1984 United States presidential election in Tennessee

The 1984 United States presidential election in Tennessee took place on November 6, 1984. All 50 states and the District of Columbia, were part of the 1984 United States presidential election. Tennessee voters chose 11 electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president of the United States.

1984 United States presidential election in Tennessee

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 11 0
Popular vote 990,212 711,714
Percentage 57.84% 41.57%

County Results

President before election

Ronald Reagan
Republican

Elected President

Ronald Reagan
Republican

Tennessee 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 incumbent Vice President and 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 Tennessee, with over 99% of the electorate voting only either Democratic or Republican, though several other parties appeared on the ballot.[1] Only four counties failed to give either Reagan or Mondale an outright majority: Warren, Henry, and Hardeman Counties gave Mondale a plurality, and Dickson County gave Reagan a plurality. Reagan's best county was Johnson County, which gave him 79.10% of its vote; Mondale's was Houston County, which gave him 65.52%.

Tennessee weighed in for this election as 1 point more Democratic than the national average.

Democratic platform

Walter Mondale accepted the Democratic nomination for presidency after pulling narrowly ahead of Senator Gary Hart of Colorado and Rev. Jesse Jackson of Illinois - his main contenders during what would be a very contentious[2] Democratic primary. During the campaign, Mondale was vocal about reduction of government spending, and, in particular, was vocal against heightened military spending on the nuclear arms race against the Soviet Union,[3] which was reaching its peak on both sides in the early 1980s.

Taking a (what was becoming the traditional liberal) stance on the social issues of the day, Mondale advocated for gun control, the right to choose regarding abortion, and strongly opposed the repeal of laws regarding institutionalized prayer in public schools. He also criticized Reagan for his economic marginalization of the poor, stating that Reagan's reelection campaign was "a happy talk campaign," not focused on the real issues at hand.[4]

A very significant political move during this election: the Democratic Party nominated Representative Geraldine Ferraro to run with Mondale as Vice-President. Ferraro is the first female candidate to receive such a nomination in United States history. She said in an interview at the 1984 Democratic National Convention that this action "opened a door which will never be closed again,"[5] speaking to the role of women in politics.

Republican platform

Reagan challenging Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down this wall!," from the Brandenburg Gate in June, 1987. Reagan's firm stance with the Soviet Union was an important contributor to his 1984 reelection.

By 1984, Reagan was very popular with voters across the nation as the President who saw them out of the economic stagflation of the early and middle 1970's, and into a period of (relative) economic stability.[6]

The economic success seen under Reagan was politically accomplished (principally) in two ways. The first was initiation of deep tax cuts for the wealthy,[7] and the second was a wide-spectrum of tax cuts for crude oil production and refinement, namely, with the 1980 Windfall profits tax cuts.[8] These policies were augmented with a call for heightened military spending,[9] the cutting of social welfare programs for the poor,[10] and the increasing of taxes on those making less than $50,000 per year.[7] Collectively called "Reaganomics", these economic policies were established through several pieces of legislation passed between 1980 and 1987.

These new tax policies also arguably curbed several existing tax loopholes, preferences, and exceptions, but Reaganomics is typically remembered for its trickle down effect of taxing poor Americans more than rich ones. Reaganomics has (along with legislation passed under presidents George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton) been criticized by many analysts as "setting the stage" for economic troubles in the United States after 2007, such as the Great Recession.[11]

Virtually unopposed during the Republican primaries, Reagan ran on a campaign of furthering his economic policies. Reagan vowed to continue his "war on drugs," passing sweeping legislation after the 1984 election in support of mandatory minimum sentences for drug possession.[12] Furthermore, taking a (what was becoming the traditional conservative) stance on the social issues of the day, Reagan strongly opposed legislation regarding comprehension of gay marriage, abortion, and (to a lesser extent) environmentalism,[13] regarding the final as simply being bad for business.

Republican victory

Reagan carried Tennessee by a landslide margin of 16.3%. As in many other Southern states, this was a dramatic reversal from 1980, when Reagan carried Tennessee over Southerner Jimmy Carter by less than 1%. That said, Tennessee was, unusually for a Southern state, slightly more Democratic than the nation in the 1984 election. It was the only former Confederate state to be more Democratic than the nation in 1984, and the only one even to give Reagan less than 60% of its vote.

Reagan carried every population center in the state. He narrowly won the state's two largest counties, typically Democratic Shelby (Memphis) and Davidson (Nashville), and got over 60% of the vote in typically Republican Knox (Knoxville) and Hamilton (Chattanooga) Counties. He also got over 60% in Rutherford County (Murfreesboro), and over 2/3 of the vote in the two largest counties in the Tri-Cities region, Sullivan and Washington. In addition, Reagan performed powerfully throughout rural East Tennessee, surpassing 70% of the vote in eight counties in the region (as well as in the emerging Nashville suburb of Williamson County[14]), and carried most of the rural counties in more typically Democratic Middle and West Tennessee as well.

However, Mondale was able to counter to some degree, not only by keeping the margins in Shelby and Davidson close, but by carrying a number of rural, ancestrally Democratic and secessionist counties in Middle Tennessee. In five--Houston, Grundy, Jackson, Stewart, and Humphreys--he exceeded 60%. In a number of others, he was, again, able to keep Reagan's margin of victory small; excluding Shelby and Davidson, Reagan's victory margin was under 5% in nine counties. Overall, Mondale carried 23 counties in the Volunteer State, although none cast over 12,000 votes. In contrast, Democrats have carried no more than four of Tennessee's counties in any election from 2012--when Romney became the first Republican to exceed Reagan's '84 vote share (as well as George H. W. Bush's slightly higher '88 vote share) in the state--on (as of 2020). However, despite Reagan's comfortable win in the state, this was the closest that Mondale came to winning a state in the confederacy.

Results

1984 United States presidential election in Tennessee
Party Candidate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Republican Ronald Reagan 990,212 57.84% 11
Democratic Walter Mondale 711,714 41.57% 0
Independent David Bergland 3,072 0.18% 0
Independent Lyndon LaRouche 1,852 0.11% 0
Independent Bob Richards 1,763 0.10% 0
Independent Gus Hall 1,036 0.06% 0
Independent Sonia Johnson 978 0.06% 0
Independent Melvin Mason 715 0.04% 0
Independent Dennis Serrette 524 0.03% 0
Write-Ins 127 0.01% 0
Totals 1,711,993 100.0% 11

Results by county

County Ronald Wilson Reagan
Republican
Walter Frederick Mondale
Democratic
Various candidates
Other parties
Margin Total votes cast
# % # % # % # %
Anderson 16,783 61.31% 10,415 38.05% 176 0.64% 6,368 23.26% 27,374
Bedford 4,699 50.55% 4,499 48.40% 98 1.05% 200 2.15% 9,296
Benton 2,481 42.07% 3,398 57.62% 18 0.31% -917 -15.55% 5,897
Bledsoe 1,950 59.34% 1,316 40.05% 20 0.61% 634 19.29% 3,286
Blount 20,525 68.74% 9,188 30.77% 146 0.49% 11,337 37.97% 29,859
Bradley 16,322 72.54% 6,085 27.04% 95 0.42% 10,237 45.49% 22,502
Campbell 5,685 54.43% 4,692 44.93% 67 0.64% 993 9.51% 10,444
Cannon 1,669 46.88% 1,846 51.85% 45 1.26% -177 -4.97% 3,560
Carroll 6,017 56.43% 4,568 42.84% 77 0.72% 1,449 13.59% 10,662
Carter 13,153 73.35% 4,642 25.89% 138 0.77% 8,511 47.46% 17,933
Cheatham 4,109 57.32% 3,007 41.94% 53 0.74% 1,102 15.37% 7,169
Chester 2,793 59.68% 1,854 39.62% 33 0.71% 939 20.06% 4,680
Claiborne 4,474 60.70% 2,870 38.94% 27 0.37% 1,604 21.76% 7,371
Clay 1,338 50.80% 1,281 48.63% 15 0.57% 57 2.16% 2,634
Cocke 6,665 75.50% 2,068 23.43% 95 1.08% 4,597 52.07% 8,828
Coffee 7,695 57.14% 5,691 42.26% 82 0.61% 2,004 14.88% 13,468
Crockett 2,479 55.97% 1,937 43.73% 13 0.29% 542 12.24% 4,429
Cumberland 7,083 65.85% 3,605 33.52% 68 0.63% 3,478 32.34% 10,756
Davidson 98,155 51.99% 89,498 47.40% 1,161 0.61% 8,657 4.58% 188,814
Decatur 2,390 53.82% 2,031 45.73% 20 0.45% 359 8.08% 4,441
DeKalb 2,337 46.65% 2,645 52.79% 28 0.56% -308 -6.15% 5,010
Dickson 5,846 49.52% 5,809 49.21% 150 1.27% 37 0.31% 11,805
Dyer 6,610 62.11% 3,991 37.50% 41 0.39% 2,619 24.61% 10,642
Fayette 3,733 50.44% 3,634 49.10% 34 0.46% 99 1.34% 7,401
Fentress 2,922 62.18% 1,755 37.35% 22 0.47% 1,167 24.84% 4,699
Franklin 5,705 49.09% 5,846 50.31% 70 0.60% -141 -1.21% 11,621
Gibson 9,484 52.71% 8,334 46.32% 174 0.97% 1,150 6.39% 17,992
Giles 3,875 50.07% 3,812 49.26% 52 0.67% 63 0.81% 7,739
Grainger 3,212 66.72% 1,565 32.51% 37 0.77% 1,647 34.21% 4,814
Greene 13,215 73.15% 4,763 26.37% 87 0.48% 8,452 46.79% 18,065
Grundy 1,396 34.77% 2,596 64.66% 23 0.57% -1,200 -29.89% 4,015
Hamblen 11,144 68.97% 4,922 30.46% 92 0.57% 6,222 38.51% 16,158
Hamilton 69,626 62.38% 41,449 37.13% 547 0.49% 28,177 25.24% 111,622
Hancock 1,491 69.87% 619 29.01% 24 1.12% 872 40.86% 2,134
Hardeman 3,712 48.68% 3,797 49.79% 117 1.53% -85 -1.11% 7,626
Hardin 4,632 59.59% 3,051 39.25% 90 1.16% 1,581 20.34% 7,773
Hawkins 9,863 66.67% 4,802 32.46% 128 0.87% 5,061 34.21% 14,793
Haywood 2,839 46.04% 3,308 53.65% 19 0.31% -469 -7.61% 6,166
Henderson 5,362 68.56% 2,426 31.02% 33 0.42% 2,936 37.54% 7,821
Henry 5,376 49.61% 5,407 49.89% 54 0.50% -31 -0.29% 10,837
Hickman 2,370 44.43% 2,941 55.14% 23 0.43% -571 -10.70% 5,334
Houston 882 33.68% 1,716 65.52% 21 0.80% -834 -31.84% 2,619
Humphreys 2,249 37.91% 3,668 61.82% 16 0.27% -1,419 -23.92% 5,933
Jackson 1,544 34.42% 2,894 64.51% 48 1.07% -1,350 -30.09% 4,486
Jefferson 7,721 70.35% 3,185 29.02% 69 0.63% 4,536 41.33% 10,975
Johnson 3,853 79.10% 999 20.51% 19 0.39% 2,854 58.59% 4,871
Knox 76,965 63.61% 43,448 35.91% 574 0.47% 33,517 27.70% 120,987
Lake 878 41.97% 1,191 56.93% 23 1.10% -313 -14.96% 2,092
Lauderdale 3,566 50.23% 3,506 49.39% 27 0.38% 60 0.85% 7,099
Lawrence 6,034 52.18% 5,458 47.20% 71 0.61% 576 4.98% 11,563
Lewis 1,733 52.42% 1,556 47.07% 17 0.51% 177 5.35% 3,306
Lincoln 3,982 49.08% 4,103 50.57% 29 0.36% -121 -1.49% 8,114
Loudon 7,113 68.36% 3,227 31.01% 65 0.62% 3,886 37.35% 10,405
Macon 3,330 65.23% 1,747 34.22% 28 0.55% 1,583 31.01% 5,105
Madison 17,819 59.64% 12,006 40.18% 55 0.18% 5,813 19.45% 29,880
Marion 4,337 52.06% 3,942 47.32% 52 0.62% 395 4.74% 8,331
Marshall 3,416 53.43% 2,935 45.91% 42 0.66% 481 7.52% 6,393
Maury 9,008 56.18% 6,950 43.35% 75 0.47% 2,058 12.84% 16,033
McMinn 9,604 64.83% 5,141 34.71% 68 0.46% 4,463 30.13% 14,813
McNairy 4,776 55.34% 3,825 44.32% 30 0.35% 951 11.02% 8,631
Meigs 1,575 60.53% 1,012 38.89% 15 0.58% 563 21.64% 2,602
Monroe 6,665 60.88% 4,223 38.58% 59 0.54% 2,442 22.31% 10,947
Montgomery 13,228 56.61% 9,939 42.54% 198 0.85% 3,289 14.08% 23,365
Moore 863 51.37% 808 48.10% 9 0.54% 55 3.27% 1,680
Morgan 2,903 57.19% 2,121 41.78% 52 1.02% 782 15.41% 5,076
Obion 6,384 56.74% 4,769 42.38% 99 0.88% 1,615 14.35% 11,252
Overton 2,054 42.53% 2,749 56.92% 27 0.56% -695 -14.39% 4,830
Perry 948 41.82% 1,316 58.05% 3 0.13% -368 -16.23% 2,267
Pickett 1,246 63.67% 706 36.08% 5 0.26% 540 27.59% 1,957
Polk 2,785 56.15% 2,112 42.58% 63 1.27% 673 13.57% 4,960
Putnam 8,999 54.40% 7,443 45.00% 99 0.60% 1,556 9.41% 16,541
Rhea 5,692 66.29% 2,804 32.65% 91 1.06% 2,888 33.63% 8,587
Roane 11,882 63.83% 6,623 35.58% 109 0.59% 5,259 28.25% 18,614
Robertson 5,445 48.34% 5,756 51.11% 62 0.55% -311 -2.76% 11,263
Rutherford 19,503 61.98% 11,618 36.92% 348 1.11% 7,885 25.06% 31,469
Scott 3,107 62.63% 1,810 36.48% 44 0.89% 1,297 26.14% 4,961
Sequatchie 1,785 58.68% 1,238 40.70% 19 0.62% 547 17.98% 3,042
Sevier 12,517 78.03% 3,384 21.10% 140 0.87% 9,133 56.94% 16,041
Shelby 169,717 50.32% 165,947 49.20% 1,638 0.49% 3,770 1.12% 337,302
Smith 2,393 42.05% 3,258 57.25% 40 0.70% -865 -15.20% 5,691
Stewart 1,285 36.82% 2,174 62.29% 31 0.89% -889 -25.47% 3,490
Sullivan 36,516 67.83% 16,925 31.44% 394 0.73% 19,591 36.39% 53,835
Sumner 18,442 61.09% 11,535 38.21% 209 0.69% 6,907 22.88% 30,186
Tipton 5,945 60.21% 3,895 39.45% 34 0.34% 2,050 20.76% 9,874
Trousdale 781 40.36% 1,142 59.02% 12 0.62% -361 -18.66% 1,935
Unicoi 4,249 71.07% 1,696 28.37% 34 0.57% 2,553 42.70% 5,979
Union 2,447 61.51% 1,495 37.58% 36 0.90% 952 23.93% 3,978
Van Buren 718 46.78% 810 52.77% 7 0.46% -92 -5.99% 1,535
Warren 4,811 49.64% 4,813 49.66% 67 0.69% -2 -0.02% 9,691
Washington 21,762 69.38% 9,452 30.13% 154 0.49% 12,310 39.24% 31,368
Wayne 3,332 68.29% 1,534 31.44% 13 0.27% 1,798 36.85% 4,879
Weakley 6,480 57.41% 4,752 42.10% 55 0.49% 1,728 15.31% 11,287
White 2,895 48.59% 3,033 50.91% 30 0.50% -138 -2.32% 5,958
Williamson 17,975 71.91% 6,929 27.72% 93 0.37% 11,046 44.19% 24,997
Wilson 12,858 59.95% 8,433 39.32% 158 0.74% 4,425 20.63% 21,449
Totals990,21257.84%711,71441.57%10,0680.59%278,49816.27%1,711,994

See also

References

  1. "1984 Presidential General Election Results – Tennessee". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved 2013-11-11.
  2. Kurt Andersen, "A Wild Ride to the End", Time, May 28, 1984
  3. Trying to Win the Peace, by Even Thomas, Time, July 2, 1984
  4. Mondale's Acceptance Speech, 1984, AllPolitics
  5. Martin, Douglas (2011-03-27). "Geraldine A. Ferraro, First Woman on Major Party Ticket, Dies at 75". The New York Times. pp. A1. Retrieved November 5, 2013.
  6. 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.
  7. "U.S. Federal Individual Income Tax Rates History, 1913–2011 (Nominal and Inflation-Adjusted Brackets)". Tax Foundation. September 9, 2011. Archived from the original on January 16, 2013. Retrieved November 10, 2013.
  8. Joseph J. Thorndike (Nov 10, 2005). "Historical Perspective: The Windfall Profit Tax". Retrieved November 11, 2013.
  9. Historical tables, Budget of the United States Government Archived 2012-04-17 at the Wayback Machine, 2013, table 6.1.
  10. Niskanen, William A. (1992). "Reaganomics". In David R. Henderson (ed.). Concise Encyclopedia of Economics (1st ed.). Library of Economics and Liberty. OCLC 317650570, 50016270, 163149563
  11. Jerry Lanson (2008-11-06). "A historic victory. A changed nation. Now, can Obama deliver?". Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 2013-11-02.
  12. Alexander, Michelle (2010). The New Jim Crow. New York: The New Press. p. 5. ISBN 978-1595581037.
  13. Prendergast, William B. (1999). The Catholic vote in American politics. Washington DC: Georgetown University Press. pp. 186, 191–193. ISBN 0-87840-724-3.
  14. Plotz, David (2004-07-02). "Kerry can't win Tennessee, but can Bush lose it?". Slate Magazine. Retrieved 2021-01-14.
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