The Election of 1980
The election of 1980 had some of the same elements of this election: an incumbent Democratic President and a bad economy. It had some dissimilarities as well: the incumbent President faced a serious challenge for his party's nomination and a significant third party candidate siphoned off 6.6% of the vote.
Through the last half or the 1970s, the nation experienced a period of low economic growth, high inflation and interest rates, and intermittent energy crises. The Iran hostage crisis had tarnished President Jimmy Carter's image. Carter was blamed for the Iran hostage crisis, in which the followers of the Ayatollah Khomeni burned American flags and chanted anti-American slogans, parading the captured American hostages in public, and burning effigies of Carter. 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 attacked for problems that had been building for years.
Carter was challenged by Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts for the Democratic nomination. Carter managed to win 24 of 34 primaries and he entered the party's convention in New York in August 1980 with 60 percent of the delegates pledged to him on the first ballot. Despite this, Kennedy refused to drop out, and the 1980 Democratic National Convention ended with Kennedy refusing to shake Carter's hand, until House Speaker Tip O'Neill intervened. After a futile last-ditch attempt by Kennedy to alter the rules to free delegates from the first-ballot pledge, Carter was renominated with 2,129 votes to 1,146 for Kennedy.
Former California Governor Ronald Reagan was the odds-on favorite to win his party's nomination for president after nearly beating incumbent President Gerald Ford just four years earlier. He won the nomination on the first round at the 1980 Republican National Convention in Detroit, Michigan, in July, and chose George H. W. Bush, his top rival, as his running mate.
Illinois Congressman John Anderson was defeated in the Republican primaries, and entered the general election as an independent candidate, campaigning as a moderate Republican alternative to Reagan's conservatism. Exit polling suggested that he appealed more to frustrated anti-Carter voters.His running mate was Patrick Lucey, a Democratic former Governor of Wisconsin and then Ambassador to Mexico, appointed by President Carter.
Reagan's supporters praise him for running a campaign of upbeat optimism. 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. Carter had the most support of evangelical Christians according to a Gallup poll. But Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority lobbying group is credited with giving Reagan two-thirds of the white evangelical vote.
The debates between Carter and Reagan had a significant impact on the election, especially the second debate, held one week to the day before the election (October 28). On October 26, two days prior to the debate, Gallup released a survey that suggested that Carter was leading Reagan by a margin of 47% to 39%. But over the course of the debate, the race changed drastically. Carter was not eager to participate with any debate. The League of Women Voters had announced a schedule of debates similar to 1976, three presidential and one vice presidential. When it was announced that Rep. John Anderson might be invited to participate along with Carter and Reagan, Carter refused to participate with Anderson included, and Reagan refused to debate without him. It took months of negotiations and the first debate was held on September 21, 1980 in the Baltimore Convention Center. Reagan said of Carter’s refusal to debate, "He couldn’t win a debate 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. Anderson failed to substantively engage Reagan, instead he 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 October, the situation remained essentially the same. Governor Reagan insisted Anderson be allowed to participate, and the President remained steadfastly opposed to this. As the standoff continued, the second round was canceled, as was the vice presidential debate.
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, and the League of Women Voters agreed to exclude Anderson from the final debate, which was rescheduled for October 28 in Cleveland, Ohio.
Moderated by Howard K. Smith, the presidential debate between President Carter and Governor Reagan ranked among the highest ratings of any television show in the previous decade. 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. President Carter said he had asked Amy what the most important issue in that election was and she said, "the control of nuclear arms."
In contrast to Carter, Reagan was calm and folksy. When Carter made another verbal attack against Reagan's record, Reagan sighed and replied with a calm and nonchalant: "There you go again".
In describing the national debt that was approaching 1 trillion dollars, Reagan stated "a billion is a thousand millions, and a trillion is a thousand billions." When Carter would attack the content of Reagan's campaign speeches, Reagan began his counter with words: "well, I don't know that I said that. I really don't." In his closing remarks, Reagan asked the viewers a simple but effective question that would resonate: "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? 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." According to President Carter's Press Secretary Jody Powell's memoirs, internal tracking polls showed the President's tiny lead turning into a major Reagan landslide over the final weekend.
The election was held on November 4, 1980. Reagan defeated Carter by almost 10 percentage points in the popular vote. Republicans also gained control of the Senate for the first time in twenty-five years. The electoral college vote was a landslide, with 489 votes (representing 44 states) for Reagan and 49 votes for Carter (representing 6 states and the District of Columbia). 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.
Carter's loss was the worst defeat for an incumbent President since Herbert Hoover lost to Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932 by a margin of 18%. Carter was the first incumbent Democrat to serve only one full term since James Buchanan and fail to secure re-election since Andrew Johnson.
Through the last half or the 1970s, the nation experienced a period of low economic growth, high inflation and interest rates, and intermittent energy crises. The Iran hostage crisis had tarnished President Jimmy Carter's image. Carter was blamed for the Iran hostage crisis, in which the followers of the Ayatollah Khomeni burned American flags and chanted anti-American slogans, parading the captured American hostages in public, and burning effigies of Carter. 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 attacked for problems that had been building for years.
Carter was challenged by Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts for the Democratic nomination. Carter managed to win 24 of 34 primaries and he entered the party's convention in New York in August 1980 with 60 percent of the delegates pledged to him on the first ballot. Despite this, Kennedy refused to drop out, and the 1980 Democratic National Convention ended with Kennedy refusing to shake Carter's hand, until House Speaker Tip O'Neill intervened. After a futile last-ditch attempt by Kennedy to alter the rules to free delegates from the first-ballot pledge, Carter was renominated with 2,129 votes to 1,146 for Kennedy.
Former California Governor Ronald Reagan was the odds-on favorite to win his party's nomination for president after nearly beating incumbent President Gerald Ford just four years earlier. He won the nomination on the first round at the 1980 Republican National Convention in Detroit, Michigan, in July, and chose George H. W. Bush, his top rival, as his running mate.
Illinois Congressman John Anderson was defeated in the Republican primaries, and entered the general election as an independent candidate, campaigning as a moderate Republican alternative to Reagan's conservatism. Exit polling suggested that he appealed more to frustrated anti-Carter voters.His running mate was Patrick Lucey, a Democratic former Governor of Wisconsin and then Ambassador to Mexico, appointed by President Carter.
Reagan's supporters praise him for running a campaign of upbeat optimism. 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. Carter had the most support of evangelical Christians according to a Gallup poll. But Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority lobbying group is credited with giving Reagan two-thirds of the white evangelical vote.
The debates between Carter and Reagan had a significant impact on the election, especially the second debate, held one week to the day before the election (October 28). On October 26, two days prior to the debate, Gallup released a survey that suggested that Carter was leading Reagan by a margin of 47% to 39%. But over the course of the debate, the race changed drastically. Carter was not eager to participate with any debate. The League of Women Voters had announced a schedule of debates similar to 1976, three presidential and one vice presidential. When it was announced that Rep. John Anderson might be invited to participate along with Carter and Reagan, Carter refused to participate with Anderson included, and Reagan refused to debate without him. It took months of negotiations and the first debate was held on September 21, 1980 in the Baltimore Convention Center. Reagan said of Carter’s refusal to debate, "He couldn’t win a debate 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. Anderson failed to substantively engage Reagan, instead he 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 October, the situation remained essentially the same. Governor Reagan insisted Anderson be allowed to participate, and the President remained steadfastly opposed to this. As the standoff continued, the second round was canceled, as was the vice presidential debate.
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, and the League of Women Voters agreed to exclude Anderson from the final debate, which was rescheduled for October 28 in Cleveland, Ohio.
Moderated by Howard K. Smith, the presidential debate between President Carter and Governor Reagan ranked among the highest ratings of any television show in the previous decade. 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. President Carter said he had asked Amy what the most important issue in that election was and she said, "the control of nuclear arms."
In contrast to Carter, Reagan was calm and folksy. When Carter made another verbal attack against Reagan's record, Reagan sighed and replied with a calm and nonchalant: "There you go again".
In describing the national debt that was approaching 1 trillion dollars, Reagan stated "a billion is a thousand millions, and a trillion is a thousand billions." When Carter would attack the content of Reagan's campaign speeches, Reagan began his counter with words: "well, I don't know that I said that. I really don't." In his closing remarks, Reagan asked the viewers a simple but effective question that would resonate: "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? 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." According to President Carter's Press Secretary Jody Powell's memoirs, internal tracking polls showed the President's tiny lead turning into a major Reagan landslide over the final weekend.
The election was held on November 4, 1980. Reagan defeated Carter by almost 10 percentage points in the popular vote. Republicans also gained control of the Senate for the first time in twenty-five years. The electoral college vote was a landslide, with 489 votes (representing 44 states) for Reagan and 49 votes for Carter (representing 6 states and the District of Columbia). 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.
Carter's loss was the worst defeat for an incumbent President since Herbert Hoover lost to Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932 by a margin of 18%. Carter was the first incumbent Democrat to serve only one full term since James Buchanan and fail to secure re-election since Andrew Johnson.