The Eighties in America Elections in the United States, 1980 325
gan and 35,480,115 for Carter. John Anderson re-
ceived 5,719,850 popular votes and no electoral
votes. In the end, though Anderson was considered
to have performed well for an independent candi-
date, he did not do well enough to affect the final
outcome. The Libertarian Party candidate, Ed Clark,
received 921,128 votes, and Barry Commoner of the
Citizens Party received 233,052 votes.
Congressional Elections Republican advances in
the congressional elections were no less spectacular:
The party gained twelve seats in the Senate, for a to-
tal of fifty-three seats to the Democrats’ forty-six. Re-
publicans were in the majority in the Senate for the
first time in twenty-two years.
Incumbent Democrats fell like cut wheat, includ-
ing some who had held significant leadership posi-
tions. The new Republican senators included Jere-
miah Denton of Alabama, Frank H. Murkowski
of Alaska, Paula Hawkins of Florida, Mack Mattingly
of Georgia (who had narrowly defeated the long-
serving Herman Talmadge), Steven D. Symms of
Idaho, Dan Quayle of Indiana, Charles E. Grassley of
Iowa, Warren B. Rudman of New Hampshire, John
P. East of North Carolina, James Abdnor of South
Dakota, Slade Gorton of Washington, and Bob Kasten
of Wisconsin. Abdnor defeated George McGovern,
the former 1972 Democratic presidential candidate,
by nearly 19 percentage points; Quayle carried nearly
54 percent of the vote to oust veteran Birch Bayh;
and Symms prevailed in a very close race over Frank
Church.
In the House of Representatives, the Republicans
gained 35 seats. The Democrats retained their ma-
jority in the lower house, but their advantage was cut
to 242 versus 192 Republicans and 1 independent
representative.
Impact The term “Reagan Revolution” was used to
describe the emphatic turnaround that began with
the 1980 elections. After being dismissed by the ma-
jority of the American electorate as a fringe element
in 1964, in 1980 conservative Republicans attained
the glow of respectability. Ronald Reagan and his
brand of conservatism were to dominate the U.S. po-
litical scene throughout the 1980’s and into the early
1990’s. For the first time, ethnic and suburban blue-
collar and professional workers, who traditionally
voted heavily Democratic, migrated in significant
numbers to the Republican fold. These new so-
called Reagan Democrats would help elect Republi-
can presidents and congressional candidates in 1984
and 1988 and would remain a potent political force
through the rest of the twentieth century.Further Reading
Carter, Jimmy.Keeping Faith: Memoirs of a President.
Toronto: Bantam Books, 1982. Provides Carter’s
own account of the 1980 election and of his ac-
tions in office during the late 1970’s.
Drew, Elizabeth.Portrait of an Election: The 1980 Presi-
dential Campaign. New York: Simon & Schuster,- Reasonably impartial rendering of the elec-
tion, although the author expresses considerable
disgust at the degree of negative campaigning
and at the bitterness engendered by the Carter-
Kennedy face-off.
Jordan, Hamilton.Crisis: The Last Year of the Carter
Presidency. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1982.
After-the-fact reminiscences of the White House
chief of staff, written in diary form, in which he at-
tempts to shed light on the many misfortunes that
befell the Carter administration in 1980.
Ranney, Austin, ed.The American Elections of 1980.
Washington, D.C.: American Enterprise Institute
for Foreign Policy Research, 1981. Fine, detailed
series of essays on nearly every facet of the elec-
tions. Contains excellent, relevant statistical ta-
bles.
Strober, Deborah Hart, and Gerald S. Strober.The
Reagan Presidency: An Oral Histor y of the Era. Rev.
ed. Washington, D.C.: Brassey’s, 2003. Utilizes in-
terviews with family members, campaign aides,
and other participants to paint a picture of the
circumstances behind the nomination struggle,
the selection of George H. W. Bush as vice presi-
dential running mate, and the actual head-to-
head campaign against Jimmy Carter.
Raymond Pierre Hylton
See also Bush, George H. W.; Congress, U.S.; Con-
servatism in U.S. politics; Elections in the United
States, midterm; Elections in the United States, 1984;
Elections in the United States, 1988; Iranian hostage
crisis; Liberalism in U.S. politics; Mondale, Walter;
Reagan, Ronald; Reagan Democrats; Reagan Revo-
lution; Reaganomics.