Take note that the AR system has been around for civilian use since mid sixties, and really, it took over 30 years before that rifle became a common, household object. I wonder if it ever would have become what it is today if the millions of men who have used them in the military had not liked them.
Millions of men used the AR in military service and did not like them! Personally I think the biggest factor in the AR becoming a "common household item" has been the various laws regulating or banning them. The next biggest factory is that after nearly 40 years, they finally got the worst of the bugs out of the guns and the ammo. And then the redesign of the gun into its modern variant with its increased accuracy and capability to use actual DEER cartridges, as well as all the modular add ones you find today.
yes, the pump rifle kind of always had the deck stacked against it. History is funny that way. A large part of the popularity of each system is what the buyers are used to, and what they get for their money. Another part is what the rifles themselves are, which has changed over time.
Prior to WW I, bolts existed, but were not all that common, levers were very common, and there were also some pumps. Some even shot something other than pistol ammo. Rounds in the .30-30 class were "powerful" in those days. And there were a handful of lever guns which shot even bigger, more powerful rounds.
After WW I, lots of former servicemen now had personal experience with the bolt action. They knew it was capable of fine accuracy, rugged durability, AND it could shoot even more powerful rounds, which left general lever gun rounds (and their pump equivalents) in the dust, ballistically. .30-06, 8mm Mauser, .303 British.
There were no pumps equal to the task, at the time. The Remington pumps were very good guns, but not able to take .30-06 class rounds, and the lever guns that could (Win 95) just couldn't compete with the bolts.
Now step forward past WW II. The old Remingtons are out of production, Remington designs a new semi auto & pump rifle to take advantage of the .30-06 class rounds, and the millions of former GIs who have now learned that the semi auto is a viable weapon. The new Remingtons are bigger and heavier than the old lever & pump guns (and expensive) but they are also more powerful.
The semi auto sporting rifle (primarily Remingtons) becomes firmly established, while the pump sales languishes, except in places like PA where semis are prohibited for hunting.
While there may have been a few hardy souls, almost nobody lugged around an M1 Garand for hunting. People absolutely wanted something lighter. Witness all the sporterized bolt guns, where the FIRST thing to go was excess wood. Suplus bolt guns could be had cheap, and turned into everything from Bubba hack jobs to absolutely fine sporting rifles, (depending on the tastes and skill of the converter) generally for less money than buying a new rifle, bolt, pump, lever, or semi auto.
So, another strike against the pump rifle's popularity.
I grew up deer hunting in the thick woods of the NE and of the dozen or so guys that my Dad hunted with TWO carried bolt guns (and one of them was me,), ONE carried an old Remington pump in .30 Rem, the rest all carried Marlin or Winchesters in .30-30 or .32 Special. My uncle got a Marlin .35, after he fell and broke the stock off his .30-30.