Bush did especially well with suburban voters that year.
Pretty much this. Bush really struck a chord with suburban voters terrified of finding a Willie Horton in their backyard, which is also why he was able to pull out a win in Maryland.
Funny how that rhetoric really struck a chord with "Moderate Hero FF" suburbanites, while Coal Country stayed strong for the Democrats.
coal country's loyalty to the democrats during the reagan revolution is one of the most amazing facts in american political history. Reagan got his butt handed to him in eastern kentucky, and HW Bush likewise got mauled there.
I do not get it.