1980 United States presidential election in Massachusetts explained

See main article: 1980 United States presidential election.

Election Name:1980 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
Country:Massachusetts
Type:presidential
Ongoing:no
Previous Election:1976 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
Previous Year:1976
Next Election:1984 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
Next Year:1984
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 Vote1:14
Popular Vote1:1,057,631
Percentage1:41.90%
Nominee2:Jimmy Carter
Party2:Democratic Party (United States)
Home State2:Georgia
Running Mate2:Walter Mondale
Electoral Vote2:0
Popular Vote2:1,053,802
Percentage2:41.75%
Image3:John B. Anderson in New Jersey (cropped).jpg
Nominee3:John B. Anderson
Party3:Anderson Coalition
Colour3:DDDDBB
Home State3:Illinois
Running Mate3:Patrick Lucey
Electoral Vote3:0
Popular Vote3:382,539
Percentage3:15.15%
Map Size:401px
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 Massachusetts took place on November 4, 1980, as part of the 1980 United States presidential election, which was held throughout all 50 states and D.C. Voters chose 14 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president. By an exceptionally narrow margin, Massachusetts was carried by the Republican nominee, former Governor Ronald Reagan of California, over incumbent Democratic President Jimmy Carter of Georgia. Also contesting the state was independent candidate Congressman John B. Anderson of Illinois, who won an unexpectedly solid 15.15%, mostly from disaffected Democratic voters.

On election day, Reagan won a plurality of 41.90% of the vote in the state to Carter's 41.75%, with Anderson in third at 15.15%, giving Reagan a razor-thin margin of 0.1517%. This constitutes the fifteenth-smallest percentage margin in any statewide presidential election since the Civil War, and the smallest since Kennedy won Hawaii by 115 votes in that state's inaugural presidential election two decades previously. The only smaller percentage margins since have been Florida (537 votes or 0.009%) and New Mexico (361 votes or 0.061%) in the controversial 2000 election, and Missouri in 2008, which John McCain won by 3,903 votes or 0.1343%.

To date, this is the last time that the towns of Belmont, Heath, Hull, Lexington, Lincoln, Swampscott, Truro, Warwick, and Wellfleet have voted Republican.

Primaries

1980 Democratic Primary[1] !Candidate!Votes!Delegates
Ted Kennedy590,39381
Jimmy Carter (incumbent)260,40136
Jerry Brown31,4980
No preference19,6630
Blank votes16,7710
Others5,3680
Totals907,314117
1980 Republican Primary[2] !Candidate!Votes!Delegates
George H.W. Bush124,36516
John Anderson122,98716
Ronald Reagan115,33414
Howard Baker19,3660
John B. Connally4,7140
Philip M. Crane4,6690
Robert J. Dole5570
Benjamin Fernandez3740
Harold Stassen2180
No preference2,2430
Blank votes5,8070
Others5,9790
Totals406,63346

Results

1980 United States presidential election in Massachusetts[3]
PartyCandidateVotesPercentageElectoral votes
RepublicanRonald Reagan1,057,63141.90%14
DemocraticJimmy Carter (incumbent)1,053,80241.75%0
Anderson CoalitionJohn B. Anderson382,53915.15%0
LibertarianEd Clark22,0380.87%0
Socialist WorkersClifton DeBerry3,7350.15%0
Citizens (Write-in)Barry Commoner (Write-in)2,0560.08%0
Write-insWrite-ins2,4970.09%0
Totals2,524,298100.00%14
Voter Turnout (Voting age/Registered)59%/80%

Results by county

County[4] Ronald Reagan
Republican
Jimmy Carter
Democratic
John B. Anderson
Anderson Coalition
Ed Clark
Libertarian
Various candidates
Other parties
MarginTotal votes cast
data-sort-type="number"data-sort-type="number"%data-sort-type="number"data-sort-type="number"%data-sort-type="number"data-sort-type="number"%data-sort-type="number"data-sort-type="number"%data-sort-type="number"data-sort-type="number"%data-sort-type="number"data-sort-type="number"%
Barnstable41,49350.43%23,95229.11%15,95119.39%5670.69%3100.38%17,54121.32%82,273
Berkshire27,06339.78%29,45843.30%10,57515.54%7401.09%1950.29%-2,395-3.52%68,031
Bristol77,54541.12%83,46044.25%25,42313.48%1,6950.90%4820.26%-5,915-3.13%188,605
Dukes1,80933.52%2,37043.91%1,12720.88%581.07%330.61%-561-10.39%5,397
Essex130,25243.78%116,17339.05%47,67016.02%2,6540.89%7840.26%14,0794.73%297,533
Franklin12,52841.59%11,83039.27%5,16217.14%3361.12%2660.88%6982.32%30,122
Hampden72,52840.36%80,36944.72%24,76513.78%1,6760.93%3820.21%-7,841-4.36%179,720
Hampshire21,11734.99%27,61145.75%10,11916.77%6561.09%8521.41%-6,494-10.76%60,355
Middlesex256,99940.30%270,75142.46%102,18016.02%5,2000.82%2,5490.40%-13,752-2.16%637,679
Nantucket1,14940.49%1,04036.65%61421.63%220.78%120.46%1093.84%2,838
Norfolk136,18444.84%117,27438.61%47,07615.50%2,4480.81%7470.25%18,9106.23%303,729
Plymouth85,59349.40%58,77233.92%26,51015.30%1,9521.13%4210.24%26,82115.48%173,248
Suffolk73,27133.89%113,41652.46%26,98812.48%1,8610.86%6710.31%-40,145-18.57%216,207
Worcester120,10043.11%117,32642.12%38,37913.78%2,1730.78%5830.21%2,7740.99%278,561
Totals1,057,63141.90%1,053,80241.75%382,53915.15%22,0380.87%8,2880.33%3,8290.15%2,524,298

Counties flipped from Democratic to Republican

Analysis

With President Carter a greatly weakened incumbent by 1980, Reagan won a comfortable election victory nationwide. Massachusetts had been a Democratic-leaning state since 1928, and a Democratic stronghold since 1960. In 1972, Massachusetts was the only state in the nation to vote for Democrat George McGovern over Republican Richard Nixon in his 49-state landslide. However, in 1980 the Democratic Party in Massachusetts was divided and weakened after Carter had been unsuccessfully challenged by Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy (brother of the late President John F. Kennedy) in a bitter primary race which left many liberal voters in the state estranged from the incumbent, thus allowing Reagan to become the first Republican to win Massachusetts’ electoral votes since the landslide re-election of Dwight Eisenhower in 1956.

Another major contributing factor to Reagan's win in Massachusetts was the strong independent candidacy of John Anderson, a liberal Republican Congressman who ran in 1980 as an independent after failing to win the Republican Party's own presidential nomination. Anderson proved very popular with liberal and moderate voters in New England who normally leaned Democratic but were dissatisfied with the policies of the Carter Administration and viewed Reagan as too far to the right. In 1976, Carter had won Massachusetts with 56% of the vote, however, in 1980 he bled a substantial amount of this support to Anderson, allowing Reagan to eke out a narrow win with only 41.90% of the vote. Nevertheless, Reagan became the first Republican ever to win the White House without carrying Dukes County, which cast only its third-ever Democratic vote in 1980, after 1964 and 1976. With 15.15% of the vote, Massachusetts would prove to be John B. Anderson's strongest state in the nation, and more than double the 6.61% total he received nationwide.[5]

While Reagan nationally won a convincing victory in the electoral college, Massachusetts would be his narrowest win, with the state being about ten percent more Democratic than the national average.[6] As of 2023, this election marks only the third and last time (after 1852 and 1972) that Massachusetts has not voted for the same candidate as neighboring Rhode Island.

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 1980 President Democratic Primary . July 24, 2024 . Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts - Elections Division: Election Results Archive.
  2. Web site: 1980 President Republican Primary . July 24, 2024 . Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts - Elections Division: Election Results Archive.
  3. Web site: 1980 Presidential General Election Results - Massachusetts. 2013-02-07 . Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections.
  4. Web site: 1980 President General Election . July 8, 2024 . Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts - Elections Division: Election Results Archive.
  5. Web site: 1980 Presidential Election Statistics. Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. 2018-03-05.
  6. Counting the Votes; Massachusetts