United States presidential election in Delaware, 1984

United States presidential election in Delaware, 1984

November 6, 1984

Nominee Ronald Reagan Walter Mondale Party Republican Democratic Home state California Minnesota Running mate George H.W. Bush Geraldine Ferraro Electoral vote 3 0 Popular vote 152,190 101,656 Percentage 59.8% 39.9%

County Results   Reagan—50-60%   Reagan—60-70%

President before election Ronald Reagan Republican Elected President Ronald Reagan Republican

The 1984 United States presidential election in Delaware took place on November 6, 1984. All 50 states and the District of Columbia, were part of the 1984 United States presidential election. Delaware voters chose 3 electors to the Electoral College, which selected the President and Vice President of the United States.

Delaware was won by incumbent United States President Ronald Reagan of California, who was running against former Vice President Walter Mondale of Minnesota. Reagan ran for a second time with former C.I.A. Director George H. W. Bush of Texas, and Mondale ran with Representative Geraldine Ferraro of New York, the first major female candidate for the Vice-Presidency.

Partisan background

The presidential election of 1984 was a very partisan election for Delaware, with over 99% of the electorate voting either Democratic or Republican, though six parties appeared on the ballot.^[1] Every county in Delaware voted in majority for Reagan. The Republican turnout is softest in the Northern part of the State, but is ubiquitous.

Delaware weighed in for this election as 1% more Republican than the national average.

Republican victory

Reagan won the election in Delaware with a resounding 20 point sweep-out landslide. Delaware, historically a conservative swing state, voted Republican for the second to last time in this election. Election results in Delaware are reflective of a nationwide reconsolidation of base for the Republican Party which took place through the 1980s; called by Reagan the "second American Revolution."^[2] This was most evident during the 1984 presidential election. No Republican candidate has received as strong of support in the Atlantic Northeast, at large, as Reagan did.

It is speculated that Mondale lost support with voters nearly immediately during the campaign, namely during his acceptance speech at the 1984 Democratic National Convention. There he stated that he intended to increase taxes. To quote Mondale, "By the end of my first term, I will reduce the Reagan budget deficit by two thirds. Let's tell the truth. It must be done, it must be done. Mr. Reagan will raise taxes, and so will I. He won't tell you. I just did."^[3] Despite this claimed attempt at establishing truthfulness with the electorate, this promise to raise taxes badly eroded his chances in what had already begun as an uphill battle against the charismatic Ronald Reagan.

Reagan also enjoyed high levels of bipartisan support during the 1984 presidential election, both in Delaware, and across the nation at large. Many registered Democrats who voted for Reagan (Reagan Democrats) stated that they had chosen to do so because they associated him with the economic recovery, because of his strong stance on national security issues with Russia, and because they considered the Democrats as "supporting American poor and minorities at the expense of the middle class."^[4] These public opinion factors contributed to Reagan’s 1984 landslide victory, in Delaware and elsewhere.

Results

United States presidential election in Delaware, 1984
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Republican	Ronald Reagan	152,190	59.78%	3
	Democratic	Walter Mondale	101,656	39.93%	0
	American Party	Delmar Dennis	269	0.11%	0
	Libertarian	David Bergland	268	0.11%	0
	Citizen's Party	Sonia Johnson	121	0.05%	0
	New Alliance Party	Dennis Serrette	68	0.03%	0
Totals			254,572	100.0%	3

See also

• Iran–Contra affair
• Nicaragua guerrilla war
• Presidency of Ronald Reagan

References

1. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". Uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved 2013-11-11.
2. Raines, Howell (November 7, 1984). "Reagan Wins By a Landslide, Sweeping at Least 48 States; G.O.P. Gains Strength in House". The New York Times. Retrieved November 11, 2013.
3. Mondale's Acceptance Speech, 1984, AllPolitics
4. Prendergast, William B. (1999). The Catholic vote in American politics. Washington DC: Georgetown University Press. pp. 186, 191–193. ISBN 0-87840-724-3.