1980 United States presidential election in Vermont
November 4, 1980
 
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 3 0 0
Popular vote 94,598 81,891 31,760
Percentage 44.37% 38.41% 14.90%
President before election

Jimmy Carter
Democratic

 Elected President

Ronald Reagan
Republican

The 1980 United States presidential election in Vermont took place on November 4, 1980, as part of the 1980 United States presidential election which was held throughout all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Voters chose three representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president. Vermont voted for the Republican nominee Ronald Reagan of California and his running mate George H.W. Bush of Texas. Reagan took 44.37% of the vote to incumbent Democratic President Jimmy Carter’s 38.41%, a victory margin of 5.96%. Independent John Anderson took 14.90%.

Long a bastion of liberal Republicanism, Vermont was the only state in the nation to swing Democratic in 1980, having delivered a more comfortable 11.20% margin of victory to moderate Republican Gerald Ford just four years earlier in 1976, even as the rest of the nation swung hard toward the GOP in 1980. Whereas Ford had swept every county in the state of Vermont, Reagan narrowly lost two Northwestern counties, Chittenden and Grand Isle, to Carter. Reagan became the first Republican to ever win without Grand Isle County.

The conservative Reagan would bleed a substantial amount of support in the state to John Anderson, who had been a liberal Republican congressman before mounting his independent bid for the presidency. Anderson proved very popular with liberal and moderate voters in New England who viewed Reagan as too far to the right and with normally leaning Democratic voters who were dissatisfied with the policies of the Carter Administration. 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, Vermont would ultimately prove to be John Anderson’s second strongest state in the nation after neighboring Massachusetts, his 14.9% of the vote in the state more than double the 6.61% he got nationwide.[1]

Vermont was the only state in the nation where Carter performed better in 1980 than he did in 1976, getting more votes in 1980 and being closer to the vote total of his Republican opponent in the state.

Primaries

1980 Democratic Primary
Candidate Votes Delegates
Jimmy Carter 29,015 10
Ted Kennedy 10,135 4
Others 553 0
Totals 39,703 14
1980 Republican Primary
Candidate Votes Delegates
Ronald Reagan 19,720 6
John Anderson 19,030 6
George H.W. Bush 14,226 5
Howard Baker 8,055 3
Others 4,580 0
Totals 65,611 20

Results

1980 United States presidential election in Vermont[2]
Party Candidate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Republican Ronald Reagan 94,598 44.37% 3
Democratic Jimmy Carter 81,891 38.41% 0
Independent John Anderson 31,760 14.90% 0
Citizens Barry Commoner 2,316 1.09% 0
Libertarian Ed Clark 1,900 0.89% 0
No party Write-ins 413 0.19% 0
Socialist David McReynolds 136 0.06% 0
Communist Gus Hall 118 0.06% 0
Socialist Workers Clifton DeBerry 75 0.04% 0
Totals 213,207 100.00% 3
Voter Turnout (Voting age/Registered) 58%/68%

Results by county

County Ronald Wilson Reagan[3]
Republican		 James Earl Carter[3]
Democratic		 John B. Anderson[3]
Independent		 Barry Commoner[3]
Citizens		 Edward E. Clark[3]
Libertarian		 Various candidates[3]
Other parties		 Margin Total votes cast
#  % #  % #  % #  % #  % #  % #  %
Addison 5,216 44.85% 4,351 37.41% 1,751 15.06% 145 1.25% 145 1.25% 22 0.19% 865 7.44% 11,630
Bennington 6,091 44.39% 5,361 39.07% 1,978 14.42% 99 0.72% 151 1.10% 41 0.30% 730 5.32% 13,721
Caledonia 5,986 56.88% 3,284 31.21% 1,068 10.15% 80 0.76% 65 0.62% 40 0.38% 2,702 25.68% 10,523
Chittenden 18,310 38.95% 19,027 40.48% 8,409 17.89% 677 1.44% 406 0.86% 174 0.37% -717 -1.53% 47,003
Essex 1,305 55.77% 799 34.15% 148 6.32% 6 0.26% 77 3.29% 5 0.21% 506 21.62% 2,340
Franklin 5,998 44.61% 5,914 43.99% 1,350 10.04% 73 0.54% 80 0.60% 30 0.22% 84 0.62% 13,445
Grand Isle 947 43.32% 999 45.70% 206 9.42% 9 0.41% 19 0.87% 6 0.27% -52 -2.38% 2,186
Lamoille 3,228 46.85% 2,414 35.04% 1,048 15.21% 103 1.49% 76 1.10% 21 0.30% 814 11.81% 6,890
Orange 4,656 49.52% 3,079 32.75% 1,371 14.58% 149 1.58% 93 0.99% 54 0.57% 1,577 16.77% 9,402
Orleans 4,503 48.86% 3,671 39.83% 865 9.38% 54 0.59% 92 1.00% 32 0.35% 832 9.03% 9,217
Rutland 11,142 45.97% 9,597 39.60% 3,175 13.10% 102 0.42% 155 0.64% 65 0.27% 1,545 6.37% 24,236
Washington 9,714 41.96% 9,559 41.29% 3,256 14.06% 339 1.46% 198 0.86% 85 0.37% 155 0.67% 23,151
Windham 7,062 42.55% 5,830 35.12% 3,167 19.08% 296 1.78% 144 0.87% 99 0.60% 1,232 7.42% 16,598
Windsor 10,470 45.71% 8,067 35.22% 3,915 17.09% 184 0.80% 199 0.87% 68 0.30% 2,403 10.49% 22,903
Totals94,62844.36%81,95238.42%31,76114.89%2,3161.09%1,9000.89%7420.35%12,6765.94%213,299

Analysis

With Reagan only winning 44.37% of the popular vote, he became the first Republican presidential candidate to win Vermont's popular vote with only a plurality since William Howard Taft won the state with only 37.13% of the vote back in 1912. This marked the second and final time to date that has happened. This election would mark the beginning of Vermont’s transition from a staunchly Republican state to being one of the most Democratic states. Ronald Reagan represented the ascendency of the conservative movement within the modern Republican Party, a party which would become increasingly dominated by conservatives, Southerners, and Evangelical Christians during and after Reagan's administration. Vermont would consequently begin shifting increasingly toward the Democrats in the years to come. It is a highly Democratic state today, as of 2020, as it has been for over 25 years.

Future Senator Bernie Sanders served as one of three electors for the Socialist Workers Party in Vermont.[4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "1980 Presidential Election Statistics". Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
  2. ↑ "1980 Presidential General Election Results - Vermont". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved April 14, 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Our Campaigns; VT US President Race, November 04, 1980
  4. ↑ "Socialists Launch Campaign to Get Candidates on Ballot". Rutland Herald. July 11, 1980. p. 9. Archived from the original on November 29, 2020. Retrieved November 29, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
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