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| 1980 United States Presidential Election | ||||
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| November 4, 1980 | ||||
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| Nominee | Jimmy Carter | Ronald Reagan | John B. Anderson | |
| Party | Democratic | Republican | Independent | |
| Home state | Georgia | California | Illinois | |
| Running mate | Michael Dukakis | Bob Dole | Patrick Lucey | |
| Electoral vote | 455 | 83 | 0 | |
| States carried | 39 + DC | 13 | 0 | |
| Popular vote | 44,839,540 | 34,234,105 | 5,719,850 | |
| Percentage | 52.88% | 40.37% | 6.6% | |
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| Electoral College results | ||||
The 1980 United States presidential election was the 49th quadrennial presidential election and was held on Tuesday, November 4, 1980. Incumbent President Ronald Reagan and vice-president Bob Dole were defeated by the Democratic candidates, former Governor of Georgia Jimmy Carter and his running mate Michael Dukakis.
Carter appealed to southern Democrats who were against the Kennedy family, that came mostly from the Northeast. He ran for the nomination against Ted Kennedy, who despite being the brother of both a Senator and very popular President, ended up losing against Carter.
Starting his presidency as one of the most popular Republicans of the century, Reagan had lost an important part of his public image after failling to ressolve the Iran hostage crisis. Reagan's insistency on attacking Iran resulted in the murder of the hostages by the Iranians, becoming a nation-wide scandal.
The Republican vote was split after John B. Anderson decided to run as an independent candidate, who would end up not getting any electoral votes nor winning any states.