Electoral history of Ronald Reagan

Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. This is the Electoral history of Ronald Reagan. Reagan, a Republican, served as the 40th President of the United States (1981–1989) and earlier as the 33rd Governor of California (1967–1975).
Contents
California gubernatorial election, 1966
<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>
California Republicans were impressed with Reagan's political views and charisma after his "Time for choosing" speech,[1] he announced in late 1965, his campaign for Governor of California in 1966.[2][3] He defeated former San Francisco mayor George Christopher in the GOP primary. In Reagan's campaign, he emphasized two main themes: "to send the welfare bums back to work", and, in reference to burgeoning anti-war and anti-establishment student protests at the University of California at Berkeley, "to clean up the mess at Berkeley".[4] Ronald Reagan accomplished in 1966 what US Senator William F. Knowland in 1958 and former Vice-President Richard M. Nixon in 1962 had tried: he was elected, defeating two-term governor Edmund G. "Pat" Brown, and was sworn in on January 2, 1967.
Republican primary
1966 Republican primary election results[5] | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
Republican | Ronald Reagan | 1,417,623 | 64.62 | |
Republican | George Christopher | 675,683 | 30.80 | |
Republican | Warren N. Dorn | 44,812 | 2.04 | |
Republican | William Penn Patrick | 40,887 | 1.86 | |
Republican | Joseph R. Maxwell | 7,052 | 0.32 | |
Republican | Sam Yorty (write-in) | 5,993 | 0.27 | |
Republican | Pat Brown (inc.) (write-in) | 1,700 | 0.08 | |
Total votes | 2,193,750 | 100 |
Democratic primary
1966 Democratic primary election results[6] | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
Democratic | Pat Brown (inc.) | 1,355,262 | 51.91 | |
Democratic | Sam Yorty | 981,088 | 37.58 | |
Democratic | Carlton Benjamin Goodlett | 95,476 | 3.66 | |
Democratic | Wallace J. Duffy | 77,029 | 2.95 | |
Democratic | Dale Alexander | 43,453 | 1.66 | |
Democratic | Ronald Reagan (write-in) | 27,422 | 1.05 | |
Democratic | Ingram W. Goad | 18,088 | 0.69 | |
Total votes | 2,597,818 | 100 |
General election
1966 gubernatorial election, California[7][8] | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |||
Republican | Ronald Reagan | 3,742,913 | 57.55 | |||
Democratic | Pat Brown (incumbent) | 2,749,174 | 42.27 | |||
Other | Various candidates | 11,358 | 0.18 | |||
Total votes | 6,503,445 | 100.00 | ||||
Voter turnout | 57.70% | |||||
Republican gain from Democratic |
1968 Presidential election
<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>
Shortly after the beginning of his term as California governor, Reagan tested the presidential waters in 1968 as part of a "Stop Nixon" movement, hoping to cut into Nixon's Southern support[9] and be a compromise candidate[10] if neither Nixon nor second-place Nelson Rockefeller received enough delegates to win on the first ballot at the Republican convention. However, by the time of the convention Nixon had 692 delegate votes, 25 more than he needed to secure the nomination, followed by Rockefeller with Reagan in third place.[9]
1968 Republican presidential primaries
<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>

Candidate | Number of votes[11] | Percentage[11] | States carried[12] |
---|---|---|---|
Ronald Reagan | 1,696,632 | 37.93% | 1 |
Richard Nixon | 1,679,443 | 37.54% | 9 |
James A. Rhodes | 614,492 | 13.74% | 1 |
Nelson A. Rockefeller | 164,340 | 3.67% | 1 |
Unpledged | 140,639 | 3.14% | 0 |
Eugene McCarthy (write-in) | 44,520 | 1.00% | 0 |
Harold Stassen | 31,655 | 0.71% | 0 |
John Volpe | 31,465 | 0.70% | 0 |
Others | 21,456 | 0.51% | 0 |
George Wallace (write-in) | 15,291 | 0.34% | 0 |
Robert Kennedy (write-in) | 14,524 | 0.33% | 0 |
Hubert Humphrey (write-in) | 5,698 | 0.13% | 0 |
Lyndon B. Johnson (write-in) | 4,824 | 0.11% | 0 |
George Romney | 4,447 | 0.10% | 0 |
Raymond P. Shafer | 1,223 | 0.03% | 0 |
William W. Scranton | 724 | 0.02% | 0 |
Charles H. Percy | 689 | 0.02% | 0 |
Barry M. Goldwater | 598 | 0.01% | 0 |
John V. Lindsay | 591 | 0.01% | 0 |
1968 Republican National Convention
<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>
President | (before switches) | (after switches) | Vice President | Vice-Presidential votes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Richard M. Nixon | 692 | 1238 | Spiro T. Agnew | 1119 |
Nelson Rockefeller | 277 | 93 | George Romney | 186 |
Ronald Reagan | 182 | 2 | John V. Lindsay | 10 |
Ohio Governor James A. Rhodes | 55 | — | Massachusetts Senator Edward Brooke | 1 |
Michigan Governor George Romney | 50 | — | James A. Rhodes | 1 |
New Jersey Senator Clifford Case | 22 | — | Not Voting | 16 |
Kansas Senator Frank Carlson | 20 | — | — | |
Arkansas Governor Winthrop Rockefeller | 18 | — | — | |
Hawaii Senator Hiram Fong | 14 | — | — | |
Harold Stassen | 2 | — | — | |
New York City Mayor John V. Lindsay | 1 | — | — |
California gubernatorial election, 1970
<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>
Despite an unsuccessful attempt to recall him in 1968,[14] Reagan was re-elected in 1970, defeating "Big Daddy" Jesse Unruh. He chose not to seek a third term in the following election cycle.
1970 gubernatorial election, California[15][16] | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
Republican | Ronald Reagan (incumbent) | 3,439,174 | 52.83 | |
Democratic | Jesse M. Unruh | 2,938,607 | 45.14 | |
Peace and Freedom | Ricardo Romo | 65,954 | 1.01 | |
American Independent | William K. Shearer | 65,847 | 1.01 | |
Invalid or blank votes | 123,851 | 1.87% | ||
Total votes | 6,633,433 | 100.00 | ||
Voter turnout | 54.50% | |||
Republican hold |
1976 Presidential election
<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>
In 1976, Reagan challenged incumbent President Gerald Ford in a bid to become the Republican Party's candidate for president. Reagan soon established himself as the conservative candidate with the support of like-minded organizations such as the American Conservative Union which became key components of his political base, while President Ford was considered a more moderate Republican.[17] Though Reagan lost the Republican nomination, he received 307 write-in votes in New Hampshire, 388 votes as an Independent on Wyoming's ballot, and a single electoral vote from a faithless elector in the November election from the state of Washington,[18] which Ford had won over Democratic challenger Jimmy Carter. Ford ultimately lost the general election to Carter.
1976 Republican presidential primaries
<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>
Candidate | Number of votes[19] | Percentage[19] | States carried[20] |
---|---|---|---|
Gerald Ford (inc.) | 5,529,899 | 53.29% | 27 |
Ronald Reagan | 4,760,222 | 45.88% | 23 |
Unpledged | 34,717 | 0.34% | 0 |
1976 Republican National Convention (Presidential tally)
<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>
Republican National Convention Presidential nominee vote, 1976[21] | ||
---|---|---|
Candidate | Votes | Percentage |
President Ford | 1,187 | 52.57% |
Ronald Reagan | 1,070 | 47.39% |
Elliot Richardson | 1 | 0.04% |
Totals | 2,258 | 100.00% |
1976 Republican National Convention (Vice Presidential tally)
(Source:[22])
- Bob Dole - 1,921 (85.04%)
- Abstaining - 103 (4.56%)
- Jesse Helms - 103 (4.56%)
- Ronald Reagan - 27 (1.20%)
- Phil Crane - 23 (1.02%)
- John Grady - 19 (0.84%)
- Louis Frey - 9 (0.40%)
- Anne Armstrong - 6 (0.27%)
- Howard Baker - 6 (0.27%)
- William F. Buckley - 4 (0.18%)
- John B. Connally - 4 (0.18%)
- David C. Treen - 4 (0.18%)
- Alan Steelman - 3 (0.13%)
- Edmund Bauman - 2 (0.09%)
- Bill Brock - 2 (0.09%)
- Paul Laxalt - 2 (0.09%)
- Elliot Richardson - 2 (0.09%)
- Richard Schweiker - 2 (0.09%)
- William E. Simon - 2 (0.09%)
- Jack Wellborn - 2 (0.09%)
- James Allen - 1 (0.04%)
- Ray Barnhardt - 1 (0.04%)
- George H. W. Bush - 1 (0.04%)
- Pete Domenici - 1 (0.04%)
- James B. Edwards - 1 (0.04%)
- Frank S. Glenn - 1 (0.04%)
- David Keane - 1 (0.04%)
- James McClure - 1 (0.04%)
- Nancy Palm - 1 (0.04%)
- Donald Rumsfeld - 1 (0.04%)
- John W. Sears - 1 (0.04%)
- Roger Staubach - 1 (0.04%)
- Steve Symms - 1 (0.04%)
Election results
<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>
Presidential candidate | Party | Home state | Popular vote[23] | Electoral vote[24] |
Running mate | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Count | Pct | Vice-presidential candidate | Home state | Elect. vote[24] | ||||
James Earl Carter, Jr. | Democratic | Georgia | 40,831,881 | 50.08% | 297 | Walter Frederick Mondale | Minnesota | 297 |
Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr. (Incumbent) | Republican | Michigan | 39,148,634 | 48.02% | 240 | Bob Dole | Kansas | 241 |
Ronald Wilson Reagan | Republican | California | —(a) | —(a) | 1 | |||
Eugene McCarthy | (none) | Minnesota | 740,460 | 0.91% | 0 | (b) | (b) | 0 |
Roger MacBride | Libertarian | Vermont | 172,553 | 0.21% | 0 | David Bergland | California | 0 |
Lester Maddox | American Independent | Georgia | 170,274 | 0.21% | 0 | William Dyke | Wisconsin | 0 |
Thomas J. Anderson | American | (c) | 158,271 | 0.19% | 0 | Rufus Shackelford | 0 | |
Peter Camejo | Socialist Workers | California | 90,986 | 0.11% | 0 | Willie Mae Reid | 0 | |
Gus Hall | Communist | New York | 58,709 | 0.07% | 0 | Jarvis Tyner | 0 | |
Margaret Wright | People's | 49,013 | 0.06% | 0 | Benjamin Spock | 0 | ||
Lyndon LaRouche | U.S. Labor | New York | 40,043 | 0.05% | 0 | R. Wayne Evans | 0 | |
Other | 70,785 | 0.08% | — | Other | — | |||
Total | 81,531,584 | 100% | 538 | 538 | ||||
Needed to win | 270 | 270 |
1980 Presidential election
<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>
Reagan ran against Democratic incumbent Jimmy Carter and independent candidate John B. Anderson. Aided by the Iran hostage crisis and a worsening economy at home marked by high unemployment and inflation, Reagan won the election in a landslide, receiving the highest number of electoral votes ever won by a non-incumbent presidential candidate. The 1980 presidential election marked the beginning of the Reagan Era, and signified a conservative realignment in national politics.
1980 Republican presidential primaries
<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>
Candidate | Number of votes[25] | Percentage[25] | States carried[26] |
---|---|---|---|
Ronald Reagan | 7,709,793 | 59.79% | 44 |
George H. W. Bush | 3,070,033 | 23.81% | 6 |
John B. Anderson | 1,572,174 | 12.19% | 0 |
Howard Baker | 181,153 | 1.41% | 0 |
Phil Crane | 97,793 | 0.76% | 0 |
John B. Connally | 82,625 | 0.64% | 0 |
Unpledged | 68,155 | 0.53% | 0 |
Ben Fernandez | 68,155 | 0.53% | 0 |
Harold Stassen | 25,425 | 0.20% | 0 |
Gerald Ford | 10,557 | 0.08% | 0 |
Bob Dole | 7,204 | 0.06% | 0 |
1980 Republican National Convention (Presidential tally)
<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>
Republican National Convention Presidential nominee vote, 1980[27] | ||
---|---|---|
Candidate | Votes | Percentage |
Ronald Reagan | 1,939 | 97.44% |
John B. Anderson | 37 | 1.86% |
George H. W. Bush | 13 | 0.65% |
John B. Connally and Anne Armstrong | 1 each | 0.05% |
Totals | 2,258 | 100.00% |
Election results
<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>
1984 Presidential election
<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>
Reagan ran for reelection as President in 1984, running against Democrat Walter Mondale. Reagan was re-elected, winning 49 of 50 states.[30] Reagan won a record 525 electoral votes, the most of any candidate in United States history,[31] and received 58.8% of the popular vote to Mondale's 40.6%.[30] No presidential candidate since 1984 then has managed to equal or surpass Reagan's electoral result, nor has any post-1984 Republican candidate managed to match Reagan's electoral performance in the Northeastern United States and in the West Coast states.
1984 Republican presidential primaries
<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>
Candidate | Number of votes[32] | Percentage[32] | States carried[32] |
---|---|---|---|
Ronald Reagan (inc.) | 6,484,987 | 98.78% | 50 |
Unpledged | 55,458 | 0.85% | 0 |
Harold Stassen | 12,749 | 0.19% | 0 |
1984 Republican National Convention (Presidential tally)
<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>
Candidate | Number of votes[33] | Percentage[33] |
---|---|---|
Ronald Reagan (inc.) | 2,233 | 99.91% |
Abstaining | 2 | 0.09% |
Election results
<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>
See also
- Democratic Party, Reagan was a member of this party early in his life, and was mainly opposed by this party during his political career.
- Reagan Democrat, a term used for a traditional Democratic voter who defected from their party to support Reagan in 1980 and 1984.
References
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />
Cite error: Invalid <references>
tag; parameter "group" is allowed only.
<references />
, or <references group="..." />
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Gerard J. De Groot, "'A Goddamned Electable Person': The 1966 California Gubernatorial Campaign of Ronald Reagan." History 82#267 (1997) pp: 429-448.
- ↑ Totton J. Anderson and Eugene C. Lee, "The 1966 Election in California," Western Political Quarterly (1967) 20#2 pp. 535-554 in JSTOR
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 *Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Recall Idea Got Its Start in L.A. in 1898, Los Angeles Times, July 13, 2003
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Ford considered himself as "a moderate in domestic affairs, a conservative in fiscal affairs, and a dyed-in-the-wool internationalist in foreign affairs".
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 25.0 25.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 30.0 30.1 30.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 32.0 32.1 32.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 33.0 33.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.