Oh, Reagan was definitely a win for the religious right. Not as much as Trump sure, but prior to him, the GOP platform on abortion rights was weak, and crucially, they actually supported the Equal Rights Amendment. The abandonment of that plank was one reason why women demonstrated outside the Detroit convention in 1980 and a gender gap emerged that year, which has been with us ever since.
A few months ago, I watched NBC News reports between July and December 1980, concerning that year's election. In their reports discussing the Republican National Convention, they spent a considerable amount of time discussing the Party's decision to abandon its support for the Equal Rights Amendment and to adopt a more hardline platform with regards to abortion. A number of moderate and liberal Republican women protested against these changes, and fought to prevent them, to no avail. One of them-I cannot remember her name-who was a high-ranking Party official, was so angered by the changes that she supported (and worked for) John Anderson, the moderate Republican congressman from Illinois who ran an independent candidacy that year, and was concerned by Reagan's move of the Party to the right. When giving his concession speech, Anderson praised this woman for her efforts on his behalf.
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