1980 United States presidential debates, League of Women Voters-sponsored debates, Second presidential debate (Music Hall), Reaction
An unscientific televote poll carried out by ABC immediately after the debate received about 650,000 responses, two thirds in favor of Reagan.


1980 United States presidential debates, Other debates
A minor party debate was held by the New York Committee for Marxist Education on October 9. The debate was moderated by Bill Henning, and attended by representatives of Communist Party USA, Socialist Workers Party, Socialist Party U.S.A., Citizens Party, and Workers World Party. The only candidate to attend in person was Workers World's Deirdre Griswold.


1980 United States presidential election
The 1980 United States presidential election was the 49th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 4, 1980. Republican nominee Ronald Reagan defeated incumbent Democratic president Jimmy Carter in a landslide victory. This was the second successive election in which the incumbent president was defeated, after Carter himself defeated Gerald Ford four years earlier in 1976. Additionally, it was only the second time, and the first in nearly 100 years that a Republican candidate defeated an incumbent Democrat. Due to the rise of conservatism following Reagan's victory, some historians consider the election to be a political realignment that began with Barry Goldwater's presidential campaign in 1964, and the 1980 election marked the start of the Reagan Era.


1980 United States presidential election
Carter's unpopularity and poor relations with Democratic leaders encouraged an intra-party challenge by Senator Ted Kennedy, a younger brother of former President John F. Kennedy. Carter defeated Kennedy in the majority of the Democratic primaries, but Kennedy remained in the race until Carter was officially nominated at the 1980 Democratic National Convention. The Republican primaries were contested between Reagan, who had previously served as the Governor of California, former Congressman George H. W. Bush of Texas, Congressman John B. Anderson of Illinois, and several other candidates. All of Reagan's opponents had dropped out by the end of the primaries, and the 1980 Republican National Convention nominated a ticket consisting of Reagan and Bush. Anderson entered the race as an independent candidate, and convinced former Wisconsin Governor Patrick Lucey, a Democrat, to serve as his running mate.


1980 United States presidential election
Reagan campaigned for increased defense spending, implementation of supply-side economic policies, and a balanced budget. His campaign was aided by Democratic dissatisfaction with Carter, the Iran hostage crisis, and a worsening economy at home marked by high unemployment and inflation. Carter attacked Reagan as a dangerous right-wing extremist and warned that Reagan would cut Medicare and Social Security.


1980 United States presidential election
Reagan won the election by a landslide, taking 489 electoral votes and 50.7% of the popular vote with a margin of 9.7%. Reagan received the highest number of electoral votes ever won by a non-incumbent presidential candidate. In the simultaneous Congressional elections, Republicans won control of the United States Senate for the first time since 1955. Carter won 41% of the vote but carried just six states and Washington, D.C. Anderson won 6.6% of the popular vote, and he performed best among liberal Republican voters dissatisfied with Reagan. Reagan, then 69, was the oldest person to ever be elected to a first term. As of 2021, this is the most recent presidential election where an incumbent Democratic president failed to win a second term.


1980 United States presidential election, Background
Throughout the 1970s, the United States underwent a wrenching period of low economic growth, high inflation and interest rates, and intermittent energy crises. By October 1978, Iran—a major oil supplier to the United States at the time—was experiencing a major uprising that severely damaged its oil infrastructure and greatly weakened its capability to produce oil. In January 1979, shortly after Iran's leader Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi fled the country, Iranian opposition figure Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini ended his 14-year exile in France and returned to Iran to establish an Islamic Republic, largely hostile to American interests and influence in the country. In the spring and summer of 1979, inflation was on the rise and various parts of the United States were experiencing energy shortages.


1980 United States presidential election, Background
Carter was widely blamed for the return of the long gas lines in the summer of 1979 that was last seen just after the 1973 Yom Kippur War. He planned on delivering his fifth major speech on energy, but he felt that the American people were no longer listening. Carter left for the presidential retreat of Camp David. "For more than a week, a veil of secrecy enveloped the proceedings. Dozens of prominent Democratic Party leaders—members of Congress, governors, labor leaders, academics and clergy—were summoned to the mountaintop retreat to confer with the beleaguered president."


1980 United States presidential election, Background
His pollster, Pat Caddell, told him that the American people simply faced a crisis of confidence because of the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.; the Vietnam War; and Watergate. On July 15, 1979, Carter gave a nationally televised address in which he identified what he believed to be a "crisis of confidence" among the American people. This came to be known as his "Malaise speech", although Carter never used the word in the speech.


1980 United States presidential election, Background
Many expected Senator Ted Kennedy to successfully challenge Carter in the upcoming Democratic primary. Kennedy's official announcement was scheduled for early November. A television interview with Roger Mudd of CBS a few days before the announcement went badly, however. Kennedy gave an "incoherent and repetitive" answer to the question of why he was running, and the polls, which showed him leading the President by 58–25 in August now had him ahead 49–39.


1980 United States presidential election, Background
Meanwhile, Carter was given an opportunity for political redemption when the Khomeini regime again gained public attention and allowed the taking of 52 American hostages by a group of Islamist students and militants at the U.S. embassy in Tehran on November 4, 1979. Carter's calm approach towards the handling of this crisis resulted in his approval ratings jump in the 60-percent range in some polls, due to a "rally round the flag" effect.


1980 United States presidential election, Background
By the beginning of the election campaign, the prolonged Iran hostage crisis had sharpened public perceptions of a national crisis. On April 25, 1980, Carter's ability to use the hostage crisis to regain public acceptance eroded when his high risk attempt to rescue the hostages ended in disaster when eight servicemen were killed. The unsuccessful rescue attempt drew further skepticism towards his leadership skills.


1980 United States presidential election, Background
Following the failed rescue attempt, Carter took overwhelming blame for the Iran hostage crisis, in which the followers of the Ayatollah Khomeini burned American flags and chanted anti-American slogans, paraded the captured American hostages in public, and burned Carter in effigy. Carter's critics saw him as an inept leader who had failed to solve the worsening economic problems at home. His supporters defended the president as a decent, well-intentioned man being unfairly criticized for problems that had been escalating for years.


1980 United States presidential election, Background
Meanwhile, in Britain in 1979, Conservative challenger Margaret Thatcher was elected Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in a decisive victory defeating incumbent Labour Prime Minister James Callaghan. The UK Election was held against the backdrop of stagflation, high oil prices, high inflation, a large welfare state, turmoil in public sector unions and the Winter of Discontent summed up by the Sun newspaper headline, "Crisis? What crisis?". The scenario which played out in Britain would essentially be repeated and would foreshadow Carter's loss.


1980 United States presidential election, Background
Another event that polarized the electorate was the U.S.-led 1980 Summer Olympics boycott. Shortly following the Soviet Union's December 1979 invasion of Afghanistan, Carter demanded that the USSR withdraw from Afghanistan or the U.S. would boycott the 1980 Summer Olympics, set to be staged in Moscow. The USSR did not withdraw (for ten years). Carter's stance was controversial—he was both praised for his moral stand and criticized for politicizing the Olympics. With many allied countries joining the U.S. in the boycott, the contrasting spirits of competitive goodwill and campaign animosity, a feature of most presidential campaign years, was absent and the press had additional time to devote to national and international strife.


1980 United States presidential election, Background
In a tit-for-tat response four years later, the Soviet Bloc countries boycotted the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.


1980 United States presidential election, Nominations, Republican Party, Other major candidates
The following candidates were frequently interviewed by major broadcast networks and cable news channels, were listed in publicly published national polls, or had held a public office. Reagan received 7,709,793 votes in the primaries.


1980 United States presidential election, Nominations, Republican Party, Other major candidates
Former governor Ronald Reagan of California was the odds-on favorite to win his party's nomination for president after nearly beating incumbent President Gerald Ford just four years earlier. Reagan dominated the primaries early, driving from the field Senate Minority Leader Howard Baker from Tennessee, former governor John Connally of Texas, Senator Robert Dole from Kansas, Representative Phil Crane from Illinois, and Representative John Anderson from Illinois, who dropped out of the race to run as an Independent.


1980 United States presidential election, Nominations, Republican Party, Other major candidates
George H.W. Bush from Texas posed the strongest challenge to Reagan with his victories in the Pennsylvania and Michigan primaries, but it was not enough to turn the tide. Reagan won the nomination on the first round at the 1980 Republican National Convention in Detroit, Michigan, in July, then chose Bush (his top rival) as his running mate.


1980 United States presidential election, Nominations, Democratic Party, Other major candidates
The following candidates were frequently interviewed by major broadcast networks, were listed in published national polls, or had held public office. Carter received 10,043,016 votes in the primaries.


1980 United States presidential election, Nominations, Democratic Party, Other major candidates
The three major Democratic candidates in early 1980 were incumbent President Jimmy Carter, Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, and Governor Jerry Brown of California. Brown withdrew on April 2. Carter and Kennedy faced off in 34 primaries. Not counting the 1968 election in which Lyndon Johnson withdrew his candidacy, this was the most tumultuous primary race that an elected incumbent president had encountered since President Taft, during the highly contentious election of 1912.


1980 United States presidential election, Nominations, Democratic Party, Other major candidates
During the summer of 1980, there was a short-lived "Draft Muskie" movement; Secretary of State Edmund Muskie was seen as a favorable alternative to a deadlocked convention. One poll showed that Muskie would be a more popular alternative to Carter than Kennedy, implying that the attraction was not so much to Kennedy as to the fact that he was not Carter. Muskie was polling even with Ronald Reagan at the time, while Carter was seven points behind. Although the underground "Draft Muskie" campaign failed, it became a political legend.


1980 United States presidential election, Nominations, Democratic Party, Other major candidates
After defeating Kennedy in 24 of 34 primaries, Carter entered the party's convention in New York in August with 60 percent of the delegates pledged to him on the first ballot. Still, Kennedy refused to drop out. At the convention, after a futile last-ditch attempt by Kennedy to alter the rules to free delegates from their first-ballot pledges, Carter was renominated with 2,129 votes to 1,146 for Kennedy. Vice President Walter Mondale was also renominated. In his acceptance speech, Carter warned that Reagan's conservatism posed a threat to world peace and progressive social welfare programs from the New Deal to the Great Society.


1980 United States presidential election, Nominations, Other candidates
John B. Anderson was defeated in the Republican primaries, but entered the general election as an independent candidate. He campaigned as a liberal Republican alternative to Reagan's conservatism. Anderson's campaign appealed primarily to frustrated anti-Carter voters from Republican and Democratic backgrounds. Despite maintaining the support of millions of liberal, pro-ERA, anti-Reagan and anti-Carter voters all the way up to election day to finish third with 5.7 million votes, Anderson's poll ratings had ebbed away through the campaign season as many of his initial supporters were pulled away by Carter and Reagan. Anderson's running mate was Patrick Lucey, a Democratic former governor of Wisconsin and then ambassador to Mexico, appointed by President Carter.


1980 United States presidential election, Nominations, Other candidates
The Libertarian Party nominated Ed Clark for president and David Koch for vice president. They received almost one million votes and were on the ballot in all 50 states plus Washington, D.C. Koch, a co-owner of Koch Industries, pledged part of his personal fortune to the campaign. The Libertarian Party platform was the only political party in 1980 to contain a plank advocating for the equal rights of homosexual men and women as well as the only party platform to advocate explicitly for "amnesty" for all illegal non-citizens. The platform was also unique in favoring the repeal of both the National Labor Relations Act and all state Right to Work laws. Clark emphasized his support for an end to the war on drugs. He advertised his opposition to the draft and wars of choice.


1980 United States presidential election, Nominations, Other candidates
The Clark–Koch ticket received 921,128 votes (1.1% of the total nationwide), finishing in fourth place nationwide. This was the highest overall number of votes earned by a Libertarian candidate until the 2012 election, when Gary Johnson and James P. Gray became the first Libertarian ticket to earn more than a million votes, albeit with a lower overall vote percentage than Clark–Koch. The 1980 total remained the highest percentage of popular votes a Libertarian Party candidate received in a presidential race until Johnson and William Weld received 3.3% of the popular vote in 2016. Clark's strongest support was in Alaska, where he came in third place with 11.7% of the vote, finishing ahead of Independent candidate John B. Anderson and receiving almost half as many votes as Jimmy Carter.


1980 United States presidential election, Nominations, Other candidates
The Socialist Party USA nominated David McReynolds for president and Sister Diane Drufenbrock for vice president, making McReynolds the first openly gay man to run for president and Drufenbrock the first nun to be a candidate for national office in the U.S.


1980 United States presidential election, Nominations, Other candidates
The Citizens Party ran biologist Barry Commoner for president and Comanche Native American activist LaDonna Harris for vice president. The Commoner–Harris ticket was on the ballot in twenty-nine states and in the District of Columbia.


1980 United States presidential election, Nominations, Other candidates
The Communist Party USA ran Gus Hall for president and Angela Davis for vice president.


1980 United States presidential election, Nominations, Other candidates
The American Party nominated Percy L. Greaves Jr. for president and Frank L. Varnum for vice president.


1980 United States presidential election, Nominations, Other candidates
Rock star Joe Walsh ran a mock campaign as a write-in candidate, promising to make his song "Life's Been Good" the new national anthem if he won, and running on a platform of "Free Gas For Everyone." Though the 33-year-old Walsh was not old enough to actually assume the office, he wanted to raise public awareness of the election.


1980 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign
Under federal election laws, Carter and Reagan received $29.4 million each, and Anderson was given a limit of $18.5 million with private fund-raising allowed for him only. They were not allowed to spend any other money. Carter and Reagan each spent about $15 million on television advertising, and Anderson under $2 million. Reagan ended up spending $29.2 million in total, Carter $29.4 million, and Anderson spent $17.6 million—partially because he (Anderson) didn't get Federal Election Commission money until after the election.


1980 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign
The 1980 election is considered by some to be a political realignment, reaching a climate of confrontation practically not seen since 1932. Reagan's supporters praise him for running a campaign of upbeat optimism. David Frum says Carter ran an attack-based campaign based on "despair and pessimism" which "cost him the election." Carter emphasized his record as a peacemaker, and said Reagan's election would threaten civil rights and social programs that stretched back to the New Deal. Reagan's platform also emphasized the importance of peace, as well as a prepared self-defense.


1980 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign
Immediately after the conclusion of the primaries, a Gallup poll held that Reagan was ahead, with 58% of voters upset by Carter's handling of the Presidency. One analysis of the election has suggested that "Both Carter and Reagan were perceived negatively by a majority of the electorate." While the three leading candidates (Reagan, Anderson and Carter) were religious Christians, Carter had the most support of evangelical Christians according to a Gallup poll. However, in the end, Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority lobbying group is credited with giving Reagan two-thirds of the white evangelical vote. According to Carter: "that autumn [1980] a group headed by Jerry Falwell purchased $10 million in commercials on southern radio and TV to brand me as a traitor to the South and no longer a Christian."


1980 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign
The election of 1980 was a key turning point in American politics. It signaled the new electoral power of the suburbs and the Sun Belt. Reagan's success as a conservative would initiate a realigning of the parties, as liberal Republicans and conservative Democrats would either leave politics or change party affiliations through the 1980s and 1990s to leave the parties much more ideologically polarized. While during Barry Goldwater's 1964 campaign, many voters saw his warnings about a too-powerful government as hyperbolic and only 30% of the electorate agreed that government was too powerful, by 1980 a majority of Americans believed that government held too much power.


1980 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign, Promises
Reagan promised a restoration of the nation's military strength, at the same time 60% of Americans polled felt defense spending was too low. Reagan also promised an end to "trust me government" and to restore economic health by implementing a supply-side economic policy. Reagan promised a balanced budget within three years (which he said would be "the beginning of the end of inflation"), accompanied by a 30% reduction in tax rates over those same years. With respect to the economy, Reagan famously said, "A recession is when your neighbor loses his job. A depression is when you lose yours.


1980 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign, Promises
And recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his." Reagan also criticized the "windfall profit tax" that Carter and Congress enacted that year in regards to domestic oil production and promised to attempt to repeal it as president. The tax was not a tax on profits, but on the difference between the price control-mandated price and the market price.


1980 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign, Promises
On the issue of women's rights there was much division, with many feminists frustrated with Carter, the only major-party candidate who supported the Equal Rights Amendment. After a bitter Convention fight between Republican feminists and antifeminists the Republican Party dropped their forty-year endorsement of the ERA. Reagan, however, announced his dedication to women's rights and his intention to, if elected, appoint women to his cabinet and the first female justice to the Supreme Court. He also pledged to work with all 50 state governors to combat discrimination against women and to equalize federal laws as an alternative to the ERA. Reagan was convinced to give an endorsement of women's rights in his nomination acceptance speech.


1980 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign, Promises
Carter was criticized by his own aides for not having a "grand plan" for the recovery of the economy, nor did he ever make any campaign promises; he often criticized Reagan's economic recovery plan, but did not create one of his own in response.


1980 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign, Events
In August, after the Republican National Convention, Ronald Reagan gave a campaign speech at the annual Neshoba County Fair on the outskirts of Philadelphia, Mississippi, where three civil rights workers were murdered in 1964. He was the first presidential candidate ever to campaign at the fair. Reagan famously announced, "Programs like education and others should be turned back to the states and local communities with the tax sources to fund them. I believe in states' rights. I believe in people doing as much as they can at the community level and the private level."


1980 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign, Events
Reagan also stated, "I believe we have distorted the balance of our government today by giving powers that were never intended to be given in the Constitution to that federal establishment." He went on to promise to "restore to states and local governments the power that properly belongs to them." President Carter criticized Reagan for injecting "hate and racism" by the "rebirth of code words like 'states' rights'".


1980 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign, Events
Two days later, Reagan appeared at the Urban League convention in New York, where he said, "I am committed to the protection and enforcement of the civil rights of black Americans. This commitment is interwoven into every phase of the plans I will propose." He then said that he would develop "enterprise zones" to help with urban renewal.


1980 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign, Events
The media's main criticism of Reagan centered on his gaffes. When Carter kicked off his general election campaign in Tuscumbia, Reagan—referring to the Southern U.S. as a whole—claimed that Carter had begun his campaign in the birthplace of the Ku Klux Klan. In doing so, Reagan seemed to insinuate that the KKK represented the South, which caused many Southern governors to denounce Reagan's remarks. Additionally, Reagan was widely ridiculed by Democrats for saying that trees caused pollution; he later said that he meant only certain types of pollution and his remarks had been misquoted.


1980 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign, Events
Meanwhile, Carter was burdened by a continued weak economy and the Iran hostage crisis. Inflation, high interest rates, and unemployment continued through the course of the campaign, and the ongoing hostage crisis in Iran became, according to David Frum in How We Got Here: The '70s, a symbol of American impotence during the Carter years. John Anderson's independent candidacy, aimed at eliciting support from liberals, was also seen as hurting Carter more than Reagan, especially in reliably Democratic states such as Massachusetts and New York.


1980 United States presidential election, General election, Presidential debates
The League of Women Voters, which had sponsored the 1976 Ford/Carter debate series, announced that it would do so again for the next cycle in the spring of 1979. However, Carter was not eager to participate with any debate. He had repeatedly refused to a debate with Senator Edward M. Kennedy during the primary season, and had given ambivalent signals as to his participation in the fall.


1980 United States presidential election, General election, Presidential debates
The League of Women Voters had announced a schedule of debates similar to 1976, three presidential and one vice presidential. No one had much of a problem with this until it was announced that Rep. John B. Anderson might be invited to participate along with Carter and Reagan. Carter steadfastly refused to participate with Anderson included, and Reagan refused to debate without him. It took months of negotiations for the League of Women Voters to finally put it together. It was held on September 21, 1980, in the Baltimore Convention Center.


1980 United States presidential election, General election, Presidential debates
Reagan said of Carter's refusal to debate: "He [Carter] knows that he couldn't win a debate even if it were held in the Rose Garden before an audience of Administration officials with the questions being asked by Jody Powell." The League of Women Voters promised the Reagan campaign that the debate stage would feature an empty chair to represent the missing president. Carter was very upset about the planned chair stunt, and at the last minute convinced the league to take it out. The debate was moderated by Bill Moyers.


1980 United States presidential election, General election, Presidential debates
Anderson, who many thought would handily dispatch Reagan, managed only a narrow win, according to many in the media at that time, with Reagan putting up a much stronger performance than expected. Despite the narrow win in the debate, Anderson, who had been as high as 20% in some polls, and at the time of the debate was over 10%, dropped to about 5% soon after, although Anderson got back up to winning 6.6% of the vote on election day.


1980 United States presidential election, General election, Presidential debates
In the debate, Anderson failed to substantively engage Reagan enough on their social issue differences and on Reagan's advocation of supply-side economics. Anderson instead started off by criticizing Carter: "Governor Reagan is not responsible for what has happened over the last four years, nor am I. The man who should be here tonight to respond to those charges chose not to attend," to which Reagan added: "It's a shame now that there are only two of us here debating, because the two that are here are in more agreement than disagreement." In one moment in the debate, Reagan commented on a rumor that Anderson had invited Senator Ted Kennedy to be his running mate by asking the candidate directly, "John, would you really prefer Teddy Kennedy to me?"


1980 United States presidential election, General election, Presidential debates
As September turned into October, the situation remained essentially the same. Governor Reagan insisted Anderson be allowed to participate in a three-way debate, while President Carter remained steadfastly opposed to this. As the standoff continued, the second debate was canceled, as was the vice presidential debate.


1980 United States presidential election, General election, Presidential debates
With two weeks to go to the election, the Reagan campaign decided that the best thing to do at that moment was to accede to all of President Carter's demands, including that Anderson not feature, and LWV agreed to exclude Congressman Anderson from the final debate, which was rescheduled for October 28 in Cleveland, Ohio.


1980 United States presidential election, General election, Presidential debates
The presidential debate between President Carter and Governor Reagan was moderated by Howard K. Smith and presented by the League of Women Voters. The showdown ranked among the highest ratings of any television program in the previous decade. Debate topics included the Iranian hostage crisis, and nuclear arms treaties and proliferation. Carter's campaign sought to portray Reagan as a reckless "war hawk," as well as a "dangerous right-wing radical". But it was President Carter's reference to his consultation with 12-year-old daughter Amy concerning nuclear weapons policy that became the focus of post-debate analysis and fodder for late-night television jokes.


1980 United States presidential election, General election, Presidential debates
President Carter said he had asked Amy what the most important issue in that election was and she said, "the control of nuclear arms." A famous political cartoon, published the day after Reagan's landslide victory, showed Amy Carter sitting in Jimmy's lap with her shoulders shrugged asking "the economy? the hostage crisis?"


1980 United States presidential election, General election, Presidential debates
When President Carter criticized Reagan's record, which included voting against Medicare and Social Security benefits, Governor Reagan audibly sighed and replied: "There you go again".


1980 United States presidential election, General election, Presidential debates
In describing the national debt that was approaching $1 trillion, Reagan stated "a billion is a thousand millions, and a trillion is a thousand billions." When Carter would criticize the content of Reagan's campaign speeches, Reagan began his counter with the words: "Well ... I don't know that I said that. I really don't."


1980 United States presidential election, General election, Presidential debates
In his closing remarks, Reagan asked viewers: "Are you better off now than you were four years ago? Is it easier for you to go and buy things in the stores than it was four years ago? Is there more or less unemployment in the country than there was four years ago? Is America as respected throughout the world as it was? Do you feel that our security is as safe, that we're as strong as we were four years ago?


1980 United States presidential election, General election, Presidential debates
And if you answer all of those questions 'yes', why then, I think your choice is very obvious as to whom you will vote for. If you don't agree, if you don't think that this course that we've been on for the last four years is what you would like to see us follow for the next four, then I could suggest another choice that you have."


1980 United States presidential election, General election, Presidential debates
After trailing Carter by 8 points among registered voters (and by 3 points among likely voters) right before their debate, Reagan moved into a 3-point lead among likely voters immediately afterward.


1980 United States presidential election, General election, Endorsements
In September 1980, former Watergate scandal prosecutor Leon Jaworski accepted a position as honorary chairman of Democrats for Reagan. Five months earlier, Jaworski had harshly criticized Reagan as an "extremist"; he said after accepting the chairmanship, "I would rather have a competent extremist than an incompetent moderate."


1980 United States presidential election, General election, Endorsements
Former Democratic Senator Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota (who in 1968 had challenged Lyndon Johnson from the left, causing the then-President to all but abdicate) endorsed Reagan.


1980 United States presidential election, General election, Endorsements
Three days before the November 4 voting in the election, the National Rifle Association endorsed a presidential candidate for the first time in its history, backing Reagan. Reagan had received the California Rifle and Pistol Association's Outstanding Public Service Award. Carter had appointed Abner J. Mikva, a fervent proponent of gun control, to a federal judgeship and had supported the Alaska Lands Bill, closing 40,000,000 acres (160,000 km2) to hunting.


1980 United States presidential election, General election, Results
The election was held on November 4, 1980. Ronald Reagan and running mate George H. W. Bush beat Carter by almost 10 percentage points in the popular vote. Republicans also gained control of the Senate on Reagan's coattails for the first time since 1952. The electoral college vote was a landslide, with 489 votes (representing 44 states) for Reagan and 49 for Carter (representing six states and Washington, D.C.).


1980 United States presidential election, General election, Results
NBC News projected Reagan as the winner at 8:15 pm EST (5:15 PST), before voting was finished in the West, based on exit polls; it was the first time a broadcast network used exit polling to project a winner, and took the other broadcast networks by surprise. Carter conceded defeat at 9:50 pm EST.


1980 United States presidential election, General election, Results
Carter's loss was the worst performance by an incumbent president since Herbert Hoover lost to Franklin D. Roosevelt by a margin of 18% in 1932, and his 49 electoral college votes were the fewest won by an incumbent since William Howard Taft won only 8 in 1912.


1980 United States presidential election, General election, Results
Carter was the first incumbent Democrat to serve only one full term since James Buchanan and also the first to serve one full term, seek re-election, and lose since Martin Van Buren; Grover Cleveland served two non-consecutive terms while Harry Truman and Lyndon B. Johnson served one full term in addition to respectively taking over following the deaths of Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy.


1980 United States presidential election, General election, Results
Carter carried only Georgia (his home state), Maryland, Minnesota (Mondale's home state), Hawaii, West Virginia, Rhode Island, and the District of Columbia.


1980 United States presidential election, General election, Results
John Anderson won 6.6% of the popular vote but failed to win any state outright. He found the most support in New England, fueled by liberal and moderate Republicans who felt Reagan was too far to the right and with voters who normally leaned Democratic but were dissatisfied with the policies of the Carter Administration. His best showing was in Massachusetts, where he won 15% of the popular vote. Conversely, Anderson performed worst in the South, receiving under 2% of the popular vote in South Carolina, Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi. Anderson claims that he was accused of spoiling the election for Carter by receiving votes that might have otherwise been cast for Carter. However, 37 percent of Anderson voters polled preferred Reagan as their second choice.


1980 United States presidential election, General election, Results
Libertarian Party candidate Ed Clark received 921,299 popular votes (1.06%). The Libertarians succeeded in getting Clark on the ballot in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Clark's best showing was in Alaska, where he received 11.66% of the vote. The 921,299 votes achieved by the Clark–Koch ticket was the best performance by a Libertarian presidential candidate until 2012, when the Johnson–Gray ticket received 1,273,667 votes. In addition, the popular vote percentage was the highest of a Libertarian presidential candidate until 2016, when the Johnson-Weld ticket received 3.28%.


1980 United States presidential election, General election, Results
Reagan won 53% of the vote in reliably Democratic South Boston. His electoral college victory of 489 electoral votes (90.9% of the electoral vote) was the most lopsided electoral college victory for a first-time President-elect, with the exception of George Washington's unanimous victory in 1788. Although Reagan was to win an even greater Electoral College majority in 1984, the 1980 election nonetheless stands as the last time some currently very strong Democratic counties gave a Republican majority or plurality.


1980 United States presidential election, General election, Results
Notable examples are Jefferson County in Washington State, Lane County, Oregon, Marin and Santa Cruz Counties in California, McKinley County, New Mexico, and Rock Island County, Illinois. This election is the last time a Republican won the presidency without winning Georgia. This is the first time Massachusetts voted for the Republican candidate since 1956. 1980 is one of only two occurrences of a pair of consecutive elections seeing the incumbent president defeated, the other one happening in 1892. This is the only time in the 20th century a party was voted out after a single four-year term.


1980 United States presidential election, General election, Results
Survey research and post-election polling indicated that the landslide result had been more a repudiation of Carter than an embrace of Reagan and his conservatism. However, the public was aware that Reagan would move the nation in a more conservative direction, and were, apparently, willing to give it a chance to avoid four more years of Carter.


1980 United States presidential election, General election, Results
At 69 years old, Ronald Reagan was the oldest non-incumbent presidential candidate to win a presidential election. Thirty-six years later in 2016 this record was surpassed by Donald Trump at 70 years old. It was then surpassed again by Joe Biden who was elected at 77 years old in 2020.


1980 United States presidential election, Results
Results by county, shaded according to winning candidate's percentage of the vote


1980 United States presidential election, Results, Results by state
Maine allowed its electoral votes to be split between candidates. Two electoral votes were awarded to the winner of the statewide race and one electoral vote to the winner of each congressional district. Reagan won all four votes.


1980 United States presidential election, Results, Close states
Margin of victory more than 5%, but less than 10% (113 electoral votes):


1980 United States presidential election, Voter demographics
Source: CBS News and The New York Times exit poll from the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research (15,201 surveyed)


1980 United States presidential election in Alabama
The United States presidential election in Alabama was held on November 4, 1980. Former California Governor Ronald Reagan narrowly won the state and its 9 electoral votes, winning 48.8% to Incumbent President Jimmy Carter’s 47.5%. John B. Anderson came in third place, winning 1.23%, although Alabama was Anderson’s weakest state in the entire country. Two other candidates, Conservative Party nominee John Rarick and Libertarian Party candidate Ed Clark, each received close to one percent of the vote.


1980 United States presidential election in Alabama
Reagan's margin of victory largely rested upon his strong performances in Mobile and Baldwin counties along the Gulf Coast, and Jefferson and Shelby counties in the Birmingham metropolitan area. Reagan also won three counties home to large cities: Madison (Huntsville), Montgomery and Tuscaloosa. In contrast, Carter’s local appeal remained strong in the more rural counties of the state (except Winston County, a Republican bastion since the late 19th Century), and he won overwhelming victories in the Black Belt, where Carter’s 80.10% in Macon County was the highest proportion he received in any county nationwide.


1980 United States presidential election in Alabama
The 1980 election would set up Alabama to become a Republican stronghold for future presidential elections, after having been part of the Democratic Solid South for most of its statehood since 1824. As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election in which Limestone County, Morgan County, Marshall County, Talladega County, Cullman County, Tallapoosa County, Bibb County, Randolph County, Henry County, Lamar County, and Clay County voted for a Democratic presidential candidate.


1980 United States presidential election in Alaska
The 1980 United States presidential election in Alaska took place on November 4, 1980, as part of the nationwide presidential election. Voters chose three representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1980 United States presidential election in Alaska
Alaska was won by Ronald Reagan (R–California) with 54.3% of the popular vote against incumbent President Jimmy Carter (D–Georgia) with 26.4%. This is the worst performance by the Democratic Party in Alaska in U.S. history. Reagan ultimately won the national vote, defeating Carter and becoming the next President. Alaska has only voted Democratic once, and that was in 1964 for Lyndon B. Johnson.


1980 United States presidential election in Alaska
Libertarian candidate Ed Clark had his strongest showing in Alaska and set the record for the best performance of a Libertarian presidential candidate on a statewide level. He also beat Independent candidate John B. Anderson in this state despite Anderson winning more votes than Clark nationally.


1980 United States presidential election in Arizona
The 1980 United States presidential election in Arizona took place on November 4, 1980. All fifty states and The District of Columbia were part of the 1980 United States presidential election. State voters chose six electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1980 United States presidential election in Arizona
Arizona was won by former California Governor Ronald Reagan by a landslide of 32%. This result left the state 22.62% more Republican than the nation at-large, a differential greater even than when Barry Goldwater narrowly won his home state during his 1964 landslide defeat, and the most Republican relative to the nation at-large Arizona has ever been since statehood in 1912. Reagan's victory margin was at the time the largest by a Republican, though he would beat his own record four years later. Only Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932 and 1936 has won Arizona by a larger margin, whilst Carter's share of the popular vote remains the worst ever by a Democrat in the Grand Canyon State.


1980 United States presidential election in Arizona
Reagan won every county except heavily unionized Greenlee, which would never vote Republican until 2000, in the process duplicating the state's 1972 county map. This stands as the last election when predominantly Native American Apache County has supported the Republican nominee.


1980 United States presidential election in Arizona
Carter's insensitivity to essential issues in the West, especially water development, ensured he would be comfortably beaten in this normally solidly Republican state, which had been the only state no Democrat carried during the dealigned 1960s and 1970s.


1980 United States presidential election in Arkansas
The 1980 United States presidential election in Arkansas took place on November 4, 1980. All fifty states and The District of Columbia were part of the 1980 United States presidential election. State voters chose six electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1980 United States presidential election in Arkansas
The election was very close in Arkansas, with the state being won by former California Governor Ronald Reagan (R) by only 0.6 points.


1980 United States presidential election in Arkansas
Despite Incumbent President Jimmy Carter winning the state four years earlier by 30 percent, Carter's perceived failures in office in addition to an economic downturn in an election year, combined with the Iran hostage crisis as well as a riot by Cuban Refugees who were temporarily placed in Fort Chaffee in Western Arkansas. While insignificant in the overall context of Reagan winning the Electoral College by a significant amount, analysts say the combined Democratic ticket in Arkansas in both the Presidential and Gubernatorial race would have swung back to the Democrats had the riot not occurred.


1980 United States presidential election in California
The 1980 United States presidential election in California took place on November 4, 1980 as part of the 1980 United States presidential election. State voters chose 45 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1980 United States presidential election in California
California voted for the Republican nominee, the state's former governor Ronald Reagan, in a landslide over the Democratic incumbent, Jimmy Carter. Reagan won his home state by a wide 16.78% point margin and carried all but three counties. Among the counties Reagan won was Plumas, the first Republican victory in that county since 1920. Reagan is also the last Republican candidate to carry the counties of Marin and Santa Cruz in a presidential election. Carter carried only three of the state's 58 counties: Alameda, San Francisco and Yolo.


1980 United States presidential election in California
1980 marks the most recent election in which California voted more Republican than the United States as a whole. This election indeed constitutes the most Republican California has voted relative to the whole nation since 1928, when anti-Catholic prejudice against Al Smith had a substantial influence; here, it was widely believed that Carter lacked understanding of critical Western issues, most importantly water development. This also remains the last time a Republican won the San Francisco Bay Area, and the last one in which San Francisco gave less than 60% of the vote to the Democratic candidate. As of 2020, this is the last presidential election in which California voted more Republican than Texas.


1980 United States presidential election in Colorado
The 1980 United States presidential election in Colorado took place on November 4, 1980. All 50 states and The District of Columbia, were part of the 1980 United States presidential election. State voters chose seven electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1980 United States presidential election in Colorado
Colorado was won by the Republican Party candidate, former California Governor Ronald Reagan by a landslide of  24 points, defeating Democratic incumbent president Jimmy Carter. John B. Anderson, an Illinois Republican congressman running on the National Unity ticket, received 11% of the vote.


1980 United States presidential election in Colorado
As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last occasion where a Republican candidate carried the City and County of Denver. Since then, Denver has remained a reliable Democratic stronghold in presidential elections.


1980 United States presidential election in Connecticut
The 1980 United States presidential election in Connecticut took place on November 4, 1980. All 50 states and The District of Columbia, were part of the 1980 United States presidential election. Voters chose eight electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1980 United States presidential election in Connecticut
Connecticut was won by former California Governor Ronald Reagan by 10 points. President of the United States Jimmy Carter failed to gain reelection against Reagan. Connecticut election results reflect the Republican Party's re-consolidation under what is popularly call the "Reagan Revolution," which sounded overwhelming conservative electoral victories across the United States.


1980 United States presidential election in Connecticut
The already embattled incumbent Democratic president Carter was hurt in the state by the strong third party candidacy of John Anderson, a liberal Republican Congressman who ran in 1980 as an independent after failing to win the Republican Party's own presidential nomination. Anderson proved very popular with liberal and moderate voters in New England who normally leaned Democratic but were dissatisfied with the policies of the Carter Administration and viewed Reagan as too far to the right.


1980 United States presidential election in Connecticut
New England overall would prove to be Anderson's strongest region in the nation, with all 6 New England states giving double-digit percentages to Anderson. In fact, Connecticut would prove to be Anderson's fifth strongest state in the nation after Massachusetts, Vermont, Rhode Island and New Hampshire. His 12.22% of the vote in the state was nearly double the 6.61% he got nationwide.


1980 United States presidential election in Delaware
The 1980 United States presidential election in Delaware took place on November 4, 1980. All 50 states and The District of Columbia, were part of the 1980 United States presidential election. State voters chose three electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1980 United States presidential election in Delaware
The election here was close, with Delaware being won by former California Governor Ronald Reagan by two points. Notably, Reagan won New Castle County by just one vote over Carter.


1980 United States presidential election in Florida
The 1980 United States presidential election in Florida took place on Tuesday, November 4, 1980, as part of the 1980 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. Florida voters chose 17 electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Jimmy Carter and his running mate, Vice President Walter Mondale, against Republican challenger and former California Governor Ronald Reagan and his running mate and former Director of the CIA, George H.W. Bush.


1980 United States presidential election in Florida
The Republican ticket won Florida by a wide 17.02% margin, a particularly strong performance in this conservative leaning state that voted for Carter in 1976 by a 5.29% margin. John B. Anderson, a liberal Republican Congressman from Illinois who ran as an Independent with former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Patrick Lucey, received his strongest performance of any Southern state in Florida, where he won 5.14% of the vote. Florida, along with Virginia, were one of only two southern states to give Anderson over 5% of the vote.


1980 United States presidential election in Florida
Although Carter lost Florida, he is the last Democrat to win a majority of counties in the state's northern region. Carter is also the last Democrat to win the counties of Baker, Bradford, Columbia, Jackson, Lafayette, Liberty, Suwannee, and Union. This cycle also marks the most recent time that an incumbent President standing for re-election would fail to carry Florida, irrespective of the national outcome.


1980 United States presidential election in Georgia
The 1980 United States presidential election in Georgia took place on November 4, 1980, in Georgia as part of the 1980 United States presidential election.


1980 United States presidential election in Georgia
The Democratic Party candidate, incumbent President Jimmy Carter, won his home state of Georgia over former California Governor Ronald Reagan by 236,565 votes, giving him one of just seven victories in the election (other than Georgia, Carter also carried Maryland, Minnesota, Hawaii, West Virginia, the District of Columbia and Rhode Island).


1980 United States presidential election in Georgia
Georgia weighed in as 25 points more Democratic than the national average. This is slightly down from 1976, when the Peach State weighed in as 32 points more Democratic than the national average. Just 4 years later, Georgia would flip back to Republican territory and vote Republican in every election until 2020, with the exception of 1992.


1980 United States presidential election in Georgia
As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election in which counties such as McDuffie, Towns, Gilmer, Whitfield, Union, Rabun, Stephens, Jackson, Banks, Murray, Habersham, Madison, Hall, White, Dawson, Gordon, Paulding, Spalding, Troup, Forsyth, Upson, Coweta, Effingham, Glascock, Bulloch, Houston, Bartow, Oconee, Glynn, Cherokee, Toombs, Thomas, Floyd, Colquitt, Camden, Echols, Charlton, Pierce, Coffee, Bryan, Walton, Oglethorpe, Evans, Tattnall, Tift, Pike, Harris, Carroll, Appling, Barrow, and Wayne voted for a Democratic presidential candidate.


1980 United States presidential election in Georgia
It is also the last occasion Ware County gave a majority to a Democratic presidential candidate, although Bill Clinton and incumbent president George H. W. Bush tied there with 4,573 votes in 1992. This is also the last time a Democrat won Georgia by a double digit margin, the last time that a Republican won the presidency without carrying Georgia and the last time a Democrat carried Georgia with a majority of the vote.


1980 United States presidential election in Hawaii
The 1980 United States presidential election in Hawaii took place on November 4, 1980. All 50 states and The District of Columbia, were part of the 1980 United States presidential election. Hawaii voters chose four electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1980 United States presidential election in Hawaii
Hawaii was won by President Jimmy Carter (D) by 1.9 points. Hawaii is a very liberal state, and both of the state's U.S. Senators have been Democrats since 1977, which is partly the reason Reagan lost, albeit very narrowly. As of 2020, this is the last time in which all counties in Hawaii did not vote for the same candidate, and only the second time (the first being 1960) since the state joined the union.


1980 United States presidential election in Idaho
The 1980 United States presidential election in Idaho took place on November 4, 1980. All fifty states and The District of Columbia were part of the 1980 United States presidential election. State voters chose four electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1980 United States presidential election in Idaho
Idaho was won by former California Governor Ronald Reagan (R) by a 41-point landslide. It is a reliably Republican state, and the last Democratic presidential candidate to carry the state was Lyndon Johnson in 1964, and even Johnson won by merely five thousand votes in a national landslide. With 66.46 percent of the popular vote, Idaho would prove to be Reagan's second strongest state after Utah.


1980 United States presidential election in Illinois
The 1980 United States presidential election in Illinois took place on November 4, 1980. All 50 states and The District of Columbia, were part of the 1980 United States presidential election. State voters chose 26 electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1980 United States presidential election in Illinois, Election information
The primaries and general elections coincided with those for other federal offices (Senate and House), as well as those for state offices.


1980 United States presidential election in Illinois, Election information, Background
Illinois had voted Republican in the previous three presidential elections.


1980 United States presidential election in Illinois, Election information, Turnout
Turnout in the primary elections was 40.41%, with a total of 2,331,148 ballots cast. The primaries saw a cumulative increase in turnout over the previous 1976 primaries.


1980 United States presidential election in Illinois, Election information, Turnout
Turnout during the general election was 76.24%, with 4,749,721 ballots cast.


1980 United States presidential election in Illinois, Primaries
State-run primaries were held for the Democratic and Republican parties on March 18.


1980 United States presidential election in Illinois, Primaries
The Illinois primaries were viewed as significant in 1980, being viewed as the first large contest in a northern industrial state.


1980 United States presidential election in Illinois, Primaries, Democratic
The 1980 Illinois Democratic presidential primary was held on March 18, 1980 in the U.S. state of Illinois as one of the Democratic Party's statewide nomination contests ahead of the 1980 presidential election.


1980 United States presidential election in Illinois, Primaries, Democratic
The popular vote was a "beauty contest". Delegates were instead selected by direct-vote in each congressional districts on delegate candidates, who had either pledged to support a candidate or been uncommitted. 138 delegates pledged Jimmy Carter won,  while only 14 delegates pledged to Kennedy won. Additionally, 13 uncommitted delegates won. At the state convention in April, Carter was awarded an additional 25 delegates out of the 28 delegates selected at the convention.


1980 United States presidential election in Illinois, Primaries, Republican
The 1980 Illinois Republican presidential primary was held on March 18, 1980 in the U.S. state of Illinois as one of the Republican Party's statewide nomination contests ahead of the 1980 presidential election.


1980 United States presidential election in Illinois, Primaries, Republican
The primary was a so-called "blind primary" or "loophole primary". Under this format, delegates were not selected based upon the preference vote for president, but rather directly voted upon by voters in each congressional district. Additionally, the presidential preferences of each delegate candidate was not listed on the ballot.


1980 United States presidential election in Illinois, Primaries, Republican
This primary saw a larger-than-usual turnout for an Illinois Republican primary, with more than a 400,000 vote increase over the 1976 Republican primary. This was attributed to both the appeal of Anderson and Reagan to independents as well crossover voting by Democrats who opted against voting in the Democratic primary due to it lacking a close race.


1980 United States presidential election in Illinois, Primaries, Republican
In both the state's popular vote and delegate count, Ronald Reagan placed first, respectively followed by John B. Anderson, George Bush, and Phil Crane.


1980 United States presidential election in Illinois, Primaries, Republican
Three of the candidates had Illinois connections. Ronald Reagan was born in the state, while John B. Anderson and Phil Crane were both incumbent congressmen from the state. While John B. Anderson failed to win his home state, he performed strongly in certain areas of the state, particularly in the suburbs of Chicago. Phil Crane's securing of three delegates came despite him having already dropped-out of the race before the Illinois primary.


1980 United States presidential election in Illinois, General election
Illinois had voted Republican in the previous three Presidential elections, and early analysis suggested Reagan as a good candidate against Carter in Dixie Southern Illinois. Nonetheless, at the beginning of the campaign trail an opinion poll suggested Reagan would lose to Carter by 26%, but the Republican campaign knew carrying a state which Gerald Ford had won four years ago to be essential and the state was heavily targeted by GOP campaigners. By mid-September, polls were showing the "Land of Lincoln" as very close, and Carter was hit by political conflicts in Chicago between mayor Jane F. Byrne and State Senator Richard Daley.


1980 United States presidential election in Illinois, General election
Carter strategists did target the state in September and hoped that prospective Republican nominee John Anderson – who had run against Reagan in the GOP presidential primaries before launching his own independent presidential campaign – would take enough votes from Reagan to give Carter the state with a smaller proportion of the votes than he won in 1976.


1980 United States presidential election in Illinois, General election
Polls in mid-October suggested Illinois was "too close to call", and as election day neared, opinions fluctuated especially in the critical southern part of the state.


1980 United States presidential election in Illinois, General election
Ultimately Illinois – the state where Republican candidate, former California Governor Ronald Reagan was born in the town of Tampico and raised there– was won by him with a 7.93% margin of victory over Democratic candidate, President Jimmy Carter. Reagan won all but three counties, but Carter's 268 thousand-vote margin in massively populated Cook County meant Illinois voted three percentage points more Democratic than the nation at-large. Despite being the home state of Congressman John B. Anderson, he only won 7.30% of the popular vote, 346,754 votes, and failed to carry any counties.


1980 United States presidential election in Illinois, General election
This election is the most recent in which Rock Island County voted for a Republican presidential candidate.


1980 United States presidential election in Indiana
The 1980 United States presidential election in Indiana took place on November 4, 1980. All 50 states and The District of Columbia were part of the 1980 United States presidential election. State voters chose 13 electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1980 United States presidential election in Indiana
Indiana was won by former California Governor Ronald Reagan (R) by 18 points. The state has voted Republican in every election since 1964, except in 2008 when it did not vote for John McCain. Despite that as recent as 2004 Republicans had won by 20 points, However otherwise Republicans would maintain a similar margin to 1980 in Indiana in future elections, including 2016.


1980 United States presidential election in Iowa
The 1980 United States presidential election in Iowa took place on November 4, 1980. All 50 states and The District of Columbia were part of the 1980 United States presidential election. Voters chose eight electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1980 United States presidential election in Iowa
Iowa was won by former California Governor Ronald Reagan (R) by a comfortable margin of about 13 points. As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last Presidential election in which a Republican has won Iowa by more than 10 points, as well as the last time a Republican won Polk County, home to Iowa's capital and most populated city, Des Moines. It was also the last time until Donald Trump in 2016 that a Republican presidential candidate won the following counties: Boone, Cerro Gordo, Lee, Webster and Worth.


1980 United States presidential election in Iowa, Caucus Results
Note: SDE stands for 'State Delegate Equivalents' which (until 2020) was the closest thing to a popular vote available for the Democratic Caucus.


1980 United States presidential election in Kansas
</noinclude>The 1980 United States presidential election in Kansas took place on November 4, 1980. All 50 states and The District of Columbia were part of the 1980 United States presidential election. State voters chose seven electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1980 United States presidential election in Kansas
Kansas had gone Republican in nine of its previous ten presidential elections, although Carter in 1976 had achieved the second-best Democratic performance in that timespan. Carter and Ronald Reagan both won landslides in the state’s early April presidential primaries, in Reagan’s case this being aided strongly by the support of Sunflower State Senator Bob Dole. By July it was clear that the economic frustration of Kansas’ farmers, who had due to a major drought given unusual support to Carter in 1976, would turn them and the state further towards Reagan than it had been in 1976. Although Reagan and Carter campaigned heavily in neighbouring Jackson County, Missouri during October – spending time in both Independence and the Missouri section of Kansas City where they sparred over the Iran hostage crisis – neither candidate campaigned over the Kansas state line.


1980 United States presidential election in Kansas
Kansas was won by former California Governor Ronald Reagan (R) by a margin of 24.56 points. As had previously occurred in 1952, 1956 and 1968, the Republican nominee won every county except urbanised and substantially black Wyandotte. Kansas has remained a reliably Republican state, and the last Democratic presidential candidate to carry the state was Lyndon Johnson in 1964.


1980 United States presidential election in Kentucky
The 1980 United States presidential election in Kentucky took place on November 4, 1980. All 50 states and The District of Columbia were part of the 1980 United States presidential election. Kentucky voters chose 9 electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1980 United States presidential election in Kentucky
Kentucky was won by former California Governor Ronald Reagan (R) by a slim margin of 1 point. As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last time that Kentucky has leaned more Democratic than the nation as a whole. It is also the last time that Scott County, Shelby County, Boyle County, Woodford County, Grant County, Anderson County, Mercer County, Pendleton County, and Washington County voted for a Democratic Presidential candidate.


1980 United States presidential election in Louisiana
The 1980 United States presidential election in Louisiana took place on November 4, 1980. All 50 states and The District of Columbia were part of the 1980 United States presidential election. State voters chose ten electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1980 United States presidential election in Louisiana
Louisiana was won by former California Governor Ronald Reagan (R) by 5.45 percentage points. As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election in which Livingston Parish and Beauregard Parish voted for a Democratic presidential candidate.


1980 United States presidential election in Maine
The 1980 United States presidential election in Maine took place on November 4, 1980. All fifty states and The District of Columbia were part of the 1980 United States presidential election. Voters chose four electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1980 United States presidential election in Maine
Maine was won by former California Governor Ronald Reagan (R) by a slim margin of 3%, carrying fourteen out of sixteen counties. In recent years, however, the state has grown much more liberal, and no Republican presidential nominee has carried it since 1988.


1980 United States presidential election in Maine
The already embattled incumbent Democratic president Carter was hurt in the state by the strong third party candidacy of John B. Anderson, a liberal Republican Congressman who ran in 1980 as an independent after failing to win the Republican Party's own presidential nomination. Anderson proved very popular with liberal and moderate voters in New England who normally leaned Democratic but were dissatisfied with the policies of the Carter Administration and viewed Reagan as too far to the right.


1980 United States presidential election in Maine
New England overall would prove to be Anderson's strongest region in the nation, with all six New England states giving double-digit percentages to Anderson. However, Maine would prove to be Anderson's weakest state in New England with only 10.20% of the popular vote, whereas all five of the other states in New England gave Anderson over 12% of the popular vote, peaking at 15.15% in Massachusetts.


1980 United States presidential election in Maryland
The 1980 United States presidential election in Maryland took place on November 4, 1980, as part of the 1980 United States presidential election. Voters chose 10 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1980 United States presidential election in Maryland
On election night, several news outlets actually incorrectly called the state for Ronald Reagan. In a similar vein, many of the same news outlets also called Massachusetts for President Carter, despite the fact that Reagan would ultimately end up winning that state by a very close margin.


1980 United States presidential election in Maryland
Maryland was won by incumbent President Jimmy Carter (D-Georgia), with 47.12% of the popular vote, over former Governor Ronald Reagan (R-California) with 44.18% of the popular vote and Republican US Representative John B. Anderson running as an independent candidate (I-Illinois) with 7.76% of the popular vote. Reagan ultimately won the national vote, defeating Carter.


1980 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
The 1980 United States presidential election in Massachusetts took place on November 4, 1980, as part of the 1980 United States presidential election, which was held throughout all 50 states and D.C. Voters chose 14 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1980 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
Massachusetts was very narrowly carried by the Republican nominee, former Governor Ronald Reagan of California, over incumbent Democratic President Jimmy Carter of Georgia and Independent candidate Congressman John B. Anderson of Illinois.


1980 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
On election day, Reagan won a plurality of 41.90% of the vote in the state to Carter's 41.75%, with Anderson in third at 15.15%, giving Reagan a razor-thin margin of 0.1517%. This constitutes the fifteenth-smallest percentage margin in any statewide presidential election since the Civil War, and the smallest since Kennedy won Hawaii by 115 votes in that state's inaugural presidential election two decades previously. The only smaller percentage margins since have been Florida (537 votes or 0.009%) and New Mexico (361 votes or 0.061%) in the controversial 2000 election, and Missouri in 2008, which John McCain won by 3,903 votes or 0.1343%.


1980 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
With President Carter a greatly weakened incumbent by 1980, Reagan won a comfortable election victory nationwide.


1980 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
However, Massachusetts had been a Democratic-leaning state since 1928, and a Democratic stronghold since 1960. In 1972, Massachusetts was the only state in the nation to vote for Democrat George McGovern over Republican Richard Nixon in his 49-state landslide. Thus Reagan's victory made 1980 the first time a Republican had won Massachusetts’ electoral votes since the landslide re-election of Dwight Eisenhower in 1956.


1980 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
A major contributing factor to Reagan's win in Massachusetts was the strong third party candidacy of John Anderson, a liberal Republican Congressman who ran in 1980 as an independent after failing to win the Republican Party's own presidential nomination. Anderson proved very popular with liberal and moderate voters in New England who normally leaned Democratic but were dissatisfied with the policies of the Carter Administration and viewed Reagan as too far to the right.


1980 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
In 1976, Carter had won Massachusetts with 56% of the vote, however in 1980 he bled a substantial amount of this support to Anderson, allowing Reagan to eke out a narrow win with only 41.90% of the vote. Nevertheless, Reagan became the first Republican ever to win the White House without carrying Dukes County, which cast only its third-ever Democratic vote in 1980, after 1964 and 1976.Massachusetts would ultimately prove to be John Anderson's strongest state in the nation, his 15.15% of the vote in the state more than double the 6.61% he got nationwide.


1980 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
Another Potential cause for Carter's loss was that Massachusetts Senator and Brother of President John F. Kennedy, Ted Kennedy battelled Carter in a tense primary race.


1980 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
While Reagan nationally won a convincing victory in the electoral college, Massachusetts would be his narrowest win, with the state being about ten percent more Democratic than the national average.


1980 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
As of 2020, this election marks only the third and last time in 168 years that Massachusetts has not voted for the same candidate as neighboring Rhode Island.


1980 United States presidential election in Michigan
The 1980 United States presidential election in Michigan took place on November 4, 1980. All fifty states and The District of Columbia were part of the 1980 United States presidential election. Voters chose 21 electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1980 United States presidential election in Michigan
Michigan was won by former California Governor Ronald Reagan (R) by 6%.


1980 United States presidential election in Minnesota
The 1980 United States presidential election in Minnesota took place on November 4, 1980 as part of the 1980 United States presidential election. State voters chose ten representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice-President.


1980 United States presidential election in Minnesota, Background
After having leaned strongly Republican until the 1960s, Minnesota had become one of the most Democratic states in the country during the 1970s: in 1972 it was George McGovern’s third-best state in his disastrous landslide loss and more than one-seventh of the 130 counties he won nationally lay within the state. In 1974, Governor Wendell Anderson won every county in the state in a landslide gubernatorial triumph during the aftermath of Watergate.


1980 United States presidential election in Minnesota, Background
Late in February, Carter won the state’s Democratic Party caucus over Ted Kennedy, and defeated 1976 challenger Reagan did the same for the Republicans. At the beginning of the campaign in July, Reagan aimed to focus on the problem of Carter and his lack of leadership in the industrial strongholds of the Midwest like Minnesota, although by August polls were suggesting Carter was strong in the state despite John Anderson’s third-party candidacy. However, by the middle of October Minnesota was once again rated as a “tossup”.


1980 United States presidential election in Minnesota, Vote
Minnesota was won by the Democratic Party candidate, incumbent President Jimmy Carter, won the state over former California Governor Ronald Reagan by 80,933 votes, giving him one of just seven victories in the election (other than Minnesota, Carter also carried Maryland, West Virginia, Hawaii, Rhode Island, the District of Columbia and his home state of Georgia). Despite Carter’s win in Minnesota, Reagan became the first Republican to carry Mahnomen County since Warren G. Harding in 1920.


1980 United States presidential election in Minnesota, Vote
Nationally, Reagan won the election with 489 electoral votes and 50.75% of the popular vote. Minnesota was the only state not to back Reagan in either of his presidential campaigns, casting its electoral votes in favor of Walter Mondale (a Minnesota native) in 1984.


1980 United States presidential election in Mississippi
The 1980 United States presidential election in Mississippi took place on November 4, 1980. All fifty states and The District of Columbia were part of the 1980 United States presidential election. Mississippi voters chose seven electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1980 United States presidential election in Mississippi
Mississippi was won by former California Governor Ronald Reagan (R) by a slim margin of 1.33%. However, in future elections, the state would become a Republican stronghold, and no Democratic presidential candidate has carried the state since Jimmy Carter in 1976.


1980 United States presidential election in Mississippi
As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election in which Winston County, Tippah County, Itawamba County, Union County, Prentiss County, Pontotoc County, Lee County, Lafayette County, Attala County, Monroe County, Madison County, Calhoun County, Tate County, Marion County, Leake County, Grenada County, and Franklin County voted for the Democratic candidate, as well as the last time that Clarke County was not carried by the Republican candidate.


1980 United States presidential election in Missouri
The 1980 United States presidential election in Missouri took place on November 4, 1980. All 50 states and The District of Columbia were part of the 1980 United States presidential election. Voters chose 12 electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1980 United States presidential election in Missouri
Since 1904, Missouri has voted for the eventual winner of the election in a presidential election, with the exceptions of the 1956, 2008, 2012 and 2020 elections.


1980 United States presidential election in Montana
The 1980 United States presidential election in Montana took place on November 4, 1980, and was part of the 1980 United States presidential election. Voters chose four representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1980 United States presidential election in Montana
Montana overwhelmingly voted for the Republican nominee, Governor Ronald Reagan, over the Democratic nominee, President Jimmy Carter. Reagan won Montana by a landslide margin of 24.39%. As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election in which Big Horn County voted for a Republican Presidential candidate.


1980 United States presidential election in Nebraska
The 1980 United States presidential election in Nebraska took place on November 4, 1980. All 50 states and The District of Columbia were part of the 1980 United States presidential election. Voters chose 5 electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1980 United States presidential election in Nebraska
Nebraska was won by former California Governor Ronald Reagan (R) by a 39.5-point landslide. With 65.53% of the popular vote, Nebraska was Reagan's third strongest state after Utah and Idaho.


1980 United States presidential election in Nevada
The 1980 United States presidential election in Nevada took place on November 4, 1980. All 50 states and The District of Columbia were part of the 1980 United States presidential election. State voters chose three electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1980 United States presidential election in Nevada
Nevada was won by Former California Governor Ronald Reagan (R), who won the state with a 36-point landslide.


1980 United States presidential election in Nevada
Starting with this election, the winner of every presidential election won Nevada, until 2016, Donald Trump won the presidency despite losing the state.


1980 United States presidential election in Nevada
Likely owing to criticism of Carter for his inability to understand specifically Western issues, mainly the region's problems with water supply, the 1980 result is the most Republican Nevada has ever been relative to the nation as a whole since statehood.


1980 United States presidential election in New Hampshire
The 1980 United States presidential election in New Hampshire took place on November 4, 1980, as part of the 1980 United States presidential election, which was held throughout all 50 states and D.C. Voters chose four representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1980 United States presidential election in New Hampshire
New Hampshire was won by the Republican nominees, former actor and Governor Ronald Reagan of California and former CIA Director George H.W. Bush of Texas. Reagan and Bush defeated the Democratic nominees, incumbent President Jimmy Carter of Georgia and his running mate incumbent Vice President Walter Mondale of Minnesota. Also in the running was former Republican Congressman John B. Anderson of Illinois, who ran as an Independent with former Ambassador and Governor Patrick Lucey of Wisconsin.


1980 United States presidential election in New Hampshire
Reagan took 57.74% of the vote to Carter's 30.95%, a margin of 29.39%. Anderson finished in a relatively strong third for a third party candidate, receiving 12.94% of the vote.


1980 United States presidential election in New Hampshire
The already embattled incumbent Democratic president Carter was hurt in the state by the strong third party candidacy of John Anderson, a liberal Republican Congressman who ran in 1980 as an independent after failing to win the Republican Party's own presidential nomination. Anderson proved very popular with liberal and moderate voters in New England who normally leaned Democratic but were dissatisfied with the policies of the Carter Administration and viewed Reagan as too far to the right.


1980 United States presidential election in New Hampshire
The defection of these voters would push Carter below 30% of the vote and greatly widen Reagan's margin of victory over Carter in New Hampshire. New England overall would prove to be Anderson's strongest region in the nation, with all 6 New England states giving double-digit percentages to Anderson. In fact, New Hampshire would prove to be Anderson's fourth strongest state in the nation after Massachusetts, Vermont and Rhode Island, his 12.94% of the vote in the state was nearly double the 6.61% he got nationwide.


1980 United States presidential election in New Hampshire
New Hampshire in this era normally leaned Republican; in 1976, the state had been won comfortably by moderate Republican Gerald Ford, who took 54.75% of the vote to Carter's 43.47%, a GOP victory margin of 11.28%, even as Carter narrowly won the election nationwide.


1980 United States presidential election in New Hampshire
However the challenger Reagan would prove to be unusually popular among New Hampshire voters. Reagan won most Northeastern states by single-digit margins and with pluralities of less than 50% of the vote, potentially making Anderson, who took double-digit support, a spoiler that cost Carter victories in many of these normally liberal states. In neighboring Vermont, Reagan won the state with only 44% of the vote and a margin of 5.96%. Reagan won neighboring Maine by an even smaller 3.36% margin.


1980 United States presidential election in New Hampshire
Relative to the nation, Vermont would trend Democratic by 17 points and Maine would trend Democratic by over 9 points in the 1980 election. However New Hampshire, sandwiched in the middle, had a unique conservative streak to its politics for a Northeastern state. New Hampshire would ultimately be the only state in New England to give Reagan an absolute majority of the vote, with a commanding 57.74%. The state would trend 6 points toward the GOP relative to the nation in the 1980 election.


1980 United States presidential election in New Hampshire
On the county map, Reagan swept all 10 of New Hampshire's counties, the only state in the Northeast to have all of its counties give majorities to Reagan. Reagan broke 60% of the vote in 3 counties.


1980 United States presidential election in New Hampshire
One notable county result in 1980 that reflected both Reagan's unique popularity in New Hampshire as well as Carter's 15-point drop in support in the state relative to 1976, was the result in rural Coos County in the far north of the state. In 1976, Ford had won the state comfortably while winning 9 out of the state's counties, while Carter had scored one county win with a 51–49 victory in Coös County. Carter's sole county win in 1976 would swing so dramatically as to be one of only 3 of the state's 10 counties to give Reagan more than 60% of the vote in 1980, as Reagan received 60.08% of the vote in Coös County.


1980 United States presidential election in New Hampshire
Reagan's decisive victory in New Hampshire would make the state 7% more Republican than the national average in the 1980 election.


1980 United States presidential election in New Jersey
The 1980 United States presidential election in New Jersey took place on November 4, 1980. All 50 states and the District of Columbia, were part of the 1980 United States presidential election. Voters chose seventeen electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.


1980 United States presidential election in New Jersey
New Jersey was won by the Republican nominees, former actor and Governor Ronald Reagan of California and former CIA Director George H.W. Bush of Texas. Reagan and Bush defeated the Democratic nominees, incumbent President Jimmy Carter of Georgia and his running mate incumbent Vice President Walter Mondale of Minnesota. Also in the running was former Republican Congressman John B. Anderson of Illinois, who ran as an Independent with former Ambassador and Governor Patrick Lucey of Wisconsin.


1980 United States presidential election in New Jersey
Reagan carried New Jersey with 51.97% of the vote to Carter’s 38.56%, a margin of 13.42%.


1980 United States presidential election in New Jersey
Anderson came in a strong but distant third, with 7.88% of the vote.


1980 United States presidential election in New Jersey
Reagan won 18 of the state’s 21 counties, with Carter only holding onto the 3 most heavily Democratic counties in New Jersey: Essex County, Hudson County, and Mercer County.


1980 United States presidential election in New Jersey
New Jersey weighed in for this election as almost 4% more Republican than the national average.


1980 United States presidential election in New Jersey
New Jersey in this era was a swing state with a slight Republican tilt; four years earlier, in 1976, the state had narrowly carried for Republican Gerald Ford over Jimmy Carter by a 50–48 margin, as Carter won nationally over Ford by a similarly narrow 50–48 margin. However, in 1980, with Reagan winning convincingly at the national level, the state easily remained in the Republican column.


1980 United States presidential election in New Jersey
Carter was also hurt in the state by the candidacy of John Anderson, who had been a liberal Republican Congressman and whose campaign appealed strongly to Northeastern liberals and moderates who viewed Reagan as being too extreme and too far to the right, but who were dissatisfied with the status quo under the Carter Administration. Carter bled a substantial amount of support among such liberals and moderates in New Jersey who would likely have leaned Democratic in 1980 but instead voted for Anderson as a protest vote, pushing Carter below 40% and widening Reagan’s margin over Carter.


1980 United States presidential election in New Mexico
The 1980 United States presidential election in New Mexico took place on November 4, 1980. All 50 states and The District of Columbia, were part of the 1980 United States presidential election. State voters chose four electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1980 United States presidential election in New Mexico
New Mexico was won by former California Governor Ronald Reagan by an 18-point landslide. President of the United States Jimmy Carter failed to gain reelection against Reagan. New Mexico election results reflect the Republican Party's re-consolidation under what is popularly call the "Reagan Revolution," which sounded overwhelming conservative electoral victories across the United States. As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last time when McKinley County and Grant County voted for a Republican presidential candidate.


1980 United States presidential election in New York
The 1980 United States presidential election in New York took place on November 4, 1980. All 50 states and The District of Columbia, were part of the 1980 United States presidential election. Voters chose 41 electors to the Electoral College, which voted for President and Vice President.


1980 United States presidential election in New York
New York was won by former California Governor Ronald Reagan, in a narrow victory against President of the United States Jimmy Carter, who failed to gain reelection against Reagan. Also in the running was Independent candidate Congressman John B. Anderson of Illinois, who ran in New York as the Liberal Party candidate.


1980 United States presidential election in New York
Reagan won the state with a plurality of 46.66% of the vote to Carter's 43.99%, a margin of 2.67%. Anderson finished in third, with 7.54%.


1980 United States presidential election in New York
New York's election results reflect the Republican Party's re-consolidation of base under what is popularly called the "Reagan Revolution," which sounded various overwhelming conservative electoral victories across the United States throughout the 1980s – and most evidently against the relatively unpopular President Carter during the 1980 presidential election.


1980 United States presidential election in New York
New York weighed in for this election as more Democratic than the national average by about 7%.


1980 United States presidential election in New York
This election is notable in that, while the highly populated regions of New York City, Buffalo, and Albany turned out for Carter, the election in the state was tipped by the majority of less-populated upstate counties, combined with heavily populated suburban counties around NYC, most of which were won by Reagan. Carter actually picked up plurality wins in two counties which he had lost in 1976: Monroe County, home to the city of Rochester, and Niagara County.


1980 United States presidential election in New York
A major contributing factor to Reagan's victory over Carter was the relatively strong third party showing by independent candidate John B. Anderson, a former liberal Republican congressman who garnered 7.54% of the vote in the State – nearly twice the 4% margin by which Carter had won New York in 1976.


1980 United States presidential election in New York
Running on the ballot line of New York's Liberal Party, Anderson attracted the votes of many liberals and moderates who normally leaned Democratic but were dissatisfied with the policies of the Carter Administration and with Rockefeller Republicans who viewed Reagan as too far to the right, thus splitting the left-leaning vote in New York State.


1980 United States presidential election in New York
In the heavily populated, and very liberal, five boroughs of New York City, Carter still won overall, and Reagan made only modest gains in vote share over Gerald Ford's 1976 showing of 33 percent, taking 37% in the city in 1980. However, although still winning 4 out of 5 boroughs, Carter bled a considerable support in the city to Anderson, dropping from 66% in 1976 to only 55%.


1980 United States presidential election in New York
Since Democratic victories in New York State in that era depended on running up massive margins in New York City to overcome the rest of the state's Republican lean, the reduced margin in the city from vote-splitting would prove fatal to Carter's chances in 1980.


1980 United States presidential election in New York
While Reagan only bled about one percent off Republican base support in the state (winning a plurality in a 3-way-race with 46.66% while Gerald Ford had lost the state in a two-man race with 47.52% in 1976), Carter bled nearly 8% off his 1976 support, falling from a 51.95% majority win in 1976 to a losing 43.99% in 1980, most of those lost Democratic base votes going to Anderson instead.


1980 United States presidential election in New York
This remains the last election in which a Republican presidential nominee has won traditionally rock-ribbed GOP Tompkins County in upstate New York, home to the college town of Ithaca, where Cornell University and Ithaca College are located. At this point, Tompkins County had gone Democratic since the Civil War only in the landslides of 1912 and 1964, with FDR never topping 40%. Reagan narrowly won the county with a plurality of 42% to Carter's 40%, while Anderson took nearly 14%, making it Anderson's strongest county in the state. 4 years later in 1984, Tompkins County would vote against Reagan and in the following years it would become the most Democratic county in upstate New York, giving Barack Obama over 70% of the vote in 2008.


1980 United States presidential election in North Carolina
The 1980 United States presidential election in North Carolina took place on November 4, 1980, as part of the 1980 United States presidential election. Voters chose 13 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1980 United States presidential election in North Carolina
North Carolina barely voted for the Republican nominee, Governor Ronald Reagan, over the Democratic nominee, President Jimmy Carter in a close battle. Independent John B. Anderson, won 2% of the vote from Reagan and Carter in the state. The final numbers were 49.30% for Reagan to 47.18% for Carter and 2.85% for Anderson. As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election in which the following counties have voted for a Democratic presidential candidate: Cleveland, Currituck, Harnett, Lee, Person and Union.


1980 United States presidential election in North Carolina
After Jimmy Carter won the southern state in 1976, and following Jimmy Carter's inferior performance, the state was returned to the Republican column in 1980, and would trend even more Republican in the next election and vote Republican in every election after, except in 2008 when it voted for Barack Obama over John McCain.


1980 United States presidential election in North Dakota
The 1980 United States presidential election in North Dakota took place on November 4, 1980. All 50 states and The District of Columbia were part of the 1980 United States presidential election. State voters chose 3 electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1980 United States presidential election in North Dakota
North Dakota was won by former California Governor Ronald Reagan (R) by a 38-point landslide. With 64.23% of the popular vote, North Dakota would prove to be Reagan's fourth strongest state after Utah, Idaho and Nebraska.


1980 United States presidential election in North Dakota
As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election in which Sioux County, home of the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, voted for a Republican presidential candidate.


1980 United States presidential election in Ohio
The 1980 United States presidential election in Ohio took place on November 4, 1980. All 50 states and The District of Columbia were part of the 1980 United States presidential election. State voters chose 25 electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1980 United States presidential election in Ohio, Background
Because of Ohio's long-time bellwether status, Carter and Reagan campaigned heavily in the state from the start of the presidential primaries. At the beginning of the campaign, it was clear that inflation and the Iranian hostage crisis were cutting heavily into Carter's popularity in the industrial areas of the state, although Reagan was not viewed warmly by the state's electorate either.


1980 United States presidential election in Ohio, Background
Despite the coldness with which the incumbent President was received on his first visit to Columbus, Carter did gain a critical victory over challenger Ted Kennedy in Ohio's presidential primary on June 4, owing to his dominance of Ohio's heavily Appalachian rural counties plus the endorsement of both Buckeye State Senator John Glenn and Cleveland's Plain Dealer newspaper.


1980 United States presidential election in Ohio, Background
In the earliest polls after the nominations were settled, Reagan was slightly ahead of Carter, and from midsummer the GOP nominee targeted Ohio as part of his strategy of appealing to industrial workers in the Northeast and Great Lakes region. Ohio gained further attention from a court case that allowed independent candidate and former Republican rival to Reagan John B. Anderson to be on the state's ballot, but Reagan continued his strategy of seeking the support of Ohio's industrial workers during the remainder of the summer.


1980 United States presidential election in Ohio, Background
However, after the challenger being ahead for the first half of the fall – although never by an irreversible margin – by mid-October Ohio was seen as close because Reagan was not gaining so much support from industrial workers as he had hoped in August, with voters simply debating “which candidate they liked least”.


1980 United States presidential election in Ohio, Background
However, by the beginning of November Ohio was view as the most problematic of the three “key” Midwestern states for Carter's re-election battle, as he was only seventy-five thousand votes ahead in Cuyahoga County, which he had won by over 93,000 votes in his 11,000-vote statewide triumph four years previously. The Equal Rights Amendment and abortion were also seen as severely handicapping Carter in the Southern-leaning Appalachian counties where he had done well in 1976.


1980 United States presidential election in Ohio, Vote
Ohio was won by former California Governor Ronald Reagan (R) by 11%. Ohio voted very close to the nation for both Carter and Reagan, although Anderson was 0.7% below his national percentage. Reagan was the first Republican since Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956 to carry heavily populated Lucas County.


1980 United States presidential election in Oklahoma
The 1980 United States presidential election in Oklahoma took place on November 4, 1980. All fifty states and The District of Columbia were part of the 1980 United States presidential election. State voters chose eight electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1980 United States presidential election in Oklahoma
Oklahoma was won by former California Governor Ronald Reagan (R) by a 25-point landslide. It is a reliably Republican state, and the last Democratic presidential candidate to carry the state was Lyndon Johnson in 1964.