Election

Reagan’s fame as an actor made him well known throughout the country. As he took position and was successful as the governor of California, people across the nation started to consider him to become the next president of the United States. Reagan reluctantly agreed to seek the nomination and ran in the election of 1976. Even though he lost this election, Reagan knew know that he wanted to be president and was prepared to run for the election of 1980.



Election of 1980

Reagan chose George H.W. Bush to run as his vice-president representing the Republican Party. Their main opponent was Jimmy Carter, the former president, and his vice president Walter Mondale who represented the Democratic Party. John Anderson also ran for election along with Patrick Lucoy.

Reagan wanted change! "Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem." His campaign issues included: lower taxes, decreased in the federal spending to help rebuild the economy. He promised to produce more domestic energy sources, and increase pay and benefits to the military to encourage military service. His solution to defeating communism was to strengthen America’s relationship with its allies. He also promised to stop the discrimination against women.

Reagan’s chance of becoming president was very high, since his main opponent Jimmy Carter was known as one of the most ineffective president. Reagan’s chance came during the national televised debate when he stated: If America was better 4 years ago, then they should choose Carter, but if America wanted change, then they should choose him. This became his campaign, “Are you better off than you were 4 years ago?” The people of America wanted change and it became obvious who was going to win this election.

Reagan beat his opponents with 489 electoral votes and 43.9 million popular votes versus Carter's 49 electoral votes and 35.4 million popular votes.

Election of 1984

Reagan ran again with the campaign slogan “It’s Morning Again in America”. This time he faced no opposition aside from Walter Mondale. He easily won this election in a landslide with a popular vote of 54.4 million votes and 525 electoral votes versus Mondale's 13 electoral votes and a popular vote of 37.5 million.