1980 United States presidential election in California explained

See main article: 1980 United States presidential election.

Election Name:	1980 United States presidential election in California
Country:	California
Type:	presidential
Ongoing:	no
Previous Election:	1976 United States presidential election in California
Previous Year:	1976
Next Election:	1984 United States presidential election in California
Next Year:	1984
Turnout:	77.24% (of registered voters) 4.29 pp 57.04% (of eligible voters) 0.28 pp^[1]
Election Date:	November 4, 1980
Image1:	Official Portrait of President Reagan 1981-cropped.jpg
Nominee1:	Ronald Reagan
Party1:	Republican Party (United States)
Home State1:	California
Running Mate1:	George H. W. Bush
Electoral Vote1:	45
Popular Vote1:	4,524,858
Percentage1:	52.69%
Nominee2:	Jimmy Carter
Party2:	Democratic Party (United States)
Home State2:	Georgia
Running Mate2:	Walter Mondale
Electoral Vote2:	0
Popular Vote2:	3,083,661
Percentage2:	35.91%
Image3:	John B. Anderson in New Jersey (cropped).jpg
Nominee3:	John B. Anderson
Party3:	Independent (United States)
Home State3:	Illinois
Running Mate3:	Patrick Lucey
Electoral Vote3:	0
Popular Vote3:	739,833
Percentage3:	8.62%
Map Size:	400px
President
Before Election:	Jimmy Carter
Before Party:	Democratic Party (United States)
After Election:	Ronald Reagan
After Party:	Republican Party (United States)

The 1980 United States presidential election in California took place on November 4, 1980, as part of the 1980 United States presidential election. State voters chose 45 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

California voted for the Republican nominee, the state's former governor Ronald Reagan, in a landslide over the Democratic incumbent, Jimmy Carter. Reagan won his home state by a wide 16.78% point margin and carried all but three counties. Carter carried only three of the state's 58 counties: Alameda, San Francisco and Yolo.

As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last time for a Republican candidate to carry the counties of Marin and Santa Cruz in a presidential election.^[2] This election indeed constitutes the most Republican California has voted relative to the whole nation since 1928; here, it was widely believed that Carter lacked understanding of critical Western issues, most importantly water development.^[3] This also remains the last time a Republican won the San Francisco Bay Area, and the last one in which San Francisco gave less than 60% of the vote to the Democratic candidate.

Primaries

1980 Democratic Primary!Candidate!Votes!Delegates

Ted Kennedy	1,507,142	151
Jimmy Carter (incumbent)	1,266,216	127
Jerry Brown	135,962	0
Others	71,779	0
Uncommitted	382,759	38
Totals	3,363,858	317

1980 Republican Primary!Candidate!Votes!Delegates

Ronald Reagan	2,057,923	146
John Anderson	349,315	25
George H.W. Bush	125,113	0
Others	31,707	0
Totals	2,564,058	171

Results

1980 United States presidential election in California^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Republican	Ronald Reagan	4,524,858	52.69%	45
	Democratic	Jimmy Carter (incumbent)	3,083,661	35.91%	0
	Independent	John B. Anderson	739,833	8.62%	0
	Libertarian	Ed Clark	148,434	1.73%	0
	Independent	Barry Commoner	61,063	0.71%	0
	Peace and Freedom	Maureen Smith	18,116	0.21%	0
	American Independent	John Rarick	9,856	0.11%	0
	No party	Gus Hall (write-in)	847	0.01%	0
	No party	Andrew Pulley (write-in)	231	0.00%	0
	No party	Percy Greaves, Jr. (write-in)	87	0.00%	0
	No party	Ben Bubar (write-in)	36	0.00%	0
	No party	Write-ins	26	0.00%	0
	No party	Deirdre Griswold (write-in)	15	0.00%	0
Invalid or blank votes					—
Totals			8,587,063	100.00%	45
Voter turnout					—

Results by county

County	Ronald Reagan Republican		Jimmy Carter Democratic		John B. Anderson Independent		Various candidates Other parties		Margin		Total votes cast
		%		%		%		%		%
	Alameda		158,531		37.96%		201,720		48.30%		40,834		9.78%		16,532		3.96%		-43,189		-10.34%		417,617
	Alpine		254		55.10%		133		28.85%		50		10.85%		24		5.21%		121		26.25%		461
	Amador		5,401		55.85%		3,191		33.00%		788		8.15%		290		3.00%		2,210		22.85%		9,670
	Butte		38,188		57.85%		19,520		29.57%		6,108		9.25%		2,196		3.33%		18,668		28.28%		66,012
	Calaveras		6,054		58.92%		3,076		29.94%		776		7.55%		369		3.59%		2,978		28.98%		10,275
	Colusa		2,897		58.00%		1,605		32.13%		325		6.51%		168		3.36%		1,292		25.87%		4,995
	Contra Costa		144,112		50.12%		107,398		37.35%		28,209		9.81%		7,826		2.72%		36,714		12.77%		287,545
	Del Norte		4,016		57.48%		2,338		33.46%		486		6.96%		147		2.10%		1,678		24.02%		6,987
	El Dorado		21,238		58.27%		10,765		29.53%		3,287		9.02%		1,159		3.18%		10,473		28.74%		36,449
	Fresno		82,515		51.13%		65,254		40.43%		10,727		6.65%		2,890		1.79%		17,261		10.70%		161,386
	Glenn		5,386		64.80%		2,227		26.79%		537		6.46%		162		1.95%		3,159		38.01%		8,312
	Humboldt		24,047		49.39%		17,113		35.15%		5,440		11.17%		2,092		4.30%		6,934		14.24%		48,692
	Imperial		12,068		55.92%		7,961		36.89%		1,203		5.57%		347		1.61%		4,107		19.03%		21,579
	Inyo		5,201		64.79%		2,080		25.91%		515		6.42%		231		2.88%		3,121		38.88%		8,027
	Kern		72,842		59.65%		41,097		33.65%		5,799		4.75%		2,383		1.95%		31,745		26.00%		122,121
	Kings		10,531		55.37%		7,299		38.37%		901		4.74%		290		1.52%		3,232		17.00%		19,021
	Lake		8,934		53.64%		5,978		35.90%		1,157		6.95%		585		3.51%		2,956		17.74%		16,654
	Lassen		4,464		54.45%		2,941		35.87%		543		6.62%		250		3.05%		1,523		18.58%		8,198
	Los Angeles		1,224,533		50.18%		979,830		40.15%		175,882		7.21%		59,940		2.46%		244,703		10.03%		2,440,185
	Madera		10,599		53.58%		7,783		39.35%		1,013		5.12%		385		1.95%		2,816		14.23%		19,780
	Marin		49,678		45.78%		39,231		36.16%		13,805		12.72%		5,793		5.34%		10,447		9.62%		108,507
	Mariposa		3,082		54.96%		1,889		33.68%		458		8.17%		179		3.19%		1,193		21.28%		5,608
	Mendocino		12,432		44.05%		10,784		38.21%		2,747		9.73%		2,261		8.01%		1,648		5.84%		28,224
	Merced		18,043		48.77%		15,886		42.94%		2,316		6.26%		751		2.03%		2,157		5.83%		36,996
	Modoc		2,579		64.48%		1,046		26.15%		293		7.32%		82		2.05%		1,533		38.33%		4,000
	Mono		2,132		62.32%		865		25.29%		302		8.83%		122		3.57%		1,267		37.03%		3,421
	Monterey		47,452		54.67%		29,086		33.51%		8,008		9.23%		2,248		2.59%		18,366		21.16%		86,794
	Napa		23,632		53.67%		14,898		33.83%		4,218		9.58%		1,287		2.92%		8,734		19.84%		44,035
	Nevada		15,207		57.91%		7,605		28.96%		2,235		8.51%		1,214		4.62%		7,602		28.95%		26,261
	Orange		529,797		67.90%		176,704		22.65%		55,299		7.09%		18,412		2.36%		353,093		45.25%		780,212
	Placer		28,179		54.78%		17,311		33.65%		4,356		8.47%		1,594		3.10%		10,868		21.13%		51,440
	Plumas		4,182		51.24%		2,911		35.67%		783		9.59%		285		3.49%		1,271		15.57%		8,161
	Riverside		145,642		59.87%		76,650		31.51%		16,362		6.73%		4,624		1.90%		68,992		28.36%		243,278
	Sacramento		153,721		47.72%		130,031		40.37%		29,655		9.21%		8,713		2.70%		23,690		7.35%		322,120
	San Benito		4,054		53.33%		2,749		36.16%		552		7.26%		247		3.25%		1,305		17.17%		7,602
	San Bernardino		172,957		59.68%		91,790		31.67%		19,106		6.59%		5,959		2.06%		81,167		28.01%		289,812
	San Diego		435,910		60.81%		195,410		27.26%		67,491		9.41%		18,055		2.52%		240,500		33.55%		716,866
	San Francisco		80,967		31.87%		133,184		52.43%		29,365		11.56%		10,512		4.14%		-52,217		-20.56%		254,028
	San Joaquin		64,718		55.38%		41,551		35.56%		8,416		7.20%		2,178		1.86%		23,167		19.82%		116,863
	San Luis Obispo		38,631		55.56%		20,508		29.50%		8,407		12.09%		1,981		2.85%		18,123		26.06%		69,527
	San Mateo		116,491		48.82%		87,335		36.60%		27,985		11.73%		6,826		2.86%		29,156		12.22%		238,637
	Santa Barbara		69,629		53.98%		40,650		31.51%		14,786		11.46%		3,930		3.05%		28,979		22.47%		128,995
	Santa Clara		229,048		48.02%		166,995		35.01%		65,481		13.73%		15,479		3.25%		62,053		13.01%		477,003
	Santa Cruz		37,347		43.53%		32,346		37.70%		10,590		12.34%		5,521		6.43%		5,001		5.83%		85,804
	Shasta		27,547		58.09%		15,364		32.40%		3,220		6.79%		1,287		2.71%		12,183		25.69%		47,418
	Sierra		855		49.77%		651		37.89%		156		9.08%		56		3.26%		204		11.88%		1,718
	Siskiyou		9,331		55.75%		5,664		33.84%		1,269		7.58%		474		2.83%		3,667		21.91%		16,738
	Solano		40,919		50.72%		30,952		38.37%		6,713		8.32%		2,092		2.59%		9,967		12.35%		80,676
	Sonoma		60,722		48.20%		45,596		36.19%		14,068		11.17%		5,599		4.44%		15,126		12.01%		125,985
	Stanislaus		41,595		49.41%		33,683		40.01%		7,134		8.47%		1,774		2.11%		7,912		9.40%		84,186
	Sutter		11,778		63.47%		5,103		27.50%		1,089		5.87%		587		3.16%		6,675		35.97%		18,557
	Tehama		9,140		59.13%		4,832		31.26%		1,014		6.56%		471		3.05%		4,308		27.87%		15,457
	Trinity		3,048		54.96%		1,734		31.27%		506		9.12%		258		4.65%		1,314		23.69%		5,546
	Tulare		41,317		58.32%		25,155		35.51%		3,244		4.58%		1,130		1.60%		16,162		22.81%		70,846
	Tuolumne		8,810		54.85%		5,449		33.92%		1,390		8.65%		414		2.58%		3,361		20.93%		16,063
	Ventura		114,930		60.28%		56,311		29.54%		14,887		7.81%		4,522		2.37%		58,619		30.74%		190,650
	Yolo		19,603		39.45%		21,527		43.32%		6,669		13.42%		1,891		3.81%		-1,924		-3.87%		49,690
	Yuba		7,942		56.28%		4,896		34.70%		878		6.22%		395		2.80%		3,046		21.58%		14,111
Total	4,524,858	52.69%	3,083,661	35.91%	739,833	8.62%	238,711	2.78%	1,441,197	16.78%	8,587,063

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

• El Dorado
• Fresno
• Mariposa
• Los Angeles
• Tuolumne
• Mendocino
• Trinity
• Amador
• Shasta
• Madera
• Merced
• Del Norte
• Tehama
• Placer
• Lake
• Stanislaus
• Sacramento
• Yuba
• Santa Cruz
• Plumas
• Sierra
• Lassen
• Solano
• Humboldt

Notes and References

1. Web site: Historical Voter Registration and Participation in Statewide General Elections 1910-2018 . California Secretary of State . 2022-05-05.
2. Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016
3. Reisner, Marc; ; p. 11
4. Web site: 1980 Presidential General Election Results – California. 2008-08-25 . Dave Leip's U.S. Election Atlas.