1984 United States presidential election in Vermont

1984 United States presidential election in Vermont

← 1980 November 6, 1984 1988 →
 
Nominee Ronald Reagan Walter Mondale
Party Republican Democratic
Alliance Progressive
Home state California Minnesota
Running mate George H. W. Bush Geraldine Ferraro
Electoral vote 3 0
Popular vote 135,865 95,730
Percentage 57.92% 40.81%


President before election

Ronald Reagan
Republican

Elected President

Ronald Reagan
Republican

The 1984 United States presidential election in Vermont took place on November 6, 1984, as part of the 1984 United States presidential election, which was held throughout all 50 states and D.C. Voters chose three representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Vermont voted for incumbent Republican President Ronald Reagan over Democratic former Vice President Walter Mondale, by a margin of 17.11%, with Reagan taking 57.92% of the vote to Mondale's 40.81%. This result nonetheless made Vermont 1.1% more Democratic than the nation-at-large. Along with running as a Democrat, Mondale would also be supported by the Vermont Progressive Party.[1][2]

1984 would prove to be the last election in which Vermont stayed safely in Republican hands. It would go on to become a swing state in the next election, and eventually one of the most heavily Democratic states in the nation after the 1992 election and especially the 2004 election.

While Reagan won the state comfortably, the Republican Party’s shift to the right under his leadership greatly weakened its standing in Vermont, which was home to a very large number of liberal and moderate Republicans. Between 1856 and 1960, Vermont had been the most reliably Republican state in the nation, and prior to Reagan, had voted more Republican than the nation in every election except 1964 (when another staunch conservative, Barry Goldwater, was the Republican nominee).

However, 1984 was the second consecutive election in which the state weighed in as more Democratic than the nation. Nevertheless, Reagan's 135,865 votes are the most received by a Republican presidential candidate in the state's history. As of the 2024 presidential election, this is the last time in which a Republican presidential nominee carried every county in Vermont, and the last when the GOP carried Addison, Chittenden, Franklin, Grand Isle and Windham Counties.[3]

  1. ^ "Election Archive 1984 US Presidential Election in Vermont". electionarchive.vermont.gov.
  2. ^ "Burlington Free Press 8/7/1984 Burlington Free Press: Coalition to Back Mondale Candidacy". newspapers.com.
  3. ^ Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016