How Reagan won 49 states

[Mechaman]

You guys wanna know how Reagan won Massachusetts and Rhode Island?

Two words:

Reagan.  Democrats.

Know where that term comes from?  It comes from normally working class Democratic voters who shift over to Reagan in large numbers in 1984 because the guy had sex appeal amongst them.  To get even more specific I should note that in 1980 Ronald Reagan, at least according to what I read on wikipedia, won South Boston with 53% of the vote.
For some reason the staunch Irish and Italian Catholic Democratic voting blocs in the Northeast had a love affair with Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984.  This, combined with moderate and liberal Republicans who felt too turned off by Mondale to consider jumping ship, is probably why he did so well in traditionally Democratic bastions like MA and RI.
Not sure about New York though.