Ronald Reagan 1980 presidential campaign

Ronald Reagan for President 1980
General election logo Primary campaign logo
Campaign	1980 Republican primaries 1980 United States presidential election
Candidate	Ronald Reagan 33rd Governor of California 1967–1975 George H. W. Bush 11th Director of Central Intelligence 1976–1977
Affiliation	Republican Party
Status	Announced: November 13, 1979 Presumptive nominee: May 24, 1980 Official nominee: July 17, 1980 Won election: November 4, 1980 Inaugurated: January 20, 1981
Key people	William J. Casey (manager) Edwin Meese III (chief of staff) Richard Wirthlin (pollster) Richard V. Allen (foreign policy advisor)
Slogan	Let's Make America Great Again Are You Better Off Than You Were Four Years Ago? The Time Is Now for Strong Leadership[1]

This article is part of a series about Ronald Reagan
Personal life Filmography Bibliography Death Residences Birthplace of Ronald Reagan Ronald Reagan Boyhood Home Rancho del Cielo 668 St. Cloud Road Speeches A Time for Choosing States' rights Evil Empire Tear down this wall! 33rd Governor of California Elections 1966 1970 Governorship 1969 People's Park protest 40th President of the United States Presidency timeline Transition Inaugurations Polls Scandals Tenure Assassination attempt Invasion of Grenada Bombing of Libya Iran–Contra affair AIDS Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty Policies Domestic Reaganomics Foreign Reagan Doctrine international trips Judicial appointments Supreme Court candidates O'Connor Rehnquist Scalia Bork Ginsburg Kennedy Presidential campaigns 1968 primaries convention 1976 primaries convention 1980 election primaries convention debates 1984 election primaries convention debates Legacy Library Accolades Eponyms Depictions music
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The 1980 presidential campaign of Ronald Reagan resulted in the election of Ronald Reagan and his running mate George H. W. Bush as president and vice president of the United States, defeating incumbent Democratic President Jimmy Carter and Vice President Walter Mondale.

Reagan, a Republican and former governor of California, announced his third presidential bid in a nationally televised speech from New York City in 1979. He campaigned extensively for the primaries after losing the Iowa caucus to former congressman and director of the Central Intelligence Agency Bush. In the primaries, he won 44 states and 59.8 percent of the vote. He decided initially to nominate former president Gerald Ford as his running mate, but Ford wanted such extended powers as vice president, especially over foreign policy, that their ticket would effectively amount to a "co-presidency". As a result, negotiations to form a Reagan–Ford ticket ceased. Reagan then selected Bush as his vice-presidential running mate.

At the 1980 Republican National Convention, Reagan garnered the required delegates to be the official nominee. With Carter's declining approval ratings and popularity, U.S. senator Ted Kennedy challenged him at the Democratic primaries, but Carter was re-nominated. John B. Anderson, who was a presidential candidate for the Republican Party, left the party and entered the race as an independent candidate. On July 19, Reagan opened his campaign with a tumultuous rally in Texas. There he proclaimed the campaign slogan, "We Can Make America Great Again." He called for a drastic cut in "big government" and pledged to deliver a balanced budget for the first time since 1969. At a rally in New York on August 5, Reagan proposed a youth differential in the minimum wage law, for encouraging businesses to hire unskilled and unemployed black youths. Appealing to black voters, he said, "What I want for America is ... pretty much what the overwhelming majority of black Americans also want."

Two presidential debates were conducted, but Carter refused to take part if Anderson was included; the first debate was between only Reagan and Anderson. A week before election day, another debate was organized between President Carter and Reagan; Anderson was not invited. On election day, Reagan won the election by a landslide winning 51 percent of the popular vote with 489 electoral votes to Carter's 49 electoral votes. At 69 years old, Reagan was then the oldest non-incumbent presidential candidate to win a presidential election. He was inaugurated on January 20, 1981.