1980 United States presidential election in California

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1980 United States presidential election in California
Flag of California.svg
  1976 November 4, 1980 1984  
Turnout77.24% (of registered voters) Decrease2.svg 4.29 pp
57.04% (of eligible voters) Decrease2.svg 0.28 pp [1]
  Official Portrait of President Reagan 1981-cropped.jpg Carter cropped.jpg John B. Anderson in New Jersey (cropped).jpg
Nominee Ronald Reagan Jimmy Carter John B. Anderson
Party Republican Democratic Independent
Home state California Georgia Illinois
Running mate George H. W. Bush Walter Mondale Patrick Lucey
Electoral vote4500
Popular vote4,524,8583,083,661739,833
Percentage52.69%35.91%8.62%

California Presidential Election Results 1980.svg
County Results

President before election

Jimmy Carter
Democratic

Elected President

Ronald Reagan
Republican

The 1980 United States presidential election in California took place on November 4, 1980, as part of the 1980 United States presidential election. State voters chose 45 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Contents

California voted for the Republican nominee, the state's former governor Ronald Reagan, in a landslide over the Democratic incumbent, Jimmy Carter. Reagan won his home state by a wide 16.78% point margin and carried all but three counties. Carter carried only three of the state's 58 counties: Alameda, San Francisco and Yolo.

As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last time for a Republican candidate to carry the counties of Marin and Santa Cruz in a presidential election. [2] This election indeed constitutes the most Republican California has voted relative to the whole nation since 1928; here, it was widely believed that Carter lacked understanding of critical Western issues, most importantly water development. [3] This also remains the last time a Republican won the San Francisco Bay Area, and the last one in which San Francisco gave less than 60% of the vote to the Democratic candidate. California came out of this election about 7% more Republican — the last time the Golden State voted to the right of the nation at large.[ citation needed ]

Primaries

1980 Democratic Primary
CandidateVotesDelegates
Ted Kennedy1,507,142151
Jimmy Carter (incumbent)1,266,216127
Jerry Brown135,9620
Others71,7790
Uncommitted382,75938
Totals3,363,858317
1980 Republican Primary
CandidateVotesDelegates
Ronald Reagan2,057,923146
John Anderson349,31525
George H.W. Bush125,1130
Others31,7070
Totals2,564,058171

Results

1980 United States presidential election in California [4]
PartyCandidateVotesPercentageElectoral votes
Republican Ronald Reagan 4,524,85852.69%45
Democratic Jimmy Carter (incumbent)3,083,66135.91%0
Independent John B. Anderson 739,8338.62%0
Libertarian Ed Clark 148,4341.73%0
Independent Barry Commoner 61,0630.71%0
Peace and Freedom Maureen Smith 18,1160.21%0
American Independent John Rarick 9,8560.11%0
No party Gus Hall (write-in)8470.01%0
No party Andrew Pulley (write-in)2310.00%0
No party Percy Greaves, Jr. (write-in)870.00%0
No party Ben Bubar (write-in)360.00%0
No partyWrite-ins260.00%0
No party Deirdre Griswold (write-in)150.00%0
Invalid or blank votes
Totals8,587,063100.00%45
Voter turnout

Results by county

CountyRonald Reagan
Republican
Jimmy Carter
Democratic
John B. Anderson
Independent
Various candidates
Other parties
MarginTotal votes cast
# %# %# %# %# %
Alameda 158,53137.96%201,72048.30%40,8349.78%16,5323.96%-43,189-10.34%417,617
Alpine 25455.10%13328.85%5010.85%245.21%12126.25%461
Amador 5,40155.85%3,19133.00%7888.15%2903.00%2,21022.85%9,670
Butte 38,18857.85%19,52029.57%6,1089.25%2,1963.33%18,66828.28%66,012
Calaveras 6,05458.92%3,07629.94%7767.55%3693.59%2,97828.98%10,275
Colusa 2,89758.00%1,60532.13%3256.51%1683.36%1,29225.87%4,995
Contra Costa 144,11250.12%107,39837.35%28,2099.81%7,8262.72%36,71412.77%287,545
Del Norte 4,01657.48%2,33833.46%4866.96%1472.10%1,67824.02%6,987
El Dorado 21,23858.27%10,76529.53%3,2879.02%1,1593.18%10,47328.74%36,449
Fresno 82,51551.13%65,25440.43%10,7276.65%2,8901.79%17,26110.70%161,386
Glenn 5,38664.80%2,22726.79%5376.46%1621.95%3,15938.01%8,312
Humboldt 24,04749.39%17,11335.15%5,44011.17%2,0924.30%6,93414.24%48,692
Imperial 12,06855.92%7,96136.89%1,2035.57%3471.61%4,10719.03%21,579
Inyo 5,20164.79%2,08025.91%5156.42%2312.88%3,12138.88%8,027
Kern 72,84259.65%41,09733.65%5,7994.75%2,3831.95%31,74526.00%122,121
Kings 10,53155.37%7,29938.37%9014.74%2901.52%3,23217.00%19,021
Lake 8,93453.64%5,97835.90%1,1576.95%5853.51%2,95617.74%16,654
Lassen 4,46454.45%2,94135.87%5436.62%2503.05%1,52318.58%8,198
Los Angeles 1,224,53350.18%979,83040.15%175,8827.21%59,9402.46%244,70310.03%2,440,185
Madera 10,59953.58%7,78339.35%1,0135.12%3851.95%2,81614.23%19,780
Marin 49,67845.78%39,23136.16%13,80512.72%5,7935.34%10,4479.62%108,507
Mariposa 3,08254.96%1,88933.68%4588.17%1793.19%1,19321.28%5,608
Mendocino 12,43244.05%10,78438.21%2,7479.73%2,2618.01%1,6485.84%28,224
Merced 18,04348.77%15,88642.94%2,3166.26%7512.03%2,1575.83%36,996
Modoc 2,57964.48%1,04626.15%2937.32%822.05%1,53338.33%4,000
Mono 2,13262.32%86525.29%3028.83%1223.57%1,26737.03%3,421
Monterey 47,45254.67%29,08633.51%8,0089.23%2,2482.59%18,36621.16%86,794
Napa 23,63253.67%14,89833.83%4,2189.58%1,2872.92%8,73419.84%44,035
Nevada 15,20757.91%7,60528.96%2,2358.51%1,2144.62%7,60228.95%26,261
Orange 529,79767.90%176,70422.65%55,2997.09%18,4122.36%353,09345.25%780,212
Placer 28,17954.78%17,31133.65%4,3568.47%1,5943.10%10,86821.13%51,440
Plumas 4,18251.24%2,91135.67%7839.59%2853.49%1,27115.57%8,161
Riverside 145,64259.87%76,65031.51%16,3626.73%4,6241.90%68,99228.36%243,278
Sacramento 153,72147.72%130,03140.37%29,6559.21%8,7132.70%23,6907.35%322,120
San Benito 4,05453.33%2,74936.16%5527.26%2473.25%1,30517.17%7,602
San Bernardino 172,95759.68%91,79031.67%19,1066.59%5,9592.06%81,16728.01%289,812
San Diego 435,91060.81%195,41027.26%67,4919.41%18,0552.52%240,50033.55%716,866
San Francisco 80,96731.87%133,18452.43%29,36511.56%10,5124.14%-52,217-20.56%254,028
San Joaquin 64,71855.38%41,55135.56%8,4167.20%2,1781.86%23,16719.82%116,863
San Luis Obispo 38,63155.56%20,50829.50%8,40712.09%1,9812.85%18,12326.06%69,527
San Mateo 116,49148.82%87,33536.60%27,98511.73%6,8262.86%29,15612.22%238,637
Santa Barbara 69,62953.98%40,65031.51%14,78611.46%3,9303.05%28,97922.47%128,995
Santa Clara 229,04848.02%166,99535.01%65,48113.73%15,4793.25%62,05313.01%477,003
Santa Cruz 37,34743.53%32,34637.70%10,59012.34%5,5216.43%5,0015.83%85,804
Shasta 27,54758.09%15,36432.40%3,2206.79%1,2872.71%12,18325.69%47,418
Sierra 85549.77%65137.89%1569.08%563.26%20411.88%1,718
Siskiyou 9,33155.75%5,66433.84%1,2697.58%4742.83%3,66721.91%16,738
Solano 40,91950.72%30,95238.37%6,7138.32%2,0922.59%9,96712.35%80,676
Sonoma 60,72248.20%45,59636.19%14,06811.17%5,5994.44%15,12612.01%125,985
Stanislaus 41,59549.41%33,68340.01%7,1348.47%1,7742.11%7,9129.40%84,186
Sutter 11,77863.47%5,10327.50%1,0895.87%5873.16%6,67535.97%18,557
Tehama 9,14059.13%4,83231.26%1,0146.56%4713.05%4,30827.87%15,457
Trinity 3,04854.96%1,73431.27%5069.12%2584.65%1,31423.69%5,546
Tulare 41,31758.32%25,15535.51%3,2444.58%1,1301.60%16,16222.81%70,846
Tuolumne 8,81054.85%5,44933.92%1,3908.65%4142.58%3,36120.93%16,063
Ventura 114,93060.28%56,31129.54%14,8877.81%4,5222.37%58,61930.74%190,650
Yolo 19,60339.45%21,52743.32%6,66913.42%1,8913.81%-1,924-3.87%49,690
Yuba 7,94256.28%4,89634.70%8786.22%3952.80%3,04621.58%14,111
Total4,524,85852.69%3,083,66135.91%739,8338.62%238,7112.78%1,441,19716.78%8,587,063

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

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References

  1. "Historical Voter Registration and Participation in Statewide General Elections 1910-2018" (PDF). California Secretary of State. Retrieved May 5, 2022.
  2. Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016
  3. Reisner, Marc; Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water ; p. 11 ISBN   0140178244
  4. "1980 Presidential General Election Results – California". Dave Leip's U.S. Election Atlas. Retrieved August 25, 2008.