The Election of Reagan

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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