1984 United States presidential election in Arkansas

The 1984 United States presidential election in Arkansas took place on November 6, 1984. All fifty states and the District of Columbia, were part of the 1984 United States presidential election. Arkansas voters chose six electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president of the United States.

1984 United States presidential election in Arkansas

November 6, 1984
 
Nominee Ronald Reagan Walter Mondale
Party Republican Democratic
Home state California Minnesota
Running mate George H. W. Bush Geraldine Ferraro
Electoral vote 6 0
Popular vote 534,774 338,646
Percentage 60.47% 38.29%

County Results

President before election

Ronald Reagan
Republican

Elected President

Ronald Reagan
Republican

Arkansas was won by incumbent United States President Ronald Reagan of California, who was running against former Vice President Walter Mondale of Minnesota. Reagan ran for a second time with former C.I.A. Director George H. W. Bush of Texas, and Mondale ran with Representative Geraldine Ferraro of New York, the first major female candidate for the vice presidency.

Partisan background

The presidential election of 1984 was a very partisan election for Arkansas, with just under 99% of the electorate voting only either Democratic or Republican, although a total of ten parties appeared on the ballot.[1] The vast majority of counties in Arkansas voted for Reagan in a particularly strong turn out, even in this typically conservative leaning state. A bloc of heavily African-American counties in the southeastern Delta region turned out in majority for Mondale.

Arkansas weighed in for this election as 2 percentage points more Republican than the national average. As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election in which St. Francis County voted for a Republican presidential candidate.[2]

Republican victory

Reagan won the election in Arkansas with a resounding 22-point sweep-out landslide. While Arkansas typically voted conservative at the time, the election results in Arkansas are also reflective of a nationwide reconsolidation of base for the Republican Party which took place through the 1980s; called by Reagan the "second American Revolution."[3] This was most evident during the 1984 presidential election. Arkansas continued in this election as a component of the Republican stronghold of the Deep South, which is evident after the presidency of Jimmy Carter.

It is speculated that Mondale lost support with voters nearly immediately during the campaign, namely during his acceptance speech at the 1984 Democratic National Convention. There he stated that he intended to increase taxes. To quote Mondale, "By the end of my first term, I will reduce the Reagan budget deficit by two thirds. Let's tell the truth. It must be done, it must be done. Mr. Reagan will raise taxes, and so will I. He won't tell you. I just did."[4] Despite this claimed attempt at establishing truthfulness with the electorate, this claim to raise taxes badly eroded his chances in what had already begun as an uphill battle against the charismatic Ronald Reagan.

Reagan also enjoyed high levels of bipartisan support during the 1984 presidential election, both in Arkansas, and across the nation at large. Many registered Democrats who voted for Reagan (Reagan Democrats) stated that they had chosen to do so because they associated him with the economic recovery, because of his strong stance on national security issues with Russia, and because they considered the Democrats as "supporting American poor and minorities at the expense of the middle class."[5] These public opinion factors contributed to Reagan's 1984 landslide victory, in Arkansas and elsewhere.

Results

1984 United States presidential election in Arkansas
Party Candidate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Republican Ronald Reagan 534,774 60.47% 6
Democratic Walter Mondale 338,646 38.29% 0
Libertarian David Bergland 2,221 0.25% 0
Independent Democrat Lyndon LaRouche 1,890 0.21% 0
Communist Party Gus Hall 1,499 0.17% 0
America First Bob Richards 1,461 0.17% 0
New Alliance Party Dennis Serrette 1,291 0.15% 0
Citizen's Party Sonia Johnson 960 0.11% 0
Prohibition Earl Dodge 842 0.10% 0
Independent Arthur Lowery 822 0.09% 0
Totals 884,406 100.0% 6

Results by county

County Ronald Wilson Reagan
Republican
Walter Fritz Mondale
Democratic
Various candidates
Other parties
Margin Total votes cast
# % # % # % # %
Arkansas 4,804 59.99% 3,153 39.37% 51 0.64% 1,651 20.62% 8,008
Ashley 5,675 62.44% 3,373 37.11% 41 0.45% 2,302 25.33% 9,089
Baxter 10,870 69.84% 4,528 29.09% 166 1.07% 6,342 40.75% 15,564
Benton 24,296 75.90% 7,306 22.82% 408 1.27% 16,990 53.08% 32,010
Boone 7,961 68.83% 3,356 29.01% 250 2.16% 4,605 39.81% 11,567
Bradley 2,690 53.62% 2,313 46.10% 14 0.28% 377 7.51% 5,017
Calhoun 1,474 58.15% 1,058 41.74% 3 0.12% 416 16.41% 2,535
Carroll 5,041 68.21% 2,263 30.62% 86 1.16% 2,778 37.59% 7,390
Chicot 2,502 42.21% 3,407 57.48% 18 0.30% -905 -15.27% 5,927
Clark 4,185 47.27% 4,638 52.39% 30 0.34% -453 -5.12% 8,853
Clay 3,767 53.02% 3,279 46.15% 59 0.83% 488 6.87% 7,105
Cleburne 5,769 64.04% 3,172 35.21% 67 0.74% 2,597 28.83% 9,008
Cleveland 1,773 56.02% 1,378 43.54% 14 0.44% 395 12.48% 3,165
Columbia 6,526 63.45% 3,680 35.78% 79 0.77% 2,846 27.67% 10,285
Conway 5,049 57.14% 3,742 42.35% 45 0.51% 1,307 14.79% 8,836
Craighead 14,047 62.87% 8,035 35.96% 261 1.17% 6,012 26.91% 22,343
Crawford 9,551 75.20% 3,071 24.18% 79 0.62% 6,480 51.02% 12,701
Crittenden 6,663 47.82% 6,520 46.79% 751 5.39% 143 1.03% 13,934
Cross 3,917 59.04% 2,701 40.71% 17 0.26% 1,216 18.33% 6,635
Dallas 2,361 52.80% 2,035 45.51% 76 1.70% 326 7.29% 4,472
Desha 2,696 45.87% 2,918 49.64% 264 4.49% -222 -3.78% 5,878
Drew 3,407 56.10% 2,638 43.44% 28 0.46% 769 12.66% 6,073
Faulkner 11,595 60.89% 7,169 37.65% 279 1.47% 4,426 23.24% 19,043
Franklin 4,382 64.04% 2,399 35.06% 62 0.91% 1,983 28.98% 6,843
Fulton 2,329 55.15% 1,864 44.14% 30 0.71% 465 11.01% 4,223
Garland 21,213 62.47% 11,484 33.82% 1,261 3.71% 9,729 28.65% 33,958
Grant 3,167 59.16% 2,148 40.13% 38 0.71% 1,019 19.04% 5,353
Greene 6,179 56.17% 4,730 43.00% 91 0.83% 1,449 13.17% 11,000
Hempstead 4,904 59.31% 3,327 40.24% 37 0.45% 1,577 19.07% 8,268
Hot Spring 5,629 48.75% 5,836 50.55% 81 0.70% -207 -1.79% 11,546
Howard 3,079 63.72% 1,746 36.13% 7 0.14% 1,333 27.59% 4,832
Independence 7,428 62.36% 4,415 37.07% 68 0.57% 3,013 25.30% 11,911
Izard 2,726 53.08% 2,346 45.68% 64 1.25% 380 7.40% 5,136
Jackson 3,901 48.88% 4,038 50.60% 42 0.53% -137 -1.72% 7,981
Jefferson 14,514 44.10% 18,082 54.95% 313 0.95% -3,568 -10.84% 32,909
Johnson 4,720 60.30% 3,056 39.04% 51 0.65% 1,664 21.26% 7,827
Lafayette 2,290 57.15% 1,695 42.30% 22 0.55% 595 14.85% 4,007
Lawrence 4,039 60.50% 2,594 38.86% 43 0.64% 1,445 21.64% 6,676
Lee 2,101 44.54% 2,541 53.87% 75 1.59% -440 -9.33% 4,717
Lincoln 1,860 43.54% 2,406 56.32% 6 0.14% -546 -12.78% 4,272
Little River 3,155 59.58% 2,090 39.47% 50 0.94% 1,065 20.11% 5,295
Logan 5,663 63.14% 3,206 35.75% 100 1.11% 2,457 27.39% 8,969
Lonoke 8,425 64.11% 4,636 35.28% 81 0.62% 3,789 28.83% 13,142
Madison 3,516 61.65% 2,133 37.40% 54 0.95% 1,383 24.25% 5,703
Marion 3,545 64.17% 1,945 35.21% 34 0.62% 1,600 28.96% 5,524
Miller 8,302 63.43% 4,686 35.80% 100 0.76% 3,616 27.63% 13,088
Mississippi 10,180 57.30% 7,548 42.49% 38 0.21% 2,632 14.81% 17,766
Monroe 2,508 50.45% 2,413 48.54% 50 1.01% 95 1.91% 4,971
Montgomery 2,221 59.12% 1,497 39.85% 39 1.04% 724 19.27% 3,757
Nevada 2,352 56.65% 1,783 42.94% 17 0.41% 569 13.70% 4,152
Newton 2,749 65.88% 1,414 33.88% 10 0.24% 1,335 31.99% 4,173
Ouachita 6,700 51.19% 5,858 44.76% 531 4.06% 842 6.43% 13,089
Perry 2,047 58.82% 1,404 40.34% 29 0.83% 643 18.48% 3,480
Phillips 4,686 43.70% 5,946 55.45% 91 0.85% -1,260 -11.75% 10,723
Pike 2,665 64.72% 1,443 35.04% 10 0.24% 1,222 29.67% 4,118
Poinsett 5,622 58.64% 3,906 40.74% 59 0.62% 1,716 17.90% 9,587
Polk 5,181 70.15% 2,101 28.45% 104 1.41% 3,080 41.70% 7,386
Pope 10,667 67.28% 5,082 32.05% 106 0.67% 5,585 35.23% 15,855
Prairie 2,407 62.10% 1,437 37.07% 32 0.83% 970 25.03% 3,876
Pulaski 77,651 58.20% 54,237 40.65% 1,530 1.15% 23,414 17.55% 133,418
Randolph 3,188 55.61% 2,507 43.73% 38 0.66% 681 11.88% 5,733
St. Francis 5,378 52.10% 4,866 47.14% 78 0.76% 512 4.96% 10,322
Saline 11,709 60.68% 6,977 36.16% 611 3.17% 4,732 24.52% 19,297
Scott 3,066 65.11% 1,609 34.17% 34 0.72% 1,457 30.94% 4,709
Searcy 2,819 67.10% 1,313 31.25% 69 1.64% 1,506 35.85% 4,201
Sebastian 27,595 74.95% 8,688 23.60% 534 1.45% 18,907 51.35% 36,817
Sevier 3,302 62.64% 1,942 36.84% 27 0.51% 1,360 25.80% 5,271
Sharp 4,392 63.38% 2,492 35.96% 46 0.66% 1,900 27.42% 6,930
Stone 2,325 57.48% 1,654 40.89% 66 1.63% 671 16.59% 4,045
Union 12,333 65.74% 6,208 33.09% 218 1.16% 6,125 32.65% 18,759
Van Buren 4,060 60.97% 2,529 37.98% 70 1.05% 1,531 22.99% 6,659
Washington 24,993 68.10% 11,319 30.84% 386 1.05% 13,674 37.26% 36,698
White 12,566 64.66% 6,603 33.97% 266 1.37% 5,963 30.68% 19,435
Woodruff 1,675 44.56% 2,055 54.67% 29 0.77% -380 -10.11% 3,759
Yell 4,051 59.56% 2,679 39.39% 72 1.06% 1,372 20.17% 6,802
Totals534,77460.47%338,64638.29%10,9861.24%196,12822.18%884,406

See also

References

  1. "1984 Presidential General Election Results – Arkansas". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved 2018-01-26.
  2. Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016
  3. Raines, Howell (November 7, 1984). "Reagan Wins By a Landslide, Sweeping at Least 48 States; G.O.P. Gains Strength in House". The New York Times. Retrieved November 11, 2013.
  4. Mondale's Acceptance Speech, 1984, AllPolitics
  5. Prendergast, William B. (1999). The Catholic vote in American politics. Washington DC: Georgetown University Press. pp. 186, 191–193. ISBN 0-87840-724-3.
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