The 1980 United States presidential election in Oregon took place on November 4, 1980. All fifty states and The District of Columbia were part of the 1980 United States presidential election. Voters chose six electors to the Electoral College, who voted for

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and

vice president A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on ...

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

had voted in

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 ...

for incumbent President Gerald Ford over challenger Carter in the previous election by an extremely narrow margin of just 1,713 votes, but had been George McGovern’s sixth-strongest state during his

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using mean solar tim ...

2,900-plus-county landslide loss. Both Carter and Reagan won the Democratic and Republican presidential primaries held during the third week of May 1980. In August early in Carter's campaign, he targeted Oregon as a state he might win despite having supported only one Democrat since

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command French Army B, part of the Sixth United States Army Group in Nor ...

, on the basis that independent candidate and Reagan primary rival John B. Anderson would split the GOP vote. The last week of September saw all three leading candidates visit the Beaver State,Hunt, Albert R.; ‘Pacific Northwest Just Might Hold Key To White House, Draws All 3 Contenders’; ''The Wall Street Journal'', September 29, 1980, p. 12 and at the end of the month Reagan was shown as ahead by around five percentage points, after having been in the lead in Oregon ever since the first polls were taken in mid-September. October saw Vice-President

Walter Mondale Walter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale (January 5, 1928 – April 19, 2021) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 42nd vice president of the United States from 1977 to 1981 under President Jimmy Carter. A U.S. senator from Minnesota ...

doing extensive campaigning in the state,Smith, Terence; ‘Mondale Hunts for Votes’; ''New York Times Special'', October 5, 1980, p. 40 and with polls showing Anderson winning over fifteen percent of the state's ballots and strong support for the Equal Rights Amendment opposed by Reagan, the Democrats possessed substantial hope in the state. By the last week of October, Carter's spokesmen were confident they could crack a state whose loss four years previously they attributed to the presence of Eugene McCarthy on the ballot, but in the days before the poll sample votes swung towards Reagan again. Oregon was ultimately won by former

California Governor The governor of California is the head of government of the U.S. state of California. The governor is the commander-in-chief of the California National Guard and the California State Guard. Established in the Constitution of California, the g ...

Ronald Reagan (R) by 9.66%. Reagan dominated in the conservative, populist eastern interior and

Rogue Valley The Rogue Valley is a valley region in southwestern Oregon in the United States. Located along the middle Rogue River (Oregon), Rogue River and its tributaries in Josephine County, Oregon, Josephine and Jackson County, Oregon, Jackson counties, t ...

, where he won a majority in every county, and Carter, despite carrying four counties, did not win a majority in any due to a strong vote west of the Cascades for Anderson, who reached double figures in all Willamette Valley counties except Columbia and

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. This was the first time the Republicans had carried Coos County since

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

in 1952.Menendez, Albert J.; ''The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004'', pp. 285-286 , this is the last election in which Lane County voted for a Republican presidential candidate.Sullivan, Robert David
‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’
''America Magazine'' in ''The National Catholic Review''; June 29, 2016

Primaries

Results

Results by county

References

{{1980 United States elections

1980 1980 Oregon elections

Primaries

Results

Results by county

See also

References