Would you have voted for Ronald Reagan?

[Cyrusman]

I’m just curious considering how big he won by, if you had a chance to vote for him would you have voted for Reagan?

[darklordoftech]

No.

[dw93]

Nope. Would’ve voted Anderson in 1980 and Mondale in 1984.

[SingingAnalyst]

Yes, I did in 1984 and would have in 1980 (I was 14).

I'm not sure how significant a middle-school suburban white boy's preference for Reagan was in 1980, but by 1984 I was genuinely torn. I felt both Reagan and Mondale campaigns raised good points. In the end I went for Reagan because I felt he had done a decent job, and the last two elections had featured incumbents being defeated, and I didn't want three in a row.

I was shocked at the size of Reagan's victory, though, especially in Michigan and Macomb County. (I voted absentee in Macomb from my dorm room in Cambridge, Mass.) I did vote Levin (D) for Senate, thus splitting my ticket.

[tinman64]

I did in 1984, the first election in which I was old enough to vote.

[Liberalrocks]

No definetly not. I suspect if my generation of millenials were added to the pool of voters in 1984 and we were in a more modern political environment Mondale-Ferraro would have carried a number of coastal states and Reagan’s margin of victory would have been noticeably reduced to a more modest win.

[South Dakota Democrat]

Absolutely not.

[ηєω ƒяσηтιєя]

Absolutely not.

[Orwell]

Yes, I did in 1984 and would have in 1980 (I was 14).

I'm not sure how significant a middle-school suburban white boy's preference for Reagan was in 1980, but by 1984 I was genuinely torn. I felt both Reagan and Mondale campaigns raised good points. In the end I went for Reagan because I felt he had done a decent job, and the last two elections had featured incumbents being defeated, and I didn't want three in a row.

I was shocked at the size of Reagan's victory, though, especially in Michigan and Macomb County. (I voted absentee in Macomb from my dorm room in Cambridge, Mass.) I did vote Levin (D) for Senate, thus splitting my ticket.

With hindsight how would you have voted in 1980 and 1984?

[Mr. Smith]

Given what he did to my city in the 60's as Governor....f&*k no.

[anthonyjg]

Nope. Definitely Mondale in 84 but I’m not sure what I would have done in 1980. I could see myself potentially falling into Anderson’s camp.

[adamevans]

Yes in 1980, without hindsight, and no in 1984 after hindsight.

[YE]

Absolutely not.

[Rover]

No, what he did to the department of  Education was unforgivable. He slashed the funding of education from 12% to 6%.

[Calthrina950]

Nope. Would’ve voted Anderson in 1980 and Mondale in 1984.

Exactly this. When I first answered this question (in a different thread on here), I indicated that I would have voted for Reagan twice. But with what I've learned about his environmental, urban, and AIDS policies, to say nothing of his economic policies, I have now reversed myself. I may have also voted for Carter in 1980 as well.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Of course and would have done so proudly as well

[Podgy the Bear]

I did in 1984 and for George HW Bush in 1988.  Haven't voted Republican since.

[Adam Griffin]

No (Georgian; normal)

[Rookie Yinzer]

Hell no.

[RINO Tom]

Duh lol

[TDAS04]

Nope.

[ReaganLimbaugh]

Yes

[kcguy]

No.

I think I would have voted Nixon in 1972, but the rise of the Christian Right during the later 1970's would have freaked me out enough to drive me into the Democratic camp.

[Hnv1]

Yes in 1980 (or third party)
No in 1984

Mondale was a type of D I like, and Carter was and still a simpleton for me

[Alcibiades]

No - aside from his handling of AIDs, War on Drugs, deficit etc., Reagan’s greatest legacy is the huge and perhaps irreversible increase in economic inequality. Any admiration for him is largely ideological, not based on any practical successes of his.