1980 United States presidential election in Utah

1980 United States presidential election in Utah
County Results Reagan 40-50% 60-70% 70-80% 80-90%
President before election; Jimmy Carter; Democratic	Elected President ; Ronald Reagan; Republican

The 1980 United States presidential election in Utah took place on November 4, 1980. All 50 states and the District of Columbia were part of the election. State voters chose four electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president of the United States.

Utah was won by former Governor of California Ronald Reagan, the Republican nominee, who was running against incumbent President and former Governor of Georgia Jimmy Carter, the Democratic nominee. Reagan ran with former C.I.A. Director George H. W. Bush of Texas, and Carter ran with Walter Mondale, incumbent vice president and former senator from Minnesota. Reagan won the election nationally by a landslide.

Utah weighed in as the most Republican state in the nation in this election.^[1] Carter's share of the popular vote remains the worst ever by a Democrat in Utah. Reagan won Carbon County by a mere three votes, but easily beat Carter throughout the rest of the state, who was widely criticized for his inability to understand issues specific to the West (especially water development).^[2] Carter’s next best county was Tooele where Reagan obtained 62.03 percent of the vote; Reagan surpassed three-quarters of the vote in seventeen of twenty-nine counties. In spite of Reagan's massive victory in the state, incumbent Democratic governor Scott M. Matheson was comfortably re-elected in the concurrent gubernatorial election - the last time a Democrat has won the Utah governorship to date.

Liberal Republican John B. Anderson ran as an independent candidate with some success in the Northeast, the Pacific Northwest, Colorado^[3] and some college towns;^[4] however in largely conservative, Mormon Utah, Anderson possessed less appeal, getting 5.01 percent of the vote statewide, and could not exceed 9.42 percent of the vote in any county. Anderson polled a mere three votes and 0.42 percent of the vote in Piute County, and a very low 1.47 percent of the vote out of over 86,000 votes cast in the second most populated county in the state, Utah County.

^ "1980 Presidential Election Statistics". Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
^ Reisner, Marc; Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water; p. 11 ISBN 0140178244
^ 1980 Presidential Election; Percentage of Vote for John B. Anderson
^ Menendez, Albert J.; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004, pp. 106-107 ISBN 0786422173

[1] "1980 Presidential Election Statistics". Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved March 5, 2018.

[2] Reisner, Marc; Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water; p. 11 ISBN 0140178244

[3] 1980 Presidential Election; Percentage of Vote for John B. Anderson

[4] Menendez, Albert J.; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004, pp. 106-107 ISBN 0786422173

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]