I think Herschel's status as a football legend actually did earn him a lot of goodwill. A hypothetical candidate who had all of his baggage but without the football accomplishments wouldn't have made it out of primary even with a Trump endorsement.
This holds up in the general election. As obviously flawed as Herschel Walker is, he was still a football star in his small hometown and the state's flagship university. Naturally, someone like that will have much more goodwill than a creepy tech bro or a snake-oil peddler who ran for office in a state that he didn't even live in.
I actually think his status as a legend had minimal impact. That was all 40 years ago, and anyone under the age of 50 wouldn’t remember it. He seems to have gotten a small bump out of his home county of Johnson, only underperforming Kemp by 1%, but that’s about all I see.
