantly smaller margin in Florida, and PA count for 49.

[cableshaft]

Things change over time. Nowadays people are inundated by video of the candidates for over a year straight up to the election. Back then that certainly wasn't the case, especially before the time of television. I'm certain charisma plays more of a factor now than it used to.