Myth America: Historians Take On the Biggest Legends and Lies About Our Past

by Kevin M. Kruse

Reagan won in an Electoral College landslide (489‒49), although his margin in the popular vote was narrower—50.7 percent to Carter’s 41 percent and independent John Anderson’s 6.6 percent. Reagan had secured just over half the vote in the election, and polls showed that a large part of that vote was as much about opposition to Carter as it was an endorsement of Reagan or his agenda. Over half of voters said they cast their ballot based on “negative views of the candidates.” Four out of five of Reagan’s supporters reported they made their decision in response to Carter’s record as president. “The great conservative realignment of 1980 was chimerical,” noted Gil Troy. “Only 28 percent of the electorate identified as ‘conservative,’ only 13 percent as strong Republicans, only one Reagan voter in ten identified Reagan’s conservative ideology as a key motivator.”