was ronald reagan a democrat
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. A Reagan Democrat is a traditionally Democratic voter in the United States, especially a white working-class Northerner, who defected from their party to support Republican President Ronald Reagan in either or both the 1980 and 1984 elections.uring the 1980 election a dramatic number of voters in the U.S., disillusioned with the economic 'malaise' of the 1970s and the presidency of Jimmy Carter (even more than, four years earlier, Liberal Republican Gerald Ford), supported former California governor (and former Democrat) Ronald Reagan.