Politics

Jimmy Carter: Reagan only won in 1980 because of the third-party candidate

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He’s making a two-step argument here, I think, part of it based on pure conjecture. Step one: If not for Teddy Kennedy’s bitter primary challenge (which of course wasn’t a third-party candidacy), the Democratic Party would have been united for the general election. Instead, untold numbers stayed home, crippling Carter. Step two: If not for John Anderson running as an independent, Carter would have cleaned up among the Anderson base and swept to victory.

There’s no way to flatly disprove him on step one since we can’t know how many Teddy fans boycotted the general, but on step two, have a look-see at this recap of the 1980 election. Reagan crushed Carter in the electoral college, 489/49; even if you cede every last Anderson vote to Carter, Reagan still would have won a clear majority of the popular vote with a margin close to three million.

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