Question

What helped Ronald Reagan win the presidential election of 1980?

Answer 1

The 'New Right' did little to help Reagan get elected. Those forces that would eventually coalesce into the Right we know today were called the Moral Majority back then, and were nowhere near a majority, even among Republicans. The Right grew proportionally to Reagan’s success. The question should really be flipped around as it was Reagan who was responsible for strengthening the political Right, rather than the other way around. Reagan’s successful leadership made the Right the force it became.

There were three major factors in the election of Reagan:

1. Jimmy Carter. Carter was perceived to be--and in fact was--a very weak president. On the domestic side, the economy was and remained in the toilet under Carter. In foreign affairs--which was a perceived strength of Reagan, who if anything came across as tough and decisive--Carter was indecisive and ineffectual. His response of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan was to boycott the Moscow Olympics. When Iran had its revolution and captured over 50 US diplomats when they stormed our Embassy, Carter was unable to do anything right in connection with the "America in Crisis" that resulted. When he did finally approve a military rescue mission, it was an inept and embarrassing failure.

2. Ted Kennedy. Kennedy, weakened from Chappaquidwingspan and thus considered suspiciously by many Democrats, most Independents, and all Republicans, challenged the weak Carter in the Democratic primaries, a move that served to split the party and weaken Carter even further politically. Carter ended up winning the nomination, but it was bloody and devisive.

3. John Anderson. Anderson was a liberal-moderate Republican who, when he lost the Republican primaries to Reagan--who was considered by many, even Republicans, to be way too far to the Right to win--Anderson formed a third party and ran on the ballot in most states. He attracted enough votes from Liberals, moderates, and Independents--over 5% of the vote--to allow a Reagan victory, much as Nader would do to Gore in 2000.

In the event, when Reagan proceeded to turn out to be a much better and more popular president than anyone expected him to be, and went on to be re-elected, the Right that he championed gained a full head of steam and became the force in politics familiar to us in modern times. So it was Reagan who was responsible for the ascendancy of the Right, not the other way around.