1980 United States presidential election in New York

none June 2025 September 2023 1980 United States presidential election 1980 United States presidential election in New York New York Flag of New York (1909–2020).svg presidential no 1976 United States presidential election in New York 1976 1984 United States presidential election in New York 1984 November 4, 1980 x160px Official Portrait of President Reagan 1981-cropped.jpg Ronald Reagan Republican Party (United States) Conservative California George H. W. Bush 41 2,893,831 46.66% Jimmy Carter presidential portrait (cropped 1).jpg Jimmy Carter Democratic Party (United States) Georgia Walter Mondale 0 2,728,372 43.99% John B. Anderson in New Jersey (cropped).jpg John B. Anderson Liberal Party of New York Illinois Patrick Lucey 0 467,801 7.54% 400px 400px County results Reagan #f2b3be 40–50% #e27f90 50–60% #cc2f4a 60–70% Carter #b9d7ff 40–50% #86b6f2 50–60% #4389e3 60–70% President Jimmy Carter Democratic Party (United States) Ronald Reagan Republican Party (United States) The 1980 United States presidential election in New York took place on November 4, 1980. All 50 states and the District of Columbia were part of the 1980 United States presidential election. Voters chose 41 electors to the Electoral College, which voted for President and Vice President. New York was won by former California Governor Ronald Reagan, in a narrow victory against President of the United States Jimmy Carter, who failed to gain reelection against Reagan.https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?year=1980&fips=36&f=1&off=0&elect=0&minper=0 1980 Presidential General Election Results – New York Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections 2013-04-27 Also in the running was Independent candidate Congressman John B. Anderson of Illinois, who ran in New York as the Liberal Party candidate. Reagan won the state with a plurality of 46.66% of the vote to Carter's 43.99%, a margin of 2.67%. Anderson finished in third, with 7.54%. New York's election results reflect the Republican Party's re-consolidation of base under what is popularly called the "Reagan Revolution,"A historic victory. A changed nation. Now, can Obama deliver? Jerry Lanson Christian Science Monitor 2008-11-06 https://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1106/p09s02-coop.html 2013-04-27 which sounded various overwhelming conservative electoral victories across the United States throughout the 1980s – and most evidently against the relatively unpopular president Carter during the 1980 presidential election. New York weighed in for this election as more Democratic than the national average by about 7%. This election is notable in that while the highly populated regions of New York City, Buffalo and Albany turned out for Carter, and the sparsely populated upstate counties turned out for Reagan, the election in the state was tipped by the downstate suburban counties around NYC, which were won by Reagan. Most notably, Reagan won in the Long Island suburban counties of Nassau and Suffolk by bigger vote number margins than in all of the counties that Carter won in the state except Manhattan. Carter actually picked up plurality wins in two counties where he had lost in 1976 to Gerald Ford: namely Monroe County, home to the city of Rochester (thereby making Reagan the first-ever Republican to win the White House without carrying this county), and Niagara County. Despite these two county gains by Carter, it wasn't enough for him to retain the state that he had won four years earlier, as Carter's winning margin in New York City was considerably lower than what it had been in 1976. This fact, combined with the big vote number margins that Reagan won by in the densely populated downstate counties outside New York City, enabled Reagan to overtake Carter in the popular vote statewide. Another major contributing factor to Reagan's victory over Carter was the relatively strong third party showing by independent candidate John B. Anderson, a former liberal Republican congressman who garnered 7.54% of the vote in the State – nearly twice the 4% margin by which Carter had won New York in 1976. Running on the ballot line of New York's Liberal Party, Anderson attracted the votes of many liberals and moderates who normally leaned Democratic but were dissatisfied with the policies of the Carter Administration, and with Rockefeller Republicans who viewed Reagan as too far to the right, thus splitting the left-leaning vote in New York State. Primaries +1980 Democratic primaryCandidateVotesDelegatesTed Kennedy582,757176Jimmy Carter (incumbent)406,305123Totals989,062299 +1980 Republican primary*CandidateDelegatesRonald Reagan73George H. W. Bush6John Anderson1Uncommitted47Totals127 Note: The Republican primary was not decided by votes for each candidate, but for their delegate slates in each and every congressional district. Results 1980 United States presidential election in New YorkPartyCandidateVotesPercentageElectoral votes Republican Ronald Reagan 2,637,700 42.53% Conservative Ronald Reagan 256,131 4.13% Total Ronald Reagan 2,893,831 46.66% 41 Democratic Jimmy Carter (Incumbent) 2,728,372 43.99% 0 Liberal John B. Anderson 467,801 7.54% 0 Free Libertarian Ed Clark 52,648 0.85% 0 Right to Life Ellen McCormack 24,159 0.39% 0 Citizens Party Barry Commoner 23,186 0.37% 0Communist Gus Hall 7,414 0.12% 0Socialist Workers Clifton DeBerry 2,068 0.03% 0Workers’ World Deirdre Griswold 1,416 0.02% 0Write-ins — 1,064 0.02% 0 Totals 6,201,959 100.0% 41 New York City results 1980 presidential election in New York CityManhattanThe BronxBrooklynQueens Staten IslandTotal DemocraticJimmy Carter275,742181,090288,893269,14737,3061,052,17854.87%62.40%64.02%55.44%47.98%33.72% Republican-ConservativeRonald Reagan115,91186,843200,306251,33364,885719,27837.51%26.23%30.70%38.43%44.81%58.64% LiberalJohn B. Anderson38,59711,28624,34132,5667,055113,8455.94%8.73%3.99%4.67%5.81%6.38% Citizens PartyBarry Commoner5,3616852,2661,88922510,4260.54%1.21%0.24%0.43%0.34%0.20% Free LibertarianEd Clark2,7189912,0392,4825618,7910.46%0.62%0.35%0.39%0.44%0.51% Right to LifeEllen McCormack8629951,6152,2275186,2170.32%0.20%0.35%0.31%0.40%0.47% CommunistGus Hall1,9976691,222945594,8920.26%0.45%0.24%0.23%0.17%0.05% Socialist WorkersClifton DeBerry451204279258321,2240.06%0.10%0.07%0.05%0.05%0.03% Workers’ WorldDeirdre Griswold259841317665560.03%0.06%0.03%0.03%0.01%0.01%TOTAL441,901282,847521,109560,923110,6511,917,431100.00% Results by county County Ronald ReaganRepublican/Conservative Jimmy CarterDemocratic John B. AndersonLiberal Ed Clarkhttps://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=2299 NY US President Race, November 04, 1980 Our CampaignsFree Libertarian Ellen McCormackRight to Life Barry CommonerCitizens Various candidatesOther parties Margin Total votescast # % # % # % # % # % # % # % # % Albany 52,354 36.27% 74,429 51.56% 14,563 10.09% 1,723 1.19% 642 0.44% 502 0.35% 151 0.10% −22,075 −15.29% 144,364 Allegany 10,423 59.09% 5,879 33.33% 973 5.52% 275 1.56% 44 0.25% 25 0.14% 21 0.12% 4,544 25.76% 17,640 Bronx 86,843 30.70% 181,090 64.02% 11,286 3.99% 991 0.35% 995 0.35% 685 0.24% 957 0.34% −94,247 −33.32% 282,847 Broome 39,275 43.99% 37,013 41.46% 11,388 12.76% 969 1.09% 323 0.36% 206 0.23% 106 0.12% 2,262 2.53% 89,280 Cattaraugus 17,222 52.65% 12,917 39.49% 1,848 5.65% 477 1.46% 149 0.46% 42 0.13% 54 0.17% 4,305 13.16% 32,709 Cayuga 17,945 54.78% 11,708 35.74% 2,539 7.75% 360 1.10% 111 0.34% 47 0.14% 46 0.14% 6,237 19.04% 32,756 Chautauqua 30,081 51.20% 22,871 38.93% 4,699 8.00% 815 1.39% 142 0.24% 72 0.12% 76 0.13% 7,210 12.27% 58,756 Chemung 19,674 52.87% 14,565 39.14% 2,465 6.62% 327 0.88% 121 0.33% 38 0.10% 19 0.05% 5,109 13.73% 37,209 Chenango 10,400 53.08% 6,917 35.31% 1,908 9.74% 261 1.33% 57 0.29% 37 0.19% 12 0.06% 3,483 17.77% 19,592 Clinton 13,120 48.79% 11,498 42.76% 1,904 7.08% 193 0.72% 95 0.35% 60 0.22% 20 0.07% 1,622 6.03% 26,890 Columbia 13,946 53.08% 9,500 36.16% 2,204 8.39% 378 1.44% 125 0.48% 86 0.33% 35 0.13% 4,446 16.92% 26,274 Cortland 9,885 54.77% 6,176 34.22% 1,603 8.88% 249 1.38% 49 0.27% 55 0.30% 31 0.17% 3,709 20.55% 18,048 Delaware 10,609 55.36% 6,333 33.05% 1,865 9.73% 252 1.31% 35 0.18% 52 0.27% 18 0.09% 4,276 22.31% 19,164 Dutchess 53,616 57.65% 28,616 30.77% 8,824 9.49% 1,129 1.21% 388 0.42% 275 0.30% 159 0.17% 25,000 26.88% 93,007 Erie 169,209 40.24% 215,283 51.20% 29,580 7.03% 3,853 0.92% 1,381 0.33% 767 0.18% 400 0.10% −46,074 −10.96% 420,473 Essex 9,025 53.16% 6,443 37.95% 1,213 7.14% 204 1.20% 45 0.27% 31 0.18% 17 0.10% 2,582 15.21% 16,978 Franklin 7,620 46.77% 7,281 44.69% 1,182 7.26% 88 0.54% 80 0.49% 30 0.18% 11 0.07% 339 2.08% 16,292 Fulton 11,448 53.19% 8,105 37.66% 1,566 7.28% 280 1.30% 72 0.33% 30 0.14% 21 0.10% 3,343 15.53% 21,522 Genesee 11,650 47.57% 10,677 43.60% 1,651 6.74% 346 1.41% 97 0.40% 29 0.12% 39 0.16% 973 3.97% 24,489 Greene 11,286 57.88% 6,488 33.28% 1,338 6.86% 220 1.13% 115 0.59% 29 0.15% 22 0.11% 4,798 24.60% 19,498 Hamilton 2,038 63.10% 925 28.64% 176 5.45% 52 1.61% 16 0.50% 20 0.62% 3 0.09% 1,113 34.46% 3,230 Herkimer 14,105 50.58% 11,497 41.23% 1,830 6.56% 321 1.15% 73 0.26% 40 0.14% 22 0.08% 2,608 9.35% 27,888 Jefferson 16,455 49.67% 13,271 40.06% 2,834 8.55% 387 1.17% 85 0.26% 71 0.21% 25 0.08% 3,184 9.61% 33,128 Kings 200,306 38.43% 288,893 55.44% 24,341 4.67% 2,039 0.39% 1,615 0.31% 2,266 0.43% 1,649 0.32% −88,587 −17.01% 521,109 Lewis 4,937 50.26% 3,973 40.45% 716 7.29% 150 1.53% 32 0.33% 4 0.04% 10 0.10% 964 9.81% 9,822 Livingston 11,193 49.85% 9,030 40.22% 1,694 7.54% 400 1.78% 63 0.28% 47 0.21% 27 0.12% 2,163 9.63% 22,454 Madison 13,369 55.85% 7,843 32.77% 2,122 8.86% 444 1.85% 77 0.32% 53 0.22% 29 0.12% 5,526 23.08% 23,937 Monroe 128,615 41.93% 142,423 46.43% 29,118 9.49% 4,335 1.41% 980 0.32% 846 0.28% 416 0.14% −13,808 −4.50% 306,733 Montgomery 11,917 49.48% 9,645 40.04% 2,080 8.64% 309 1.28% 72 0.30% 38 0.16% 27 0.11% 2,272 9.44% 24,088 Nassau 333,567 55.95% 207,602 34.81% 44,758 7.51% 3,463 0.58% 3,795 0.64% 2,257 0.38% 712 0.12% 125,965 21.14% 596,154 New York 115,911 26.23% 275,742 62.40% 38,597 8.73% 2,718 0.62% 862 0.20% 5,361 1.21% 2,710 0.61% −159,831 −36.17% 441,901 Niagara 38,760 44.86% 40,405 46.77% 6,014 6.96% 816 0.94% 285 0.33% 72 0.08% 56 0.06% −1,645 −1.91% 86,409 Oneida 51,968 49.59% 44,292 42.26% 6,929 6.61% 1,107 1.06% 308 0.29% 98 0.09% 97 0.09% 7,676 7.33% 104,799 Onondaga 97,887 50.62% 73,453 37.99% 18,805 9.72% 1,908 0.99% 695 0.36% 352 0.18% 272 0.14% 24,434 12.63% 193,372 Ontario 17,036 47.98% 14,477 40.77% 3,147 8.86% 606 1.71% 133 0.37% 66 0.19% 41 0.12% 2,559 7.21% 35,506 Orange 51,268 56.67% 30,022 33.18% 7,656 8.46% 948 1.05% 302 0.33% 151 0.17% 123 0.14% 21,246 23.49% 90,470 Orleans 7,536 51.58% 5,767 39.47% 977 6.69% 252 1.72% 41 0.28% 20 0.14% 18 0.12% 1,769 12.11% 14,611 Oswego 22,816 53.63% 15,343 36.07% 3,333 7.83% 810 1.90% 118 0.28% 65 0.15% 56 0.13% 7,473 17.56% 42,541 Otsego 11,814 49.42% 8,795 36.79% 2,874 12.02% 299 1.25% 47 0.20% 51 0.21% 27 0.11% 3,019 12.63% 23,907 Putnam 20,193 63.46% 8,691 27.31% 2,340 7.35% 294 0.92% 146 0.46% 112 0.35% 43 0.14% 11,502 36.15% 31,819 Queens 251,333 44.81% 269,147 47.98% 32,566 5.81% 2,482 0.44% 2,227 0.40% 1,889 0.34% 1,279 0.23% −17,814 −3.17% 560,923 Rensselaer 32,005 45.89% 29,880 42.84% 6,443 9.24% 955 1.37% 270 0.39% 130 0.19% 64 0.09% 2,125 3.05% 69,747 Richmond 64,885 58.64% 37,306 33.72% 7,055 6.38% 561 0.51% 518 0.47% 225 0.20% 101 0.09% 27,579 24.92% 110,651 Rockland 59,068 56.26% 35,277 33.60% 8,709 8.29% 879 0.84% 484 0.46% 427 0.41% 151 0.14% 23,791 22.66% 104,993 Saratoga 34,184 52.30% 23,641 36.17% 6,201 9.49% 957 1.46% 194 0.30% 128 0.20% 57 0.09% 10,543 16.13% 65,362 Schenectady 32,003 45.37% 29,932 42.44% 7,146 10.13% 947 1.34% 206 0.29% 202 0.29% 98 0.14% 2,071 2.93% 70,534 Schoharie 6,382 52.05% 4,715 38.45% 940 7.67% 165 1.35% 30 0.24% 17 0.14% 13 0.11% 1,667 13.60% 12,262 Schuyler 3,838 55.17% 2,514 36.14% 476 6.84% 79 1.14% 14 0.20% 26 0.37% 10 0.14% 1,324 19.03% 6,957 Seneca 7,174 52.40% 5,010 36.60% 1,205 8.80% 199 1.45% 53 0.39% 34 0.25% 15 0.11% 2,164 15.80% 13,690 St. Lawrence 18,437 46.53% 17,006 42.92% 3,544 8.94% 319 0.81% 164 0.41% 115 0.29% 39 0.10% 1,431 3.61% 39,624 Steuben 22,418 58.73% 12,826 33.60% 2,257 5.91% 467 1.22% 121 0.32% 54 0.14% 27 0.07% 9,592 25.13% 38,170 Suffolk 256,294 57.00% 149,945 33.35% 34,743 7.73% 3,598 0.80% 2,827 0.63% 1,676 0.37% 573 0.13% 106,349 23.65% 449,655 Sullivan 15,089 55.44% 9,553 35.10% 2,095 7.70% 297 1.09% 104 0.38% 19 0.07% 61 0.22% 5,536 20.34% 27,218 Tioga 10,291 53.56% 6,690 34.82% 1,851 9.63% 261 1.36% 52 0.27% 33 0.17% 36 0.19% 3,601 18.74% 19,214 Tompkins 12,448 41.96% 11,970 40.35% 4,081 13.76% 305 1.03% 49 0.17% 764 2.58% 51 0.17% 478 1.61% 29,668 Ulster 36,709 55.01% 22,179 33.24% 5,995 8.98% 868 1.30% 184 0.28% 640 0.96% 151 0.23% 14,530 21.77% 66,726 Warren 13,264 59.28% 6,971 31.15% 1,766 7.89% 266 1.19% 59 0.26% 35 0.16% 16 0.07% 6,293 28.13% 22,377 Washington 12,835 58.59% 7,144 32.61% 1,501 6.85% 337 1.54% 48 0.22% 29 0.13% 12 0.05% 5,691 25.98% 21,906 Wayne 16,498 50.74% 12,590 38.72% 2,623 8.07% 628 1.93% 85 0.26% 55 0.17% 33 0.10% 3,908 12.02% 32,512 Westchester 198,552 54.37% 130,136 35.64% 30,119 8.25% 2,639 0.72% 1,587 0.43% 1,555 0.43% 578 0.16% 68,416 18.73% 365,166 Wyoming 8,108 55.72% 5,234 35.97% 855 5.88% 266 1.83% 58 0.40% 17 0.12% 14 0.10% 2,874 19.75% 14,552 Yates 4,694 55.99% 2,828 33.73% 690 8.23% 125 1.49% 14 0.17% 28 0.33% 5 0.06% 1,866 22.26% 8,384Totals2,893,83146.66%2,728,37243.99%467,8017.54%52,6480.85%24,1590.39%23,1860.37%11,9620.19%165,4592.67%6,201,959 Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic Monroe Niagara Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican Sullivan Analysis In the heavily populated, and very liberal, five boroughs of New York City, Carter still won overall, and Reagan made only modest gains in vote share over Gerald Ford's 1976 showing of 33%, with Reagan taking 37.5% in NYC in 1980. While Carter still won in 4 of the 5 boroughs, Carter bled considerable support in New York City to Anderson, with Carter's NYC vote percentage dropping from 66% in 1976 to only 55% in 1980. Since Democratic victories in New York State in that era depended on running up massive margins in New York City to overcome the rest of the state's Republican lean, the reduced vote number margin in New York City from vote-splitting would prove fatal to Carter's chances in 1980. While Reagan only bled about 1% off Republican base support in the state (winning a plurality in a 3-way-race with 46.66% while Gerald Ford had lost the state in a two-man race with 47.52% in 1976), Carter bled 8% off his 1976 support, falling from a 51.95% majority win in 1976 to a losing 43.99% in 1980, with most of these lost Democratic base votes going to Anderson instead. 1980 remains the last election in which a Republican presidential nominee has won traditionally rock-ribbed GOP Tompkins County in upstate New York, home to the college town of Ithaca, where Cornell University and Ithaca College are located.Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016. From the Republican Party's founding in 1854 all the way up to 1976, Tompkins County had been a Republican stronghold in presidential elections and had only gone Democratic in the landslides of 1912 and 1964,Menendez, Albert J.; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004, pp. 261–265, 0786422173. with Franklin D. Roosevelt never topping 40% in the county in a presidential election. With the Republican Party nationally being increasingly taken over by its conservative wing, the GOP's fortunes quickly began to fade in the county in the 1980s. Reagan narrowly won Tompkins County in 1980 with a plurality of 42% to Carter's 40%, while Anderson took nearly 14%, making it Anderson's strongest county in the state. Four years later in 1984, Tompkins County would vote against Reagan, and by 2004 had become the most Democratic county in all of upstate New York in giving 64.19% of the vote to John Kerry. Tompkins County later gave Barack Obama 70.09% of the vote in 2008, Joe Biden 73.51% of the vote in 2020, and Kamala Harris 73.84% of the vote in 2024. 1980 remains the last election where any presidential candidate would get at least 40 electoral votes from New York. After the 1980 census, the state's electoral votes would drop from 41 electoral votes to 36 votes. Along with Maine, Michigan, Mississippi and Vermont, New York was one of the few states in which President Carter won counties that had gone to Ford in the previous presidential election, as Carter flipped both Monroe and Niagara counties. See also United States presidential elections in New York Presidency of Ronald Reagan References expanded New York 1980 Category:1980 New York (state) elections