Reagan coalition - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Reagan coalition was the combination of voters that Republican

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....

assembled to produce a major political realignment with his landslide in the 1980 United States Presidential Election. In 1980 the Reagan coalition was possible because of Democrat Jimmy Carter

Jimmy Carter

James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...

's losses in most social-economic groups. In 1984 Reagan confirmed his support by winning nearly 60% of the popular vote and carried 49 of the 50 states.
The Reagan Democrat
Reagan Democrat
Reagan Democrat is an American political term used by analysts to denote traditionally Democratic voters, especially white working-class Northerners, who defected from their party to support Republican President Ronald Reagan in both the 1980 and 1984 elections. It is also used to refer to the...

s were Democrats before the Reagan years, and afterwards, but who voted for Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984 (and for George H. W. Bush

George H. W. Bush

George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...

in 1988), producing their landslide victories. They were mostly white, socially conservative blue-collar worker

Blue-collar worker

A blue-collar worker is a member of the working class who performs manual labor. Blue-collar work may involve skilled or unskilled, manufacturing, mining, construction, mechanical, maintenance, technical installation and many other types of physical work...

s, who lived in the Northeast, and were attracted to Reagan's social conservatism

Social conservatism

Social Conservatism is primarily a political, and usually morally influenced, ideology that focuses on the preservation of what are seen as traditional values. Social conservatism is a form of authoritarianism often associated with the position that the federal government should have a greater role...

on issues such as abortion, and to his hawkish foreign policy. They did not continue to vote Republican in 1992 or 1996, so the term fell into disuse except as a reference to the 1980s. The term is not generally used to describe the southern whites who permanently changed party affiliation from Democrat to Republican during the Reagan administration, and they have largely remained Republican to this day.

Stan Greenberg

Stan Greenberg

Stanley Bernard Greenberg is a leading Democratic pollster and political strategist who has advised the campaigns of Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and John Kerry, as well as hundreds of other candidates and organizations in the United States and around the world, including the former Bundeskanzler ...

, a Democratic pollster, analyzed white, largely unionized auto workers in suburban Macomb County, Michigan

Macomb County, Michigan

-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 788,149 people, 309,203 households, and 210,876 families residing in the county. The population density was 1,640 people per square mile . There were 320,276 housing units at an average density of 667 per square mile...

, just north of Detroit. The county voted 63% for John F. Kennedy

John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....

in 1960 and 66% for Reagan in 1984. He concluded that Reagan Democrats no longer saw Democrats as champions of their middle class aspirations, but instead saw it as being a party working primarily for the benefit of others, especially African Americans and the very poor. Democrat

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

Bill Clinton

William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...

targeted the Reagan Democrats with considerable success in 1992 and 1996.

Voter demographics

VOTER GROUPS AND THE PRESIDENTIAL VOTE, 1980 AND 1976
	Size	'80 Carter	'80 Reagan	'80 Anderson	'76 Carter	'76 Ford
Party
Democrat	43	66	26	6	77	22
Independent	23	30	54	12	43	54
Republican	28	11	84	4	9	90
Ideology
Liberal	18	57	27	11	70	26
Moderate	51	42	48	8	51	48
Conservative	31	23	71	4	29	70
Race
Black	10	82	14	3	82	16
Hispanic	2	54	36	7	75	24
White	88	36	55	8	47	52
Sex
Female	48	45	46	7	50	48
Male	52	37	54	7	50	48
Religion
Protestant	46	37	56	6	44	55
White Protestant	41	31	62	6	43	57
Catholic	25	40	51	7	54	44
Jewish	5	45	39	14	64	34
Family Income
Less than $10,000	13	50	41	6	58	40
$10,000–$14,999	15	47	42	8	55	43
$15,000–$24,999	29	38	53	7	48	50
$25,000–$50,000	24	32	58	8	36	62
Over $50,000	5	25	65	8	—	—
Occupation
Professional or manager	39	33	56	9	41	57
Clerical, sales, white collar	11	42	48	8	46	53
Blue-collar	17	46	47	5	57	41
Agriculture	3	29	66	3	—	—
Unemployed	3	55	35	7	65	34
Education
Less than high school	11	50	45	3	58	41
High school graduate	28	43	51	4	54	46
Some college	28	35	55	8	51	49
College graduate	27	35	51	11	45	55
Union Membership
Labor union household	28	47	44	7	59	39
No member of household in union	62	35	55	8	43	55
Age
18–21 years old	6	44	43	11	48	50
22–29 years old	17	43	43	11	51	46
30–44 years old	31	37	54	7	49	49
45–59 years old	23	39	55	6	47	52
60 years or older	18	40	54	4	47	52
Region
East	25	42	47	9	51	47
South	27	44	51	3	54	45
South (whites)	22	35	60	3	46	52
Midwest	27	40	51	7	48	50
Far West	19	35	53	9	46	51
Community Size
City over 250,000	18	54	35	8	60	40
Suburb/small city	53	37	53	8	53	47
Rural/town	29	39	54	5	47	53

Source: CBS News/ New York Times interviews with 12,782 voters as they left the polls, as reported in the New York Times, November 9, 1980, p. 28; 1976 data are from CBS News interviews.

Voter demographics

Further reading