1984 United States presidential election in Maine

The 1984 United States presidential election in Maine took place on November 6, 1984. All fifty states and the District of Columbia, were part of the 1984 United States presidential election. Voters chose four electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president of the United States.

Main article: 1984 United States presidential election

1984 United States presidential election in Maine

November 6, 1984

Nominee Ronald Reagan Walter Mondale Party Republican Democratic Home state California Minnesota Running mate George H.W. Bush Geraldine Ferraro Electoral vote 4 0 Popular vote 336,500 214,515 Percentage 60.83% 38.78%

County Results Reagan   50–60%   60–70%

President before election Ronald Reagan Republican Elected President Ronald Reagan Republican

Maine was won by incumbent United States President Ronald Reagan of California, who was running against former Vice President Walter Mondale of Minnesota. Reagan ran for a second time with former C.I.A. Director George H. W. Bush of Texas, and Mondale ran with Representative Geraldine Ferraro of New York, the first major female candidate for the vice presidency.

Partisan background

The presidential election of 1984 was a very, very partisan election for Maine, with just under 100% of the electorate voting only either Democratic or Republican, and only four parties appearing on the ballot.[1] Every county in Maine voted in majority for Reagan, a particularly strong turn out in what had been a Republican-leaning state ever since that party formed apart from the 1960s when Lyndon Johnson and the Humphrey/Muskie ticket carried the state. Reagan became the first Republican to win industrialized, Catholic French-Canadian Androscoggin County since Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956.[2]

Maine weighed in for this election as 2% more Republican than the national average.

Republican victory

Reagan won the election in Maine by 22%. While Maine typically voted more conservative, at the time, than its New England neighbors, the election results in Maine are also reflective of a nationwide reconsolidation of base for the Republican Party which took place through the 1980s; called by Reagan the "second American Revolution."[3] This was most evident during the 1984 presidential election. No Republican candidate has since received as strong of support in the Atlantic Northeast, at large, as Reagan did.

Reagan also enjoyed high levels of bipartisan support during the 1984 presidential election in Maine. Many registered Democrats who voted for Reagan (Reagan Democrats) stated that they had chosen to do so because they associated him with the economic recovery, because of his strong stance on national security issues with the Soviet Union, and because they considered the Democrats as "supporting American poor and minorities at the expense of the middle class."[4] These public opinion factors contributed to Reagan's 1984 landslide victory in Maine.

Results

1984 United States presidential election in Maine
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Republican	Ronald Reagan	336,500	60.83%	4
	Democratic	Walter Mondale	214,515	38.78%	0
	Communist Party	Gus Hall	1,292	0.23%	0
	New Alliance Party	Dennis Serrette	755	0.14%	0
	Write-Ins		82	0.01%	0
Totals			553,144	100.0%	4

Results by county

	Ronald Wilson Reagan Republican		Walter Fritz Mondale Democratic		Various candidates Other parties		Margin		Total votes cast
County	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#
Androscoggin	26,904	57.24%	19,885	42.31%	211	0.45%	7,019	14.93%	47,000
Aroostook	21,837	63.59%	12,348	35.96%	153	0.45%	9,489	27.63%	34,338
Cumberland	65,842	56.75%	49,894	43.00%	290	0.25%	15,948	13.75%	116,026
Franklin	8,330	62.40%	4,954	37.11%	65	0.49%	3,376	25.29%	13,349
Hancock	14,660	65.12%	7,764	34.49%	87	0.39%	6,896	30.63%	22,511
Kennebec	31,753	59.70%	21,183	39.82%	255	0.48%	10,570	19.87%	53,191
Knox	11,311	65.00%	6,024	34.62%	66	0.38%	5,287	30.38%	17,401
Lincoln	10,312	67.68%	4,869	31.96%	55	0.36%	5,443	35.72%	15,236
Oxford	15,408	64.34%	8,430	35.20%	110	0.46%	6,978	29.14%	23,948
Penobscot	40,403	62.11%	24,445	37.58%	206	0.32%	15,958	24.53%	65,054
Piscataquis	5,427	63.98%	3,016	35.56%	39	0.46%	2,411	28.42%	8,482
Sagadahoc	9,222	63.51%	5,208	35.87%	90	0.62%	4,014	27.64%	14,520
Somerset	13,010	62.64%	7,657	36.86%	104	0.50%	5,353	25.77%	20,771
Waldo	8,814	62.22%	5,289	37.34%	63	0.44%	3,525	24.88%	14,166
Washington	9,713	64.41%	5,308	35.20%	60	0.40%	4,405	29.21%	15,081
York	43,554	60.43%	28,241	39.19%	275	0.38%	15,313	21.25%	72,070
Totals	336,500	60.83%	214,515	38.78%	2,129	0.38%	121,985	22.05%	553,144

See also

• United States presidential elections in Maine
• Iran–Contra affair
• Nicaragua guerrilla war
• Presidency of Ronald Reagan

References

1. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". Uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved 2013-11-11.
2. Menendez, Albert J.; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004, pp. 218-219 ISBN 0786422173
3. Raines, Howell (November 7, 1984). "Reagan Wins By a Landslide, Sweeping at Least 48 States; G.O.P. Gains Strength in House". The New York Times. Retrieved November 11, 2013.
4. Prendergast, William B. (1999). The Catholic vote in American politics. Washington DC: Georgetown University Press. pp. 186, 191–193. ISBN 0-87840-724-3.