The Election of Reagan
Liberalism Loses Its Appeal
Loss in government trust
Iran hostage crisis
Watergate
Counterculture
Distanced white conservative Christians
Distanced Midwestern and Southern Americans
Polarizing issues took first priority
Urban riots
Vietnam
Democratic Party began to unravel
Rise of the Conservative Movement
Reagan became the spearhead of the
new Conservative movement
Population Trends
Republicans had become the
dominant political party in the South
Migration from the Rust Belt to
the Sunbelt
More Americans moved to suburbs
and their support for liberal ideas
waned (cities were mostly liberal)
Sagebrush Rebels
Wanted more power to the states
Thought that the federal government
controlled too much land in the
Western states
New Right
Thought that government taxed citizens
and businesses too heavily
Criticized liberal programs
Thought that Great Society had
made things worse
Some said welfare programs
rewarded lack of effort
Resurgent conservative movement
Prior to the
1980 election
1940s and 1950s
Bipartisan foreign policy
Blurred party dividing lines
Conservatives
Shared some core values with liberals but
differed on a few counts
Not very prevalent
Few conservative presidents within the last
few years and had lost significant votes after
the defeat of Barry Goldwater
Liberals
Cooperation with international orgs. like UN
Protecting rights of minorities and women
Believed that the federal government should be very active
Had picked up significant steam as civil right and other activist driven issues began to appear on the national stage
Ideas and Goals of
Conservatism
Anticommunism
Fought SALT II in the Senate
Questioned detente
Focused on dangers posed by the Soviet Union
Other conservatives
warned about abandoning traditional
values for new freedoms from counterculture
traditionalists
neoconservatives
Conservative Economist Milton Friedman and his
wife Rose Friedman wrote Free to Choose
"the story of the United States is an economic
miracle... What produced this miracle? Clearly
not central direction by government"
Wanted to reduce taxes and limit government
regulation of industry to promote economic growth
Criticized "throwing money" at social issues
State government over federal government
Why Reagan Won
A Time for Choosing speech
Allowed Reagan to win the nomination by a landslide
Won admiration
Motivated many Conservatives
Religion became prevalent
2 million more registered voters
Reached out to Americans who traditionally didn't participate in the political process
the Moral Majority was a political org. working to fulfill religious goals
Moral majority "report cards" always favored Republicans
Worried about the decline of the traditional family
founded by Jerry Falwell
Electoral votes
Electoral votes are given on a "winner takes all" basis
Reagan won 50.6% of the popular vote, but
90.9% of the electoral vote
Personality
Even-tempered communicator skills shone through before the debate
Convinced Americans he would bring
a new era of prosperity and patriotism
Radiated optimism
Reagan was much more charismatic and
polished than Goldwater
