The presidency of Ronald Reagan began at noon EST on January 20, 1981, when Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as the 40th President of the United States, and ended on January 20, 1989. Reagan was succeeded by his Vice President, George H. W. Bush, who won the 1988 presidential election with Reagan's support. Reagan's 1980 election resulted from a dramatic conservative shift to the right in American politics, including a loss of confidence in liberal, New Deal, and Great Society programs and priorities that had dominated the national agenda since the 1930s. Reagan and Carter met in one presidential debate, held just one week before election day. Reagan delivered an effective performance, asking voters, 'Are you better off than you were four years ago?...Is America as respected throughout the world as it was?'