Ronald Reagan: 1980 Presidential Election

The 1980 United States Presidential Election was a race between Republican candidate Ronald Reagan, Democratic candidate Jimmy Carter and Independent John Anderson.  Following a rough four years of President Carter's presidency, Reagan's campaign promise was to make the country and its citizens lives better than they had been for the past four years.

By the year 1980, most of the US was fed up with the state of the nation.  Inflation and unemployment rates continued to rise, and Carter's foreign relations did not help present him in a favorable way.  After his failure in Iran in trusting the former Shah and turning Iran against the US, Carter was also unable to negotiate to recover American embassy officials.  With a dented public image and much lower support than the '76 election, Carter was at a a disadvantage.

Along came Republican Ronald Reagan, who made promises to make the country better than ever, with an increase in military and defense budget to protect against the Soviet Union as well as a promise to spark the slowed and failing economy.  The overall tone of his campaign was rooted around optimism and a better future, starkly contrasting the pessimistic and degrading feel of Carter's campaign. 

The day of the election, Reagan triumphed over Carter with roughly 51% of the popular vote.  Carter earned around 41% and Anderson 7%.  Although the popular vote appears to be close between Reagan and Carter, Reagan won the electoral college 489- 49, a landslide victory.

Through the use of his clever and appealing campaign tactics as well as his promises to create a better America, Reagan was able to win the 1980 US Presidential Election as well as go on to win the 1984 election as well.