1980 United States presidential election in Washington (state)

Main article: 1980 United States presidential election

1980 United States presidential election in Washington (state)

←  1976 November 4, 1980 1984  →

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 vote 9 0 0 Popular vote 865,244 650,193 185,073 Percentage 49.66% 37.32% 10.62%

County results Reagan   40–50%   50–60%   60–70% Carter   40–50%

President before election Jimmy Carter Democratic Elected President Ronald Reagan Republican

The 1980 United States presidential election in Washington was held on November 4, 1980 as part of the 1980 United States presidential election. State voters chose nine representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Republican candidate Ronald Reagan won the state of Washington with 49.66 percent of the vote. During the previous election in 1976, Reagan, who was not on the ballot in any of the fifty states, received one of Washington's electoral votes by faithless elector Mike Padden.

Reagan won every county in the state except Grays Harbor and Pacific Counties, neither of which ever voted Republican between 1956 and 2012. As of the 2020 presidential election ^[update] , Reagan's 1980 effort remains the last Republican win in Jefferson County and was the last in Cowlitz County until 2016. ^[1]

Third-party candidate John B. Anderson did well in Western Washington, gaining many voters from disaffected major-party supporters and exceeding 14 percent of the vote in Kitsap and San Juan Counties. Anderson was less successful east of the Cascades, apart from college-influenced Whitman County. 1980 marks the last time in which Washington state voted more Republican than the nation at-large. ^[2]

Results

1980 United States presidential election in Washington [3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Republican	Ronald Reagan	865,244	49.66%	9
	Democrat	Jimmy Carter (incumbent)	650,193	37.32%	0
	Independent	John B. Anderson	185,073	10.62%	0
	Libertarian	Edward Clark	29,213	1.68%	0
	Citizens	Barry Commoner	9,403	0.54%	0
	Socialist Workers	Clifton DeBerry	1,137	0.07%	0
	Socialist	David McReynolds	956	0.05%	0
	Communist	Gus Hall	834	0.05%	0
	Workers World	Deirdre Griswold	341	0.02%	0
Totals			1,742,394	100.0%	9

Results by county

County	Ronald Reagan Republican		Jimmy Carter Democratic		John B. Anderson Independent		Various candidates Other parties		Margin		Total votes cast [3]
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Adams	3,248	68.01%	1,223	25.61%	255	5.34%	50	1.05%	2,025	42.40%	4,776
Asotin	3,275	49.18%	2,724	40.91%	539	8.09%	121	1.82%	551	8.27%	6,659
Benton	28,728	64.68%	11,561	26.03%	3,301	7.43%	823	1.85%	17,167	38.65%	44,413
Chelan	11,299	56.92%	6,483	32.66%	1,608	8.10%	460	2.32%	4,816	24.26%	19,850
Clallam	11,515	51.65%	8,029	36.01%	2,172	9.74%	580	2.60%	3,486	15.64%	22,296
Clark	33,223	46.10%	30,584	42.43%	6,445	8.94%	1,823	2.53%	2,639	3.67%	72,075
Columbia	1,349	64.67%	587	28.14%	119	5.70%	31	1.49%	762	36.53%	2,086
Cowlitz	13,154	45.93%	12,560	43.86%	2,336	8.16%	589	2.06%	594	2.07%	28,639
Douglas	5,171	59.38%	2,833	32.53%	564	6.48%	141	1.62%	2,338	26.85%	8,709
Ferry	1,108	52.76%	802	38.19%	127	6.05%	63	3.00%	306	14.57%	2,100
Franklin	7,327	61.26%	3,719	31.09%	699	5.84%	216	1.81%	3,608	30.17%	11,961
Garfield	875	57.60%	509	33.51%	122	8.03%	13	0.86%	366	24.09%	1,519
Grant	11,152	61.29%	5,673	31.18%	1,091	6.00%	280	1.54%	5,479	30.11%	18,196
Grays Harbor	10,226	40.19%	11,290	44.37%	3,267	12.84%	661	2.60%	-1,064	-4.18%	25,444
Island	10,926	58.87%	5,422	29.21%	1,800	9.70%	411	2.21%	5,504	29.66%	18,559
Jefferson	3,645	44.61%	3,279	40.13%	876	10.72%	370	4.53%	366	4.48%	8,170
King	272,567	45.42%	235,046	39.16%	76,119	12.68%	16,425	2.74%	37,521	6.26%	600,157
Kitsap	29,420	48.79%	20,893	34.65%	8,525	14.14%	1,458	2.42%	8,527	14.14%	60,296
Kittitas	5,359	49.86%	4,075	37.91%	1,066	9.92%	248	2.31%	1,284	11.95%	10,748
Klickitat	3,113	49.54%	2,596	41.31%	423	6.73%	152	2.42%	517	8.23%	6,284
Lewis	13,636	59.94%	6,962	30.60%	1,603	7.05%	548	2.41%	6,674	29.34%	22,749
Lincoln	3,324	62.28%	1,597	29.92%	357	6.69%	59	1.11%	1,727	32.36%	5,337
Mason	6,745	49.10%	5,241	38.15%	1,353	9.85%	398	2.90%	1,504	10.95%	13,737
Okanogan	6,460	51.71%	4,634	37.09%	1,030	8.24%	369	2.95%	1,826	14.62%	12,493
Pacific	3,132	39.09%	3,727	46.52%	945	11.79%	208	2.60%	-595	-7.43%	8,012
Pend Oreille	2,136	55.70%	1,399	36.48%	221	5.76%	79	2.06%	737	19.22%	3,835
Pierce	90,247	51.13%	64,444	36.51%	18,345	10.39%	3,475	1.97%	25,803	14.62%	176,511
San Juan	2,363	46.97%	1,666	33.11%	728	14.47%	274	5.45%	697	13.86%	5,031
Skagit	15,520	50.68%	11,299	36.90%	2,854	9.32%	950	3.10%	4,221	13.78%	30,623
Skamania	1,416	45.75%	1,373	44.36%	218	7.04%	88	2.84%	43	1.39%	3,095
Snohomish	66,153	48.68%	52,003	38.26%	14,465	10.64%	3,286	2.42%	14,150	10.42%	135,907
Spokane	78,096	55.51%	49,263	35.02%	11,258	8.00%	2,068	1.47%	28,833	20.49%	140,685
Stevens	7,094	61.53%	3,584	31.08%	601	5.21%	251	2.18%	3,510	30.45%	11,530
Thurston	26,369	48.10%	20,508	37.41%	5,993	10.93%	1,953	3.56%	5,861	10.69%	54,823
Wahkiakum	828	46.57%	751	42.24%	148	8.32%	51	2.87%	77	4.33%	1,778
Walla Walla	11,223	59.14%	5,825	30.70%	1,591	8.38%	338	1.78%	5,398	28.44%	18,977
Whatcom	21,371	46.40%	18,430	40.02%	4,906	10.65%	1,350	2.93%	2,941	6.38%	46,057
Whitman	8,636	50.73%	5,726	33.63%	2,331	13.69%	331	1.94%	2,910	17.10%	17,024
Yakima	33,815	55.21%	21,873	35.71%	4,672	7.63%	893	1.46%	11,942	19.50%	61,253
Totals	865,244	49.66%	650,193	37.32%	185,073	10.62%	41,884	2.40%	215,051	12.34%	1,742,394

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

• Asotin
• Clark
• Cowlitz
• Ferry
• Jefferson
• Kitsap
• Kittitas
• Klickitat
• Mason
• Okanogan
• Pend Oreille
• Pierce
• Skamania
• Snohomish
• Thurston
• Wahkiakum

See also

• United States presidential elections in Washington (state)
• Presidency of Ronald Reagan

References

1. Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016
2. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved April 22, 2023.
3. "Election Search Results November 1980 General" . Retrieved August 1, 2024.