United States presidential election in Vermont, 1980

United States presidential election in Vermont, 1980

November 4, 1980

Nominee Ronald Reagan Jimmy Carter John B. Anderson Party Republican Democratic Independent Home state California Georgia Illinois Running mate George H.W. Bush Walter Mondale Patrick Lucey Electoral vote 3 0 0 Popular vote 94,598 81,891 31,760 Percentage 44.4% 38.4% 14.9%

County Results   Carter—<50%   Reagan—<50%   Reagan—50-60%

President before election Jimmy Carter Democratic Elected President Ronald Reagan Republican

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The 1980 United States Presidential Election in Vermont took place on November 4, 1980 as part of the 1980 United States Presidential Election which was held throughout all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Vermont voted for the Republican nominee Ronald Reagan of California and his running mate George H.W. Bush of Texas. Reagan took 44.37% of the vote to incumbent Democratic President Jimmy Carter's 38.41%, a victory margin of 5.96%. Independent John Anderson took 14.90%.

While winning in a nationwide electoral landslide, Reagan's victory in Vermont was the weakest victory for a Republican nominee in the Green Mountain State since the founding of the GOP, with only Barry Goldwater having performed worse when he lost the state in the 1964 Democratic landslide.

Long a bastion of liberal Republicanism, Vermont was the only state in the nation to swing Democratic in 1980, having delivered a more comfortable 11.20% margin of victory to moderate Republican Gerald Ford just four years earlier in 1976, even as the rest of the nation swung hard toward the GOP in 1980. Whereas Ford had swept every county in the state of Vermont, Reagan lost two Northwestern counties, Chittenden and Grand Isle, to Carter. The conservative Reagan would bleed a substantial amount of support in the state to John Anderson, who had been a liberal Republican congressman before mounting his independent bid for the presidency.

This election would mark the beginning of Vermont's transition from a staunchly Republican state to being one of the most Democratic states. Ronald Reagan represented the ascendency of the conservative movement within the modern Republican Party, a party which would become increasingly dominated by conservatives, Southerners, and Evangelical Christians during and after Reagan's administration. Vermont would consequently begin shifting increasingly toward the Democrats in the years to come.

Results

References

State Results of the 1980 U.S. presidential election
Candidates	Jimmy Carter Ronald Reagan John B. Anderson Full list
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Other 1980 elections	House Senate Gubernatorial