1980 United States presidential election

The **1980 United States presidential election** happened on November 4, 1980. Ronald Reagan, the Republican candidate and former Governor of California, won the election. He defeated the incumbent president, Jimmy Carter, who was a Democrat, and John B. Anderson, a notable third party candidate who was an Independent.

The country had a lot of problems during the election. The economy was bad (it was in a recession). Inflation was very high. There was an energy crisis. Iran, after the Iranian Revolution was holding 52 Americans hostage.

Reagan campaigned for to cut income taxes and to reduce government spending overall while increasing defense spending to challenge the Soviet Union in the Cold War. Carter campaigned for more government programs and mentioned the importance of human rights and preventing nuclear war.

Ronald Reagan won the election by a landslide, meaning that he had a lot more votes than his opponent.

Ronald Reagan's victory resulted in the Republicans gaining more power for the next few decades.

### Democratic Party

|style="width:3em; font-size:135%; background:#34AAE0; width:200px;"|Jimmy Carter|style="width:3em; font-size:135%; background:#34AAE0; width:200px;"|Walter Mondale|
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|colspan="29" style="background:#f1f1f1;"|<big>**198**</big><big>**0 Democratic Party Ticket**</big>|||
|style="width:3em; font-size:100%; color:#000; background:#C8EBFF; width:200px;"|***for President***|style="width:3em; font-size:100%; color:#000; background:#C8EBFF; width:200px;"|***for Vice President***|
|39th President of the United States <small>(1977–1981)</small>|42nd Vice President of the United States <small>(1977–1981)</small>|||
|colspan="2"||||
Democratic candidates:
- Jimmy Carter, President of the United States from Georgia
- Ted Kennedy, U.S. senator from Massachusetts
- Jerry Brown, governor of California
- Cliff Finch, former governor of Mississippi

### Republican Party

|style="width:3em; font-size:135%; background:#CE2029; width:200px;"|Ronald Reagan|style="width:3em; font-size:135%; background:#CE2029; width:200px;"|George H. W. Bush|
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|colspan="30" style="background:#f1f1f1;"|<big>**198**</big><big>**0 Republican Party Ticket**</big>|||
|style="width:3em; font-size:100%; color:#000; background:#FFD0D7; width:200px;"|***for President***|style="width:3em; font-size:100%; color:#000; background:#FFD0D7; width:200px;"|***for Vice President***|
|33rd Governor of California <small>(1967-1975)</small>|11th Director of Central Intelligence <small>(1976-1977)</small>|||
|colspan="2"||||
Republican candidates:
- Former Governor **Ronald Reagan** of California
- Former CIA director and United States Representative **George H. W. Bush** of Texas
- Representative **John B. Anderson** of Illinois
- Senate Minority Leader **Howard Baker** of Tennessee
- Representative **Phil Crane** of Illinois
- Former Governor **John Connally** of Texas
- Senator **Bob Dole** of Kansas
- Former Special Ambassador to Paraguay **Ben Fernandez** of California
- Former Governor **Harold Stassen** of Minnesota
- Senator **Lowell Weicker** of Connecticut
- Senator **Larry Pressler** of South Dakota

## Other candidates

|style="width:3em; font-size:135%; background:#dddddd; width:200px;"|John B. Anderson|style="width:3em; font-size:135%; background:#dddddd; width:200px;"|Patrick Lucey|style="width:3em; font-size:135%; background:;"|<span class="tmp-color" style="color:black">Ed Clark</span>|style="width:3em; font-size:135%; background:;"|<span class="tmp-color" style="color:black">David Koch</span>|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|colspan="2" style="background:#DCDCDC;"|<big>**1980 Independent ticket**</big>|colspan="2" style="background:;"|<big>**1980 Libertarian ticket**</big>|||||
|style="width:3em; width:200px; background:#dddddd;"|***for President***|style="width:3em; width:200px; background:#dddddd;"|***for Vice President***|style="width:3em; width:200px; background:;"|***for President***|style="width:3em; width:200px; background:;"|***for Vice President***|
|U.S. Representative from Illinois <small>(1961–1981)</small>|Former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico <small>(1977–1979)</small>|Former Chair of the Libertarian Party of California <small>(1973–1974)</small>|Co-owner of Koch, Inc.|||||
|colspan="2"|Campaign|colspan="2"|Campaign|||||
|colspan="2"||colspan="2"||||||

## Infobox (election)

- **election name**: 1980 United States presidential election
- **country**: United States
- **type**: presidential
- **ongoing**: no
- **previous election**: 1976 United States presidential election
- **previous year**: 1976
- **next election**: 1984 United States presidential election
- **next year**: 1984
- **election date**: November 4, 1980
- **votes for election**: 538 members of the Electoral College (United States), Electoral College
- **needed votes**: 270 electoral
- **turnout**: 52.6%  0.9 percentage point, pp
- **image1**: Official Portrait of President Reagan 1981-cropped.jpg
- **image1 size**: x160px
- **nominee1**: **Ronald Reagan**
- **party1**: Republican Party (United States)
- **home state1**: California
- **running mate1**: **George H. W. Bush**
- **electoral vote1**: **489**
- **states carried1**: **44**
- **popular vote1**: **43,903,230**
- **percentage1**: **50.7%**
- **image2**: Jimmy Carter presidential portrait (cropped 1).jpg
- **image2 size**: x160px
- **nominee2**: Jimmy Carter
- **party2**: Democratic Party (United States)
- **home state2**: Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia
- **running mate2**: Walter Mondale
- **electoral vote2**: 49
- **states carried2**: 6 + Washington, D.C., DC
- **popular vote2**: 35,480,115
- **percentage2**: 41.0%
- **map image**: ElectoralCollege1980.svg
- **map size**: 350px
- **image3**: John B. Anderson in New Jersey (cropped).jpg
- **image3 size**: x160px
- **nominee3**: John B. Anderson
- **party3**: Independent (United States), Independent
- **home state3**: Illinois
- **running mate3**: Patrick Lucey
- **electoral vote3**: 0
- **states carried3**: 0
- **popular vote3**: 5,719,850
- **percentage3**: 6.6%
- **map caption**: Presidential election results map. <span style="color:#C20;">Red</span> denotes states won by Reagan/Bush, <span style="color:darkblue;">Blue</span> denotes those won by Carter/Mondale.
- **title**: President
- **before election**: Jimmy Carter
- **before party**: Democratic Party (United States)
- **after election**: Ronald Reagan
- **after party**: Republican Party (United States)