1984 United States presidential election — 50th quadrennial U.S. presidential election
Reagan's 1984 landslide, carrying 49 states and 525 electoral votes, remains the most one-sided presidential election outcome in the modern era.
Key Facts
- Electoral votes won (Reagan)
- 525
- States carried (Reagan)
- 49 of 50
- Popular vote share (Reagan)
- 58.8%
- Electoral votes won (Mondale)
- 13
- Minnesota margin (Mondale)
- 0.18% (3,761 votes)
- First woman on major party ticket
- Geraldine Ferraro (VP nominee)
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Reagan entered the 1984 campaign buoyed by a strong economic recovery from the 1981–1982 recession and widespread public perception of restored national confidence. Mondale, after defeating Gary Hart, Jesse Jackson, and others in competitive Democratic primaries, struggled to counter Reagan's popularity and touted deficit reduction, a nuclear freeze, and the Equal Rights Amendment.
On November 6, 1984, incumbent President Ronald Reagan and Vice President George H. W. Bush defeated the Democratic ticket of Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro in a landslide. Ferraro was the first woman nominated for vice president by a major U.S. party. Reagan carried 49 states, 525 electoral votes, and 58.8% of the popular vote; Mondale won only Minnesota and the District of Columbia.
Reagan's victory gave Republicans a commanding second term and cemented supply-side economics as the dominant policy framework of the 1980s. The scale of the defeat prompted Democrats to reassess their platform. The election set records that largely endure: most raw electoral votes ever received, the last double-digit popular-vote margin, and the last time a major-party candidate received fewer than 100 electoral votes.
Political Outcome
Republican incumbents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush won re-election in a landslide, carrying 49 states, 525 electoral votes, and 58.8% of the popular vote over Democratic challengers Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro.
Reagan first term (Republican administration)
Reagan second term (Republican administration)