Reagan coalition

The Reagan coalition was the combination of voters that Republican Ronald Reagan assembled to produce a major political realignment with his electoral landslide in the 1980 United States presidential election. In 1980, the Reagan coalition was possible because of Democrat Jimmy Carter's losses in most social-economic groups. In 1984, Reagan confirmed his support by winning nearly 60% of the popular vote and carried 49 of the 50 states.

Reagan in Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1982

The Reagan Democrats were Democrats before the Reagan years and afterwards, but who voted for Reagan in 1980 and 1984 and for George H. W. Bush in 1988, producing their landslide victories. They were mostly white socially conservative blue-collar workers who lived in the Northeast and were attracted to Reagan's social conservatism on issues such as abortion and to his hawkish foreign policy. They did not continue to vote Republican in 1992 or 1996, so the term fell into disuse except as a reference to the 1980s. The term is not generally used to describe the Southern whites who permanently changed party affiliation from Democrat to Republican during the Reagan administration and they have largely remained Republican to this day.

Stan Greenberg, a Democratic pollster, analyzed white, largely unionized auto workers in suburban Macomb County, Michigan, just north of Detroit. The county voted 63% for John F. Kennedy in 1960 and 66% for Reagan in 1984. He concluded that Reagan Democrats no longer saw Democrats as champions of their middle class aspirations, but instead saw it as being a party working primarily for the benefit of others, especially African Americans and the very poor. Democrat Bill Clinton targeted the Reagan Democrats with considerable success in 1992 and 1996.

Voter demographics

Voter groups and the presidential vote, 1980 and 1976
	Size	1980 Carter	1980 Reagan	1980 Anderson	1976 Carter	1976 Ford
Party
Democratic	43	65	26	6	77	22
Independent	23	30	54	12	43	54
Republican	28	11	84	4	9	90
Ideology
Liberal	18	57	27	11	70	26
Moderate	51	42	48	8	51	48
Conservative	31	23	71	4	29	70
Race
Black	10	82	14	3	82	16
Hispanic	2	54	36	7	75	24
White	88	36	55	8	47	52
Sex
Female	48	45	46	7	50	48
Male	52	37	54	7	50	48
Religion
Protestant	46	37	56	6	44	55
White Protestant	41	31	62	6	43	57
Catholic	25	40	51	7	54	44
Jewish	5	45	39	14	64	34
Family Income
Less than $10,000	13	50	41	6	58	40
$10,000–$14,999	15	47	42	8	55	43
$15,000–$24,999	29	38	53	7	48	50
$25,000–$50,000	24	32	58	8	36	62
Over $50,000	5	25	65	8	—	—
Occupation
Professional or manager	39	33	56	9	41	57
Clerical, sales, white collar	11	42	48	8	46	53
Blue-collar	17	46	47	5	57	41
Agriculture	3	29	66	3	—	—
Unemployed	3	55	35	7	65	34
Education
Less than high school	11	50	45	3	58	41
High school graduate	28	43	51	4	54	46
Some college	28	35	55	8	51	49
College graduate	27	35	51	11	45	55
Union membership
Labor union household	28	47	44	7	59	39
No member of household in union	62	35	55	8	43	55
Age
18–21 years old	6	44	43	11	48	50
22–29 years old	17	43	43	11	51	46
30–44 years old	31	37	54	7	49	49
45–59 years old	23	39	55	6	47	52
60 years or older	18	40	54	4	47	52
Region
East	25	42	47	9	51	47
South	27	44	51	3	54	45
South (whites)	22	35	60	3	46	52
Midwest	27	40	51	7	48	50
Far West	19	35	53	9	46	51
Community size
City over 250,000	18	54	35	8	60	40
Suburb/small city	53	37	53	8	53	47
Rural/town	29	39	54	5	47	53

Source: CBS News/The New York Times interviews with 12,782 voters as they left the polls as reported in The New York Times, November 9, 1980, p. 28. 1976 data are from CBS News interviews.

Reagan coalition

Voter demographics

Further reading