How Reagan won 49 states

[sg0508]

1) The economy was better. Reagan was elected in '80 to fix stagflation. His economic team did after the bad recession of '81-82.

2) Mondale was a old Democrat.  Their party had no base anymore.  The southern democrats were switching (i.e. Reagan Democrats) and the party wasn't strong enough in the Midwest and northeast.

3) Reagan's charisma.

4) The country was still solidly "white" for the most part.  Remember that Reagan did very badly amongst minorities, but it didn't matter given the '84 demographics.  There were plenty of people who supported him or Anderson in '80 that voted for Mondale in '84.

5) Given the GOP strength in '80, they had a near lock from the get go on the south and west from the start. 

6) Mondale being on the ticket from the '80 electoral debacle couldn't have helped his cause.

7) The economy, and while you say the Reagan Revolution started the shift in power from small business to corporations, which has doomed many Americans today, back then, the economic recovery was a short-term breath of fresh air.