Ronald Reagan's Victory in 1984 Election

This study will analyze the victory of Ronald Reagan over Walter Mondale in the Presidential election of 1984. The basic argument of the study will be based on the theory that Reagan won because of the desire of the American people for continuity in leadership. This means that the people were generally satisfied with the first four years of the Reagan Administration and were more than willing to keep him in office for another four years. It also means that Mondale was unable to stir in the electorate the desire to change leaders in the White House. The basic issue in the election was the economy--those who had benefitted economically during the first four years of Reagan's presidency were eager to keep him in the White House; those who had not yet benefitted were convinced to some degree that they were more likely to benefit under Reagan than under Mondale; and Mondale was unable to convince the electorate that Reaganomics were going to prove disastrous someday or that he was the man who would be able to solve the problems he predicted would arise in the economy in the years 1984-1988 and beyond.

Reagan was able to use incumbency strength not only because he had the power of the Presidency and the White House behind him, but also because he was so overwhelmingly favored to win the election. Because there was no major issue which Mondale and the Democrats were able to grab a hold of, or create, Reagan was able to set the agenda for the entire election.

Related Essays

Reagan Media Campaigns .... Ronald Reagan's hypocrisy works so effectively because he doesn't know he's a hypocrite . . . . .... Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing. Blumenthal, S. (1988). .... Reagan. .... (3118 12 )

Jesse Jackson's 1984 Presidential Campaign Anno .... third-party candidate, Jackson could effect the return of Reagan to power .... New York Times, 4 January 1984, 1. Joyce, Fay S. "Jackson Candidacy .... Smothers, Ronald. .... (2721 11 )

1988 Voting Demographics .... In 1984, Maryland voted 879,918 for Ronald Reagan to 787,935 .... This time, however, the sweetness of victory will carry a .... Jamieson, Kathleen and David S. Birdsell .... (7707 31 )

The Vietnam War .... abroad that led to the election of Ronald Reagan. .... Nixon Administration had, and in 1988, Reagan's vice-president .... Wouters, Ellen; and Laufer, Robert S. Legacy of .... (2026 8 )

George Lipsitz and Patriotism .... State Alexander Watson praised Argentina' s Quota Law .... Likewise, among journalists, when Ronald Reagan was first .... nationalism that had resulted in his victory. .... (4512 18 )

Red Scares of the 1920s and 1950s .... When Harry S. Truman became president in 1945 .... Red baiting Republican Congressional victory, the Truman .... Later, when Ronald Reagan became President, liberals were .... (4873 19 )

r side, from beginning to end, in both theory and practice: "To the class of super-rich and powerful businessmen . . . Ronald Reagan was the most ideologically congenial President in living memory. Like most of their corporate brethren, the parent companies of America's major news organizations did very well under Ronald Reagan." The implication here, of course, is that while they might not come out and declare their support for Reagan (except for newspaper editorial recommendations), the media corporations were nevertheless pulling for Reagan simply because they were and are profit-making organizations and Reagan's years increased their profits, as those years had increased most corporations I profits. Hertsgaard (1988) goes on in the same passage to say that "The 1981 Reagan tax cuts in particular were a veritable bonanza for corporate America. The President's old employer (and, as of 1986, owner of the NBC television network) General Electric, for example, made nearly $10 billion in profits during the first Reagan term, yet paid not a penny in tax . . . Forty-four large corporations paid no tax on $57 billion of profits generated during Reagan's first term. Indeed, corporate tax subsidies tripled, from $40 billion to $120

Category: Government - R