'it looks like a landslide, folks...'

[ajb]

For those who like to compare 2012 to 1980, don't forget that Reagan was in the lead in the polls from late May onwards, and was ahead by 20 points after the Republican convention. Carter narrowed the gap somewhat during the fall, but never closed it all the way, and Reagan's surge in the final week increased his already-existing lead, rather than moving him to the lead for the first time.

http://themonkeycage.org/blog/2012/08/09/what-really-happened-in-the-1980-presidential-campaign/

[ajb]

Stop solely posting the Gallup 1980 polls. We know those exist. Those are included and averaged with other polls from 1980 here and the average shows that Reagan was in the lead from the summer until election day:

Lief, I hate to tell you this, but back in the day, we didn't exactly have a lot of polls.  Gallup was the gold standard at the time.

And the polls that we had showed that Reagan was ahead from May onwards, including a lead of twenty points after the convention. It's not that complicated.