1980 United States presidential election in Connecticut

Main article: 1980 United States presidential election

1980 United States presidential election in Connecticut

←  1976 November 4, 1980 1984  →
Turnout	82.8% [1]
Nominee Ronald Reagan Jimmy Carter John B. Anderson Party Republican Democratic Anderson Coalition [a] Home state California Georgia Illinois Running mate George H. W. Bush Walter Mondale Patrick Lucey Electoral vote 8 0 0 Popular vote 677,210 541,732 171,807 Percentage 48.16% 38.52% 12.22%
County Results Municipality Results Reagan   40–50%   50–60%   60–70% Carter   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%
President before election Jimmy Carter Democratic Elected President Ronald Reagan Republican

The 1980 United States presidential election in Connecticut took place on November 4, 1980. All 50 states and The District of Columbia, were part of the 1980 United States presidential election. Voters chose eight electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Connecticut was won by former California Governor Ronald Reagan by 10 points. ^[3] President of the United States Jimmy Carter failed to gain reelection against Reagan. Connecticut election results reflect the Republican Party's re-consolidation under what is popularly called the "Reagan Revolution," ^[4] which sounded overwhelming conservative electoral victories across the United States.

The already embattled incumbent Democratic president Carter was hurt in the state by the strong third party candidacy of John Anderson, a liberal Republican Congressman who ran in 1980 as an independent after failing to win the Republican Party's own presidential nomination. Anderson proved very popular with liberal and moderate voters in New England who normally leaned Democratic but were dissatisfied with the policies of the Carter Administration and viewed Reagan as too far to the right. New England overall would prove to be Anderson's strongest region in the nation, with all 6 New England states giving double-digit percentages to Anderson. In fact, Connecticut would prove to be Anderson's fifth strongest state in the nation after Massachusetts, Vermont, Rhode Island and New Hampshire. His 12.22% of the vote in the state was nearly double the 6.61% he got nationwide. ^[5] Connecticut did however, vote approximately 0.1% more Democratic than the national average.

Results

1980 United States presidential election in Connecticut [6]
Party		Candidate	Running mate	Popular vote		Electoral vote
				Count	%	Count	%
	Republican	Ronald Reagan of California	George Bush of Texas	677,210	48.16%	8	100.00%
	Democratic	Jimmy Carter of Georgia (incumbent)	Walter Mondale of Minnesota (incumbent)	541,732	38.52%	0	0.00%
	Anderson Coalition	John B. Anderson	Patrick Lucey	171,807	12.22%	0	0.00%
	Libertarian	Ed Clark of California	David H. Koch of Kansas	8,570	0.61%	0	0.00%
	Citizens	Barry Commoner of Missouri	La Donna Harris of Oklahoma	6,130	0.44%	0	0.00%
	Write-ins			836	0.06%	0	0.00%
Total				1,406,285	100.00%	8	100.00%

By county

County	Ronald Reagan Republican		Jimmy Carter Democratic		Various candidates Other parties		Margin		Total votes cast
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Fairfield	201,997	54.88%	124,074	33.71%	42,027	11.41%	77,923	21.17%	368,098
Hartford	150,265	40.46%	164,643	44.33%	56,472	15.21%	-14,378	-3.87%	371,380
Litchfield	38,725	50.72%	26,705	34.98%	10,924	14.30%	12,020	15.74%	76,354
Middlesex	28,989	45.53%	24,768	38.90%	9,915	15.57%	4,221	6.63%	63,672
New Haven	169,038	50.05%	130,913	38.76%	37,781	11.19%	38,125	11.29%	337,732
New London	47,217	47.96%	36,628	37.21%	14,603	14.83%	10,589	10.75%	98,448
Tolland	22,127	43.95%	18,557	36.86%	9,662	19.19%	3,570	7.09%	50,346
Windham	18,852	47.82%	15,444	39.18%	5,123	13.00%	3,408	8.64%	39,419
Totals	677,210	48.16%	541,732	38.52%	187,343	13.32%	135,478	9.64%	1,406,285

Counties flipped from Democratic to Republican

• Windham

Results by congressional district

District	Reagan	Carter	Representative
1st	39.2%	46.2%	William R. Cotter
2nd	46.9%	38.7%	Chris Dodd (96th Congress)
			Sam Gejdenson (97th Congress)
3rd	50.8%	39.2%	Robert Giaimo (96th Congress)
			Lawrence J. DeNardis (97th Congress)
4th	53.1%	36.9%	Stewart McKinney
5th	54.6%	34.3%	William R. Ratchford
6th	47.7%	38.6%	Toby Moffett

See also

• United States presidential elections in Connecticut
• Presidency of Ronald Reagan

References

1. "Connecticut State Register and Manual, 1981". CT State Library.
2. "1980 Presidential General Election Results – Connecticut". Dave Leip’s U.S. Election Atlas. Retrieved May 20, 2015.
3. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". Uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved March 18, 2015.
4. Jerry Lanson (November 6, 2008). "A historic victory. A changed nation. Now, can Obama deliver?". Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved April 27, 2013.
5. "1980 Presidential Election Statistics". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
6. "1980 Presidential General Election Results - Connecticut". U.S. Election Atlas. Retrieved March 17, 2015.

Notes

1. Anderson’s party was listed on this state’s ballot as “Anderson Coalition”. ^[2]