I disagree.

Certainly having a social following / media connections pre-launch (either for the idea or personally) can help greatly, I believe that it can be completely overcome by hard work and a really good product.

Calling it a popularity contest trivializes the effort that many people put into their campaigns.

Source: I launched a Kickstarter campaign that did ~$500k on a $20k goal this year. No media connections, no social following pre-launch.