The 1980 presidential election took place with the increasingly unpopular Jimmy Carter faced with a steep economic recession, the second energy crisis, and the Iranian Hostage Crisis. The worst US economy since the Great Depression especially badly hit the Northeast and Midwest with shuttered factories and long unemployment lines being a common sight. Carter was challenged for the Democrat nomination by Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy and California governor Jerry Brown, but the latter withdrew from the race in April. The president finally overcame Kennedy in a contentious primary contest to secure the nomination at the DNC in Madison Square Garden August 11-14.The Republican front runner was former California governor and conservative spokesman Ronald Reagan, who quickly routed several minor competitors in the primary races. Ex-CIA chief and liason officer to China George H.W. Bush was Reagan's most significant opponent, but at the RNC in Detroit July 14-17 Reagan had secured the nomination with little difficulty, then, as an olive branch, made Bush his running mate. Illinois Congressman John Anderson, one of the Republican contenders in the primary race, then decided to run as an independent candidate Reagan ran on a campaign of improving America's military capabilities, which had fallen into disarray after the Vietnam War, balancing the Federal budget, lower taxes, and "getting the government off people's backs."The women's rights movement proved divided as many women's rights activists were disillusioned with Carter despite his endorsement of the proposed Equal Rights Amendment. Reagan opposed the ERA as unrealistic but said he would support gender equality and nominate the first woman to the Supreme Court if elected.
Uproot the energy companies, Freemasons, and centralized bankers. Problem instantly solved.
Reagan made an appearance at the Neshoba County Fair in Mississippi in August to mark the 16th anniversary of the murder of three civil rights workers there, the first presidential candidate to do so. His speech criticized Federal overreach and stated that Washington had usurped powers that rightfully belonged to state and local governments. Carter accused Reagan of encouraging racial hatred by the use of phrases like "states' rights." Reagan traveled to New York City immediately after the visit to Mississippi and assured voters that he would defend black civil rights as president. Carter focused his message on attacking Reagan as a dangerous far right extremist who would start World War III with the USSR and dismantle Social Security and other social safety nets. However, many critics pointed out that the president seemed to have no real message outside criticism of his opponent; in particular he had no answers to the country's economic situation.The two candidates held a televised debate in Baltimore on September 21 after lengthy delays when Carter refused to participate in the debate if John Anderson was included while Reagan would not have the debate without him. During the debate, Carter continued his attacks on Reagan as a far right extremist to which the latter famously replied "There you go again." The president made one of his biggest blunders by admitting that he'd talked with his 12 year old daughter Amy about nuclear disarmament, which immediately became the subject of jokes from TV comedians.
At the end of the debate, Reagan closed by stating "Are you better off now than you were four years ago? Is it easier for you to go and buy things in the stores than it was four years ago? Is there more or less unemployment in the country than there was four years ago? Is America as respected throughout the world as it was? Do you feel that our security is as safe, that we're as strong as we were four years ago? And if you answer all of those questions 'yes', why then, I think your choice is very obvious as to whom you will vote for. If you don't agree, if you don't think that this course that we've been on for the last four years is what you would like to see us follow for the next four, then I could suggest another choice that you have."On Election Day, Carter was buried in an overwhelming electoral landslide as Reagan won 489 electoral votes to 49 and 44 states--the president got only his home state, West Virginia, Maryland, Minnesota, and Rhode Island. The popular vote percentage was 50% to 41%. John Anderson got 5 million votes for 6% of the total, much of which came at the expense of Carter rather than Reagan. Surveys showed that Carter's voter base was mostly younger, lower income, and had more women and minorities while Reagan's was older, whiter, and middle to upper class. Anderson was mainly popular with disenchanted college students and liberals.Also notable was the first major presidential campaign by the Libertarian Party with a ticket consisting of California lawyer and politician Ed Clark and businessman Dave Koch. The Libertarian platform included an endorsement of LGBT rights, amnesty for illegal immigrants, the abolition of both the National Labor Relations Act and all state right to work laws, and the legalization of recreational drugs. They received almost a million votes and were on the ballot in all 50 states, faring best in Alaska where Clark got 11% of that state's vote.
>>18403134>Surveys showed that Carter's voter base was mostly younger, lower income, and had more women and minorities while Reagan's was older, whiter, and middle to upper classSo in other words, everyone who actually worked for a living voted Republican?
>>18403133>cartoonist an obvious Andersonfag
>>18403139rich people don't work, asshole
>>18403133>Carter focused his message on attacking Reagan as a dangerous far right extremist who would start World War III with the USSR and dismantle Social Security and other social safety nets.wait isn't that every Democrat campaign since 1964?
>>18403145#FeelTheBern
>>18403129> A recession is when your neighbor loses his job> A depression is when you lose your job> A recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his job> - Ronald Reaganhttps://youtu.be/0YDXmxfWM2o?si=Gjk6-jZrM5SgQf0N&t=47
>>18403132>freemasons killed the $1.30 big mac senor"
Fuck this anon.
>and with that Americans elected a senile actor who sold the country out to the rich, allowed 1 million people to die of AIDS, and cut social services the poor and minorities depended onthe end
>>18403204Reagan or the Orange One ?
>>18403180Do you sincerely believe that kind of arrogant dismissal will remove them from every city in America and the last 400 years of global history?
>>18403129>Leftist West Virginia Weird to say at least
>>18403204Reagan didn't force faggots to have bareback anal sex with 25 men a week, brah.
>>18403210Nah it was just a union state back then (specifically the UMW)
Carter was fucking toast, he never had a chance. Anderson swiped a good chunk of his potential votes and Ted Kennedy nearly snatched the nomination from him. Shit, he barely defeated Ford four years ago. Basically nobody liked him except welfare recipients and the state of Georgia.
>>18403220I was not trying to imply that it was a close election, a ten point lead is a landslide by any definition. The two points I wanted to make was:>the election was not a foregone conclusion, the way people talk about it you'd think there was a 20 point for Reagan throughout the election. I've even heard some people say that Reagan could have won in 76 or 68 which I completely disagree with.>the economy was not the deciding factor. 3 Carter's main flaw was coalition building
>>18403224Agree until the last point. The economy was 100% of the deciding factor in the election. This was 1932 Redux.
>>18403227If Operation Eagle Claw to rescue the Iran Hostages had worked, Carter could have won. It became an inter-service clusterfuck, so he lost.
>>18403233It wouldn't. The hostage crisis was a thing, but not the #1 voting issue except to the hostages' families.
>>18403235It was an overall feeling of total national collapse back then similar to 1932.>aftermath of Vietnam, Three Mile Island, second energy crisis>terrible cars, Chrysler having to be bailed out>cities falling apart, out of control crime rates>utterly busted economy>Eagle Claw just kind of clinched it
>>18403254Didn't crime rates rose under Reagan and Bush and only started to fall under Clinton ?
>>18403255Crime rates overall dropped over the 80s, there was a spike during Bush's administration but it was mainly inner city violence and didn't affect suburban America as much.
>>18403254Unemployment and inflation rose to decade-long highs in April and stated that way for over a year. Carter was bleeding support on this issue throughout.I'd argue that Carter’s polling overestimated his chances. People at the time didn’t know how bad 1980 was going to get and it played into Reagan’s hands. Kennedy and Anderson didn’t hinder Carter so much as they exposed his weaknesses as a candidate.
>>18403211This doesn't really happen except maybe with someone on drugs during a manic episode
McGovern's defeat was still worse although he wasn't an incumbent.
>>18403291I mean, in the electoral college. But in the popular vote, he still received over 35 million votes and Reagan received less than 51% of the vote. Anderson clearly took a lot more from Carter than Reagan.
>>18403298Anderson's votes came mostly at Reagan's expense though, mainly liberal Republicans who aligned with Ford. A Newsweek analysis at the time (back when it was still a creditable publication) estimated that had Anderson not run it would not give Carter any meaningful increase in votes to be able to win. They estimated that an Anderson-less election would have Reagan winning by 55% to 45%.
>>18403291Worse by far, but the Democrats didn't lose Congress and gained two governorships in 72.
>>18403313proof of how the New Deal coalition still had some gas left in the tank. if Humphrey had sat out 68 and just let McCarthy and Wallace have it out and then ran in 72 he might have given Nixon a run for his money, he was possibly the only Democrat at the time who had a legit chance of being elected president.
Hoover still lost worse than Carter as he got only 37% of the popular vote.
>>18403291Embarrassing in the sense that Reagan literally committed treason (much like Nixon's secret talks with North Vietnam during the 68 election) by illegally having American hostages continue to be held to promote his election, yeah. That was really embarrassing to democracy.
>>18403208Do you sincerely believe America's current problems lie at the feet of a dying society that hasn't been relevant since Catholic/Jewish Ellis Islanders and their descendants muscled the WASPs out of power in the '60s.
>>18403330>much like Nixon's secret talks with North Vietnam during the 68 electionThe Chennault Affair didn't involve North Vietnam you retard
>>18403330>>18403204>>18403145Fuck off LBJfag.
>>18403220It was pretty bad, but then so was Jimmy Carter as president. Great man, best human to ever have the office, but a terrible president.
>>18403344in his post-presidency yes, not as president when he backed Pol Pot, the East Timor genocide, and pardoned convicted pedophile Peter Yarrow
>>18403313>>18403309Well no because Reagan committed treason to get the W.
this election and 72 show what a fail system the Electoral College is. the loser gets 37-40% of the popular vote yet the electoral map looks like he got 10%.
>>18403337If it isn't relevant they really aughta shut down the thousands of lodges and adjacent groups, all over the planet. Something like that would be quite costly for a people who have no political or economic relevance, no? Especially in the Americas?
>>18403367Presidential elections have always hinged on swing states--this goes back to 1800 when Aaron Burr's electioneering tipped New York to Jefferson and gave him the win. Sure, Carter got 40% of the popular vote, still a pretty bad performance, but if 44 of 50 states' voters vote against you it means you obviously did a bad job, just as if 49 of 50 states' voters vote for you as happened in 72 you obviously did a good job.
>>18403325On top of that, Hoover won in a landslide in 1928 while Carter's election in 76 was very close. The GOP also lost both houses of Congress in 32 while the Democrats still kept the House in 80.
>>18403375If the Republicans had not paid off Iran so the hostages were not released it might have been different.
>>18403344Carter was a true Washington outsider with no connections or support network in D.C. nor did he attempt to build one.
Carter didn't have a whole lot of support outside the South and Minnesota and even in the South his votes outside Georgia came mostly from black voters.
>>18403391most of his votes came from the rural South and Southern cities with a high black population, but Reagan handily dominated the suburbs
>>18403210WV had a one-note economy based around coal mining and the United Mine Workers for decades were the most important power bloc in the state.
>>18403372>We need to shut them down just in case my mentally ill delusions are true o algo
>>18403391The Lake Superior area was also a big mining center back then, although the mine workers voted Republican since 68 because they were butthurt about the Great Society.
>>18403402The coal miners of Appalachia were forced to live in shithole towns for fake money by those foundations and companies. I do not blame a single soul for the vitriol anyone may feel towards that history. You deserve that man's mocking tone in your defense of this subjugation.
>>18403402the state had more in common with the South politically, the people have always been Bible Belters
>>18403406Are you denying that there is a Freemasonic lodge in almost every North American city, and at least a few in almost every country? Because not only do I have bad news for you, regarding such, but I also have some bad news regarding the acquisition and diversification of income. Charitable money comes from somewhere, buddy.
>>18403412Not really true btw, WV is a socially conservative state but it was always distinct from the South. Slavery had never been established there and it only had a rather mild form of segregation--schools and some public facilities were segregated but blacks were never banned from voting or holding public office and a number of blacks sat in the state legislature during the late 19th-early 20th century.
>>18403418the last time my union went on strike was when Clinton was president and he immediately ordered them back to work. he also gutted industry with free trade agreements.
>>18403421So what? Fuck your Moneta worship.
>>18403414I live in a country where freemasons are shutting down lodges and consolidating because no one under 60 belongs to a lodge or is interested in joining one. I'm guessing its the same in the US.But who knows, maybe they'll be revived by jeet strivers that fell for the spic conspiracy theories about freemasons scheming to make whypeepo not spice they chicken
>>18403426And what country are you from? This isn't happening in the US, because they still preside over almost the entirety of American media and politics, down to the local level. I appreciate the narrow avoidance of my proposed question, as well.
>>18403421Dems in the 21st century only care about upper middle class liberal social issues, no one gives two shits about the working class.
Redditards love Carter as a person but they were mostly not alive in 1980 to realize how unpopular he was. Even most of his own party rejected him. Either way the 1981-92 period was the only time after Truman that the White House remained in control of the same party for longer than two presidential elections.
>>18403439Yes. They wrote those manifestos and planned to honestly put them into action in a straightforward manner, just like every other ponzitician of the last 400 years. Many honest and intelligent people, whom just so happen to have chipper attitudes and love Israel and foundations.
>>18403330The House and Senate (both Democrat-controlled) investigated that claim in '92 and found no evidence in support of it.
>>18403448waiting in gas lines would probably convince most people to pull the R lever on Election Day
>>18403462Hey now, I'm old enough to remember 1980, I was 12 at the time. Yeah the economy sucked and inflation was bad, but there weren't actual gas lines like in 73-74. Also most cars were pretty thirsty anyway. I wasn't old enough to drive but my high school-aged cousins had cars, back then it was normal to be driving by high school and have your own vehicle unlike today.
Think of an America that did not go down the lying road of trickle down economics, a nation that started to go green and its effects on the US today. No Iran/Contra since the Reagan team had cut a deal to wait to get the hostages out until after the election.The Soviet Union had one foot in the grave, its unlikely they could have pulled out of that death spiral, Reagan just got them there sooner. The middle class and poor would have fair better that past 40 years, the AIDS crisis would have been handled better and quicker instead of being ignored. Finally the religious right would have never gotten their foot into the door and all the crap they brought with them.Carter was a good man, just the wrong person in office at a time when the country needed leadership, he thought those in Washington were actually there to help the country, instead of only helping themselves. The elder Bush would have been the best choice between Carter, Reagan and Bush.
>>18403220in 2010 i worked for a short period in Savannah with some boomers who had worked for the Carter Administration as low level White House staffers and they were all Georgians who loved the guy as a native son of their state but still admitted he had no clue what he was doing as president. for one thing he could not understand delegating tasks and insisted on doing everything himself, even insignificant things that a president shouldn't have concerned himself with.
John Anderson got almost 7% of the vote nationally. Throw in the usual 1%+ for other 3rd parties. Effectively you had 41% Carter and 59% anti-incumbent. End of the day, still a massive repudiation of Carter with 489 EV for Reagan.
>>18403204>cuts funding to children's school lunch programs>declares ketchup a vegetable
>>18403429>In recent years, membership has dropped roughly 75% from a high of more than 4.1 million in 1959 — when about 4.5% of all American men were members.Keeping in mind most of their existing membership is over 60 as well.It's just Occam's Razor anon - why is an all powerful organisation that "presides over almost the entirety of American media and politics, down to the local level" struggling to get anyone to join?
>>18403309i'm also not quite accepting the idea that Reagan could have won in 68 or 76
>>18403615keep in mind that Reagan in the 60s-70s was more of a fringe insane Goldwaterite looneytoonarian who advocated abolishing Social Security and the TVA and allowing blacks to be put back in chains
So many similarities with 2024.
it's quite crazy to consider that were it not for Carter's victory in 76, which was by a thinner margin than people tend to remember, the country would've had a quarter century of Republican Presidents. A longer stretch than FDR and Truman. >>18403663I would mostly disagree, I think 2004 is a much better comparison in most respects. but there is the important through line in that Biden is the first Dem president to be considered a failure in office since Carter, though history will not treat Biden as kindly imo
>>18403803>that Biden is the first Dem president to be considered a failure in office since CarterNah, people just have an extremely short-term memory. The Clinton presidency was marred by scandals and terrorist attacks. Joe Biden has dementia, but overall his term as president went by quite smoothly.I think Joe Biden's presidency will go down as a sleeper presidency by a vice president-turned-president, kinda like George H.W. Bush's presidency.
Michael Moore's retarded film convinced a bunch of people that everything was going well under Carter and that his little speech "warning about consumerism" is the only reason people voted Reagan. In reality Carter already had some of the lowest approval ratings in the post-war era before he ever made his stupid speech.
For a third-party candidate who carried 0 states, John Anderson did very well. Only Perot's runs rank ahead of him.
Carter was beaten badly, but not as hard as Davis Hoover Goldwater Mondale McGovern and Landon were.
Reagan, Ike and FDR make up the elite club of each having 2 runs in the top 10. FDR is the only one to have 4 in the top 15, then again he's the only one to have 4 at all.
>>18403842>Joe Biden has dementia, but overall his term as president went by quite smoothlyt. Karin Jean-Pierre
>>18403853Five of those six were not incumbents.
>>18403845>Throw away your credit cards>Whatever you say, Mr. Prez>economy instantly crashes into the ground
>>18403854>nixon on top>WW even on the list>no candidate from the late 19th centuryThe American public walked backward in relation to voting.Hoover was done dirty by history. FDR extended the depression a lot just to keep winning elections.
>>18404337>FDR extended the depression a lot just to keep winning electionsmore accurately, New Deal gibes most heavily went to important swing states he needed to win
>>18404185he's mostly right desu and I don't particularly care for Biden. unless you consider his age a scandal his admin was remarkably scandal free relative to others this century. there was no scandal like benghazi or slick willy getting his dick wet or anything like that.he presided over a decent economic recovery from all the COVID stuff all things considered, it's just that voters decided they were more asshurt about prices going up than jobs still being around (which is valid, but not always the case historically), on domestic policy he was mostly bland and fine except for immigration. foreign policy was an incoherent mess though, pro ukraine but constantly pussyfooting for fear of meme russian escalation, hand wringing about palestinians but kept their idiotic "hug bibi" strategy, etc.I think if we leave aside his selfishness about his age he was a more competent version of Carter, both clearly got fucked over by events somewhat beyond their control - the energy crisis, inheriting stagflation, the hostage crisis etc. for carter, the 2nd wave of covid, global inflation, russo-ukrainian war, and all the stuff in the middle east for biden - but some blame has to be assigned for subpar handling.the big blemish for him is the sheer selfishhness about his age dragging the party down with him out of boomer hubris
>>18404349>it's just that voters decided they were more asshurt about prices going up than jobs still being aroundDo you realize the revisions have completely wiped out the "muh jobs gained under biden" meme? There was in fact a recession under his administration but they cooked the books on every jobs report to a criminal scale.
>>184036632024 was a lot more reminiscent of 1968 imo
