Análisis Percepciones Factores de Escuela Tabla

The 1980 election was supposed to be a close race, but Reagan won 489 of the electoral votes and split the Democratic majority. His victory was regarded as an electoral landslide even though he managed to achieve only 50.1% of the popular vote. But it gave him the mandate he had hoped for and Reagan colored the electoral map red, apart from five blue states, Hawaii, Minnesota, Georgia, West Virginia and Maryland.56 _{The Electoral}

College favored Ronald Reagan; he definitely had the margins on his side. The voter turnout was 52.6%, which is average for the period after 1972. The Republicans also gained majority in the Senate for the first time in twenty-six years; they won thirty-three new seats in the House, which was sufficient to enable the new president to pass laws in cooperation with the Republican majority in the Senate and a coalition of Republicans and conservative Democrats in the House.57

During the campaign Reagan seemed to have asked the essential question when he addressed the voters in a televised debate with Jimmy Carter: “Are you better off 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?”58 _{In addition to addressing a relevant question Reagan also became}

spokesman for the atmosphere of the 80s, an era where individualism and materialism came to play a larger role in the American society. It has been argued that Reagan weakened the Democratic coalition since Carter lost many votes from earlier loyal voters,

56_{Milton C. Cummings,JR. & David Wise, Democracy Under Pressure. An Introduction to the Amer-}

ican Political System, (Belmont, CA: Thomson Higher Education, 2005), inside back cover

57_{Andrew E. Busch, Reagan’s Victory: The Presidential Election of 1980 and the Rise of the Right,}

(Lawrence, KA: University Press of Kansas, 2005), 1

58_{Milton C. Cummings,JR. & David Wise, Democracy Under Pressure. An Introduction to the Amer-}

such as Roman Catholics, Jews and blue-collar workers.59 _{Reagan won all but the very}

poor and the very young, and he also lacked considerable support from academia.60 Also other groups, primarily Democratic, like teachers and liberals, voted Republican to a larger extent than previously.61 _{They became what are known as the Reagan Democrats.}

The gender gap was evident when it came to the Reagan Democrats; more men than women changed their voting behavior in this election and it is obvious that Reagan appealed more to men than to women.62 While men voted for Reagan by a margin of 15% compared to Carter, women divided their votes equally between the two candidates, who maybe regarded him as more military oriented than Jimmy Carter.63 Reagan was the first Republican candidate to join hands with the religious right, an initiative that gave him enormous support among white fundamentalists and also the possibility to put social issues on the agenda.64 _{In spite of his clear victory Reagan fought hard to win the}

South, although this part of the country had been lost for the Democrats in the 1968 election, but his standpoint on military and defense questions and cultural issues came to his advantage here.65 _{It seems as though the Democratic Party identification was hard}

to give up, still 47% of the American Electorate identified themselves as Democrats in 1980, compared to 23% Republicans.66 _{This shows the strong position of the person}

Ronald Reagan as a candidate in this election, because in the years to come this party identification would decline on behalf of Republicans and Independents.67 Even the 1980 election saw a third party candidate; Independent John Anderson received 6.6% of the popular vote, but carried no states. Voters regarded him as more liberal than Carter and he seemed to have attracted independents and academics.68 _{Many previous}

Carter supporters, who found the incumbent too conservative and passive, might also have endorsed him.

But one of them main reasons for Reagan’s victory was his particular charismatic

59_{Milton C. Cummings,JR. & David Wise, Democracy Under Pressure. An Introduction to the Amer-}

ican Political System, (Belmont, CA: Thomson Higher Education, 2005), 495

60_{Andrew E. Busch, Reagan’s Victory: The Presidential Election of 1980 and the Rise of the Right,}

(Lawrence, KA: University Press of Kansas, 2005), 129

61_{Gerald Pomper, The New York Times on Critical Elections, (Washington DC: CQ Press, 2010), 495} 62_{Andrew E. Busch, Reagan’s Victory: The Presidential Election of 1980 and the Rise of the Right,}

(Lawrence, KA: University Press of Kansas, 2005), 128

63_{Milton C. Cummings,JR. & David Wise, Democracy Under Pressure. An Introduction to the Amer-}

ican Political System, (Belmont, CA: Thomson Higher Education, 2005), 340

64_{Andrew E. Busch, Reagan’s Victory: The Presidential Election of 1980 and the Rise of the Right,}

(Lawrence, KA: University Press of Kansas, 2005), 127

65_{ibid, 135}

66_{Milton C. Cummings,JR. & David Wise, Democracy Under Pressure. An Introduction to the Amer-}

ican Political System, (Belmont, CA: Thomson Higher Education, 2005), 341

67_{ibid, 341}

personality and his well-run and well-financed campaign. Scholars disagree on the impact on the election of Reagan’s star image and argue that against a less inspiring candidate Carter might have won.69 Reagan undoubtedly managed to restore the presidency and make it trustworthy again. His attitude and rhetoric were loaded with hope for a glorious future for the United States and this was a message frustrated Americans had been waiting for. The fact that the Carter campaign underestimated his impact on the public came to cost Carter the re-election.70