Also one advantage Reagan had was he was a former two term governor of the largest state in the Union, California which also was a swing state (at the state level). So he couldnt be painted as being an extremist like Goldwater could , because Reagan, unlike Goldwater, had a record as governor he could point too whenever the Democrats would try to use that argument. Also what people forget is by 1979 , 1980 most people identified Reagan as a politician and a former governor of California and not an actor so they couldnt use the unqualified card.
This helps explain Reagan's comfortable margin. Reagan was seen as experienced and being of the mainstream. He was known for cooperating with democrats and having a moderate streak (implementing gun control & being one of the first governors to legalize abortion) despite being a conservative.
It was a pretty close race with Carter to the end if you look at the polling, but Reagan's track record provided reassurance to weary voters.
Exactly and that's why the Democrats campaign against Reagan was extremely dumb because they tried to portray Reagan as an extremist right winger (like they did to Goldwater) who is not at qualified to be president because hes just an actor.
The fact is with Reagan being a two term governor meant he had an actual record he could point to unlike Goldwater which meant the extremist attack would not work.
And the hes just an actor was an extremely dumb argument because no he wasn't , he was a two-term governor of the largest state in the Union(California). That meant he actually was more qualified for the job than anybody running in the Republican Primary that year, Ted Kennedy, and was definitely more qualified than Carter was in 1976.
