The 1980 United States presidential election in Ohio took place on November 4, 1980. All 50 states and The District of Columbia were part of the 1980 United States presidential election. State voters chose 25 electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
Because of Ohio's long-time bellwether status, Carter and Reagan campaigned heavily in the state from the start of the presidential primaries.Weisman, Steven R.; ‘Carter and Reagan 'Debate' in Ohio, Six Blocks Apart: Two Images of the U.S.’; The New York Times Special, May 29, 1980, p. A1 At the beginning of the campaign, it was clear that inflation and the Iranian hostage crisis were cutting heavily into Carter's popularity in the industrial areas of the state,Schellhardt, Timothy D.; ‘Midwest Mood: Carter's Support Slides In a Blue-Collar Town That Backed Him in ‘76’; Wall Street Journal, June 2, 1980, p. 1 although Reagan was not viewed warmly by the state's electorate either.Smith, Terence; ‘Visits by Carter and Reagan to Put Ohio's Capital on the Political Map: Little Enthusiasm for Candidates – “Turned His Back on the State”’; New York Times Special, May 29, 1980. p. B6
Despite the coldness with which the incumbent President was received on his first visit to Columbus, Carter did gain a critical victory over challenger Ted Kennedy in Ohio's presidential primary on June 4, owing to his dominance of Ohio's heavily Appalachian rural countiesNyhan, David and Black, Chris; ‘Carter Is Over Top; Kennedy Will Fight On – Ohio to President; N.J. to Senator; California Close’; The Boston Globe, June 4, 1980, p. 1 plus the endorsement of both Buckeye State Senator John Glenn‘Campaign Report: Carter Gets Endorsement From Senator Glenn of Ohio’; The New York Times, May 22, 1980, p. B8 and Cleveland's Plain Dealer newspaper.‘Campaign Report: Kennedy Warns of Threats Of Unrest in Inner Cities; Carter and Reagan Lead In Poll of Jersey Residents; Cleveland Plain Dealer Endorses Carter and Reagan’; The New York Times, May 26, 1980, p. A13
In the earliest polls after the nominations were settled, Reagan was slightly ahead of Carter,‘Reagan Leads, Poll Indicates’; The Boston Globe, June 16, 1980, p. 1 and from midsummer the GOP nominee targeted Ohio as part of his strategy of appealing to industrial workers in the Northeast and Great Lakes region.Sperling, Godfrey, Jr.; ‘How Reagan plans to beat Carter in November; “Northeast strategy” targets Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, banks on big 'blue collar' vote’; The Christian Science Monitor, July 16, 1980 Ohio gained further attention from a court case that allowed independent candidate and former Republican rival to Reagan John B. Anderson to be on the state's ballot,‘Campaign Report: Anderson Wins Court Battle To Be on the Ohio Ballot’; The New York Times, July 18, 1980, p. A7 but Reagan continued his strategy of seeking the support of Ohio's industrial workers during the remainder of the summer.Broder, David S. ‘Reagan, Citing 'the Carter Depression,' Courts Labor: Decrying 'the Carter Depression,' Reagan Courts Support of Labor’; The Washington Post, August 28, 1980, p. A1 However, after the challenger being ahead for the first half of the fall – although never by an irreversible margin – by mid-October Ohio was seen as close because Reagan was not gaining so much support from industrial workers as he had hoped in August,Clymer, Adam; ‘Ohio Race Expected to Be Close As Labor Mobilizes for President’; New York Times Special, October 16, 1980, p. A1 with voters simply debating “which candidate they liked least”.Hunt, Albert R.; ‘Buckeye Ambivalence: In Pivotal Ohio, With Reagan Slightly Ahead, Voters Debate Which Candidate They Like Least’; The Wall Street Journal, October 9, 1098. p. 48 However, by the beginning of November, Ohio was viewed as the most problematic of the three “key” Midwestern states for Carter's re-election battle, as he was only seventy-five thousand votes ahead in Cuyahoga County, which he had won by over 93,000 votes in his 11,000-vote statewide triumph four years previously.Healy, Robert L.; ‘Ohio, Mich, and Illinois may decide the election’; The Boston Globe, November 1, 1980, p. 1 The Equal Rights Amendment and abortion were also seen as severely handicapping Carter in the Southern-leaning Appalachian counties where he had done well in 1976.
Ohio was won by former California Governor Ronald Reagan (R) by 11%. Ohio voted very close to the nation for both Carter and Reagan, although Anderson was 0.7% below his national percentage. Reagan was the first Republican since Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956 to carry heavily populated Lucas County.Menendez, Albert J.; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004, pp. 276-280
Results 1980 United States presidential election in OhioPartyCandidateVotesPercentageElectoral votes RepublicanRonald Reagan2,206,54551.51%25 DemocraticJimmy Carter (incumbent)1,752,41440.91%0 Not designatedJohn Anderson254,4725.94%0 Not designatedEd Clark49,0331.14%0 Not designatedBarry Commoner8,5640.20%0 Not designatedGus Hall4,7290.11%0 Not designatedRichard Congress4,0290.09%0 Not designatedDeirdre Griswold3,7900.09%0 Write-inBenjamin Bubar270.00%0 Totals 4,283,603 100.00% 25
Results by county