1980 United States presidential election in California

Main article: 1980 United States presidential election

The 1980 United States presidential election in California took place on November 4, 1980 as part of the 1980 United States presidential election. State voters chose 45 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

1980 United States presidential election in California

← 1976 November 4, 1980 1984 →
Turnout	77.24% (of registered voters) 4.29 pp 57.04% (of eligible voters) 0.28 pp^[1]
Nominee Ronald Reagan Jimmy Carter John B. Anderson Party Republican Democratic Independent Home state California Georgia Illinois Running mate George H. W. Bush Walter Mondale Patrick Lucey Electoral vote 45 0 0 Popular vote 4,524,858 3,083,661 739,833 Percentage 52.69% 35.91% 8.62%
County Results Reagan   40-50%   50-60%   60-70% Carter   40-50%   50-60%
President before election Jimmy Carter Democratic Elected President Ronald Reagan Republican

California voted for the Republican nominee, the state's former governor Ronald Reagan, in a landslide over the Democratic incumbent, Jimmy Carter. Reagan won his home state by a wide 16.78% point margin and carried all but three counties. Reagan was the first Republican to win Plumas since 1920, Shasta County since 1952, and Sierra County since 1956.^[2] Carter carried only three of the state's 58 counties: Alameda, San Francisco and Yolo.

1980 marks the most recent election in which California voted more Republican than the United States as a whole.^[3] Reagan is also the last Republican candidate to carry the counties of Marin and Santa Cruz in a presidential election. This election indeed constitutes the most Republican California has voted relative to the whole nation since 1928; here, it was widely believed that Carter lacked understanding of critical Western issues, most importantly water development.^[4] This also remains the last time a Republican won the San Francisco Bay Area, and the last one in which San Francisco gave less than 60% of the vote to the Democratic candidate. As of 2020, this is the last presidential election in which California voted more Republican than Texas.

Primaries

1980 Democratic Primary

Candidate	Votes	Delegates
Ted Kennedy	1,507,142	151
Jimmy Carter	1,266,216	127
Jerry Brown	135,962	0
Others	71,779	0
Uncommitted	382,759	38
Totals	3,363,858	317

1980 Republican Primary

Candidate	Votes	Delegates
Ronald Reagan	2,057,923	146
John Anderson	349,315	25
George H.W. Bush	125,113	0
Others	31,707	0
Totals	2,564,058	171

Results

1980 United States presidential election in California^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Republican	Ronald Reagan	4,524,858	52.69%	45
	Democratic	Jimmy Carter (incumbent)	3,083,661	35.91%	0
	Independent	John B. Anderson	739,833	8.62%	0
	Libertarian	Ed Clark	148,434	1.73%	0
	Independent	Barry Commoner	61,063	0.71%	0
	Peace and Freedom	Maureen Smith	18,116	0.21%	0
	American Independent	John Rarick	9,856	0.11%	0
	No party	Gus Hall (write-in)	847	0.01%	0
	No party	Andrew Pulley (write-in)	231	0.00%	0
	No party	Percy Greaves, Jr. (write-in)	87	0.00%	0
	No party	Ben Bubar (write-in)	36	0.00%	0
	No party	Write-ins	26	0.00%	0
	No party	Deirdre Griswold (write-in)	15	0.00%	0
Invalid or blank votes					—
Totals			8,587,063	100.00%	45
Voter turnout					—

Results by county

County	Ronald Wilson Reagan^[6] Republican		James Earl Carter^[6] Democratic		John B. Anderson^[7] Independent		Edward E. Clark^[7] Libertarian		Various candidates^[7] Other parties		Margin
	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#
Orange	67.90%	529,797	22.65%	176,704	7.09%	55,299	1.85%	14,426	0.51%	3,986	45.25%	353,093
Inyo	64.79%	5,201	25.91%	2,080	6.42%	515	1.76%	141	1.12%	90	38.88%	3,121
Modoc	64.48%	2,579	26.15%	1,046	7.32%	293	1.40%	56	0.65%	26	38.33%	1,533
Glenn	64.80%	5,386	26.79%	2,227	6.46%	537	1.46%	121	0.49%	41	38.01%	3,159
Mono	62.32%	2,132	25.29%	865	8.83%	302	2.72%	93	0.85%	29	37.03%	1,267
Sutter	63.47%	11,778	27.50%	5,103	5.87%	1,089	2.57%	476	0.60%	111	35.97%	6,675
San Diego	60.81%	435,910	27.26%	195,410	9.41%	67,491	1.50%	10,769	1.02%	7,286	33.55%	240,500
Ventura	60.28%	114,930	29.54%	56,311	7.81%	14,887	1.75%	3,341	0.62%	1,181	30.74%	58,619
Calaveras	58.92%	6,054	29.94%	3,076	7.55%	776	2.60%	267	0.99%	102	28.98%	2,978
Nevada	57.91%	15,207	28.96%	7,605	8.51%	2,235	3.39%	891	1.23%	323	28.95%	7,602
El Dorado	58.27%	21,238	29.53%	10,765	9.02%	3,287	2.36%	861	0.82%	298	28.74%	10,473
Riverside	59.87%	145,642	31.51%	76,650	6.73%	16,362	1.40%	3,406	0.50%	1,218	28.36%	68,992
Butte	57.85%	38,188	29.57%	19,520	9.25%	6,108	1.96%	1,292	1.37%	904	28.28%	18,668
San Bernardino	59.68%	172,957	31.67%	91,790	6.59%	19,106	1.49%	4,317	0.57%	1,642	28.01%	81,167
Tehama	59.13%	9,140	31.26%	4,832	6.56%	1,014	2.18%	337	0.87%	134	27.87%	4,308
Alpine	55.10%	254	28.85%	133	10.85%	50	2.60%	12	2.60%	12	26.25%	121
San Luis Obispo	55.56%	38,631	29.50%	20,508	12.09%	8,407	1.91%	1,330	0.94%	651	26.06%	18,123
Kern	59.65%	72,842	33.65%	41,097	4.75%	5,799	1.53%	1,865	0.42%	518	26.00%	31,745
Colusa	58.00%	2,897	32.13%	1,605	6.51%	325	2.44%	122	0.92%	46	25.87%	1,292
Shasta	58.09%	27,547	32.40%	15,364	6.79%	3,220	2.02%	960	0.69%	327	25.69%	12,183
Del Norte	57.48%	4,016	33.46%	2,338	6.96%	486	1.30%	91	0.80%	56	24.02%	1,678
Trinity	54.96%	3,048	31.27%	1,734	9.12%	506	3.21%	178	1.44%	80	23.69%	1,314
Amador	55.85%	5,401	33.00%	3,191	8.15%	788	2.15%	208	0.85%	82	22.85%	2,210
Tulare	58.32%	41,317	35.51%	25,155	4.58%	3,244	1.13%	801	0.46%	329	22.81%	16,162
Santa Barbara	53.98%	69,629	31.51%	40,650	11.46%	14,786	1.58%	2,035	1.47%	1,895	22.47%	28,979
Siskiyou	55.75%	9,331	33.84%	5,664	7.58%	1,269	1.91%	320	0.92%	154	21.91%	3,667
Yuba	56.28%	7,942	34.70%	4,896	6.22%	878	2.08%	294	0.72%	101	21.58%	3,046
Mariposa	54.96%	3,082	33.68%	1,889	8.17%	458	1.78%	100	1.41%	79	21.28%	1,193
Monterey	54.67%	47,452	33.51%	29,086	9.23%	8,008	1.69%	1,468	0.90%	780	21.16%	18,366
Placer	54.78%	28,179	33.65%	17,311	8.47%	4,356	2.37%	1,217	0.73%	377	21.13%	10,868
Tuolumne	54.85%	8,810	33.92%	5,449	8.65%	1390	1.80%	289	0.78%	125	20.93%	3,361
Napa	53.67%	23,632	33.83%	14,898	9.58%	4,218	2.05%	902	0.87%	385	19.84%	8,734
San Joaquin	55.38%	64,718	35.56%	41,551	7.20%	8,416	1.32%	1,541	0.55%	637	19.82%	23,167
Imperial	55.92%	12,068	36.89%	7,961	5.57%	1,203	1.15%	248	0.46%	99	19.03%	4,107
Lassen	54.45%	4,464	35.87%	2,941	6.62%	543	1.98%	162	1.07%	88	18.58%	1,523
Lake	53.64%	8,934	35.90%	5,978	6.95%	1,157	2.53%	422	0.98%	163	17.74%	2,956
San Benito	53.33%	4,054	36.16%	2,749	7.26%	552	2.50%	190	0.75%	57	17.17%	1,305
Kings	55.37%	10,531	38.37%	7,299	4.74%	901	1.16%	220	0.37%	70	17.00%	3,232
Plumas	51.24%	4,182	35.67%	2,911	9.59%	783	1.97%	161	1.52%	124	15.57%	1,271
Humboldt	49.39%	24,047	35.15%	17,113	11.17%	5,440	2.27%	1,105	2.03%	987	14.24%	6,934
Madera	53.58%	10,599	39.35%	7,783	5.12%	1,013	1.34%	266	0.60%	119	14.23%	2,816
Santa Clara	48.02%	229,048	35.01%	166,995	13.73%	65,481	2.32%	11,051	0.93%	4,428	13.01%	62,053
Contra Costa	50.12%	144,112	37.35%	107,398	9.81%	28,209	1.80%	5,175	0.92%	2,651	12.77%	36,714
Solano	50.72%	40,919	38.37%	30,952	8.32%	6,713	1.82%	1,468	0.77%	624	12.35%	9,967
San Mateo	48.82%	116,491	36.60%	87,335	11.73%	27,985	1.99%	4,744	0.87%	2,082	12.22%	29,156
Sonoma	48.20%	60,722	36.19%	45,596	11.17%	14,068	2.30%	2,903	2.14%	2,696	12.01%	15,126
Sierra	49.77%	855	37.89%	651	9.08%	156	1.86%	32	1.40%	24	11.88%	204
Fresno	51.13%	82,515	40.43%	65,254	6.65%	10,727	1.14%	1,835	0.65%	1,055	10.70%	17,261
Los Angeles	50.18%	1,224,533	40.15%	979,830	7.21%	175,882	1.55%	37,832	0.91%	22,108	10.03%	244,703
Marin	45.78%	49,678	36.16%	39,231	12.72%	13,805	2.45%	2,660	2.89%	3,133	9.62%	10,447
Stanislaus	49.41%	41,595	40.01%	33,683	8.47%	7,134	1.45%	1,224	0.65%	550	9.40%	7,912
Sacramento	47.72%	153,721	40.37%	130,031	9.21%	29,655	1.80%	5,810	0.90%	2,903	7.35%	23,690
Mendocino	44.05%	12,432	38.21%	10,784	9.73%	2,747	4.00%	1,130	4.01%	1,131	5.84%	1,648
Merced	48.77%	18,043	42.94%	15,886	6.26%	2,316	1.39%	516	0.64%	235	5.83%	2,157
Santa Cruz	43.53%	37,347	37.70%	32,346	12.34%	10,590	2.72%	2,332	3.72%	3,189	5.83%	5,001
Yolo	39.45%	19,603	43.32%	21,527	13.42%	6,669	1.82%	905	1.98%	986	-3.87%	-1,924
Alameda	37.96%	158,531	48.30%	201,720	9.78%	40,834	1.78%	7,436	2.18%	9,096	-10.34%	-43,189
San Francisco	31.87%	80,967	52.43%	133,184	11.56%	29,365	1.61%	4,080	2.53%	6,432	-20.56%	-52,217

References

1. "Historical Voter Registration and Participation in Statewide General Elections 1910-2018" (PDF). California Secretary of State. Retrieved May 5, 2022.
2. Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016
3. Counting the Votes; California 2016-12-31 at the Wayback Machine
4. Reisner, Marc; Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water; p. 11 ISBN 0140178244
5. "1980 Presidential General Election Results – California". Dave Leip's U.S. Election Atlas. Retrieved August 25, 2008.
6. Géoelections; 1980 Presidential Election Popular Vote (.xlsx file for €15)
7. Géoelections; Popular Vote for John B. Anderson (.xlsx file for €15)