Louisiana in the 1980 election

[Matty]

Is there a reason why Reagan did better by a few points in LA than he did in deep south states? He won LA by 5, but only one Bama, Miss, and Arkansas by 1.

[Rockefeller GOP]

Maybe the New Orleans suburbs were more populous?  Contrary to the popular meme of the old Dixiecrats becoming Republicans, most GOP gains came from the "New South."  Reagan probably lost a majority of Deep South counties but carried every state except GA.

[ElectionsGuy]

He won Jefferson Parish by a big margin (St. Tammany wasn't that big yet). Carter didn't really have a big margin in Orleans, and Reagan actually won many counties in the north.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

This was in the days when the Republicans tried portraying the Democrats as backwards hayseeds.

[retromike22]

I think it might have to do with Alabama and GA seeing Carter as more "Southern," and more as one of their own.

[Miles]

I'm actually not sure. The New Orleans suburban parishes were already pretty solidly GOP by then, so its no surprise Reagan did well there. Whats more interesting is Carter doing so poorly in the north; he held up fairly well in similar areas (northern AL, southern AR, east TX).

Keep in mind that Carter's margin in LA was already pretty modest in 1976, compared to some other southern states.

[MATTROSE94]

Maybe the New Orleans suburbs were more populous?  Contrary to the popular meme of the old Dixiecrats becoming Republicans, most GOP gains came from the "New South."  Reagan probably lost a majority of Deep South counties but carried every state except GA.

Keep in mind that John Anderson's candidacy in the 1980 Election might have took enough votes away from Jimmy Carter to flip Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina and Kentucky to Ronald Reagan (albeit by very slim margins). Had John Anderson decided not to run in 1980, Jimmy Carter would have had a very good shot at carrying all six of those states.