How Reagan won 49 states

[SingingAnalyst]

Going into the 84 election, the US had voted out of office 2 incumbent Presidents in a row (Ford and then Carter), which hadn't happened in nearly 100 years. Plus we had 5 Presidents in 20 years and were coming off of nearly 20 years of turmoil. Sincer Carter was fresh in everyone's mind, Reagan was able (with his communication skills) to blame the Dems. More to the point though Americans wanted stability. I believe Americans were ready to re-elect anyone who did even a halfway decent job in 1981-84-- and many Americans felt Reagan had done more than halfway decent. Sure, plenty of Americans opposed Reagan, but they were simply outvoted by those who supported Reagan, even with reservations (the Dems retained the House that year and picked up 2 Senate seats). At least that was a factor in my '84 vote for Reagan, even while I voted to re-elect my Dem Senator (Carl Levin).

I think it's great you take an interest in public affairs at such a young age. And yes, 22 is very young. I wish you all the best. Remember no political decision is perfect and we all do the best we can, shaped by the events that define our time.

[SingingAnalyst]

The real surprise was not Massachusetts, but rather Rhode Island and also Maryland to a certain extent.

I was surprised too, but even if Mondale had won MA, RI, MD (all the states he lost by less than 7%) he still would have suffered the 2nd worst electoral defeat in US history.