The Nation Decides
Electoral votes, the popular vote, and how every state moved
President · The Long Realignment
1980
Reagan def. Carter, 489–49
Also running: Ed Clark (1.1%)
Electoral college — 270 to win (538 electors)49 D · 489 R
Popular vote — a three-cornered race41.0% · 50.7% · other 8.3% · margin R+9.7
86,496,851 votes counted
Electoral map — one tile per state
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R+40D+40third party won
The swing from last time
Change in each state’s margin since 1976 · ← toward Republicans · toward Democrats →
The Map Beneath the Map
Three thousand counties, and the demography of the divide
Every county that cast a ballot, shaded by its margin. Hover any county to read it; click to open its 156-year profile. Scrub the timeline above and the map redraws in place. Vote counts exist for all forty elections; the demographic lenses begin in 2000.
County margin
Drawing three thousand counties…
R+40D+40no returns
Who Voted for Whom
The American electorate by income, education, faith and more
How each slice of the electorate split between the parties — by their own account. Weighted ANES self-reports from a national sample: they tilt slightly toward the winner and carry no county detail.
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Notes on this election
- The Reagan realignment election.