Bigger Landslide: 1984 or 1972

[OSR stands with Israel]

I think its 1984 as Minnesota was a lot closer then Massachusetts in 1972

[136or142]

Nixon won a larger share of the vote in 1972.

[Maxwell]

1972.

[Liberalrocks]

Nixon won a larger share of the vote in 1972.

It's clearly 1972

While Minnesota was indeed closer then McGovern's Massachusetts win. Nixon beat McGovern in many larger cities that Mondale won making statewide loss margins closer for 1984 then 1972. (Look at NY and PA for 1984 Reagan won them in the single digits, McGovern was blown out in both). Also McGovern was slaughtered worse then Mondale in the South. Nixon won well over 60% of the national popular vote while Reagan's popular vote total came in a few points lower at around 58%.

Mondale carried over 48 % of the vote in Massachusetts and Rhode Island where as outside of Massachusetts McGovern did not come as close to a win. So McGovern really didnt come close to winning any other state besides Massachusetts.

[SingingAnalyst]

Similar, but 1984 was much more uniform, both regionally and by age. One poll showed McGovern won 18-24 year olds 49.4-48.8. Mondale lost badly among all age groups. Also McGovern got almost zero support among whites in the deep south. Mondale did relatively better.

[ElectionsGuy]

59-41 in 84 vs 61-38 in 72. Its clear the answer, though I got to say it would be interesting to see the margin if there was no southern strategy in 72.

[MIKESOWELL]

It's 1972. Nixon polled better than Reagan in 33 out of 50 states. Most of the 17 states that Reagan polled better than Nixon were less populous and as one would suspect, rural.

[Sir Mohamed]

1972; over 60%. The PV is actually more important in terms of landslides.

[Oldiesfreak1854]

I go by electoral vote to determine presidential landslides, so by that measure, it would be 1984.  Reagan came closer to carrying Minnesota than Nixon did to carrying Massachusetts.

In terms of percentages in the EC though, the biggest landslide would be 1936, followed by 1984, then 1972.  (Landon didn't even break double digits in 1936).

[Breton Racer]

1972. Nixon got 60.8% of the vote and 521 electoral votes.

Reagan got 58.8% of the vote and 525, only 4 more. Plus Nixon win Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis etc., Reagan didn't.

[President Johnson]

1972. Nixon got almost two percent more of the vote.

If you only count electoral votes, then Woodrow Wilson's 435 electoral vote sweep in 1912 would be a bigger victory than Obama's 2012 margin, though Obama got 51.1% while Wilson got only 41%.

[heatcharger]

1972 was more impressive because Nixon narrowly won in '68 and was only 8 years removed from a Democratic landslide. Also he truly brought the South to Republicans for a generation, Reagan just consolidated Nixon's gains.

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

Nixon did better in D.C. also, for reasons that most atlasians should know.

[they don't love you like i love you]

1972. Nixon got 60.8% of the vote and 521 electoral votes.

Reagan got 58.8% of the vote and 525, only 4 more. Plus Nixon win Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis etc., Reagan didn't.

Nixon did not win Minneapolis. He won Hennepin County but it was so close he obviously did not win Minneapolis.

[Thunderbird is the word]

84 given that Mondale came within an inch of losing all fifty states.

[Arbitrage1980]

1972. Nixon got close to 61% of the popular vote; his margin over McGovern was more than 23% points. If you look at the county maps for 1972 vs 1984 the contrast is clear.  McGovern lost even Cook County IL, Miami-Dade County FL, and Queens NY!  Also, the closest state was Minnesota, which Nixon won by 5.5%!  I'm pretty sure it's the only U.S. election since 1820 (James Monroe's unanimous re-election) in which not a single state had a margin of less than 5% for the winner.

[Fuzzy Says: "Abolish NPR!"]

1984, because it was an affirmation of Reagan. 

1972 was a specific repudiation of McGovern, but it was an otherwise Democratic year.  The Democrats gained seats in the Senate, and the net gains were liberal gains (CO, ME, IA, KY, DE) which offset Democratic losses in seats occupied by more conservative Democrats (VA, NC, NM).  The Democrats kept the House with 242 seats, and a number of those losses were conservative Democratic seats in the South, which were offset by both Democratic gains in a few other places and by more moderate Democrats winning primaries in GA, TX, MS, LA, and NC in seats that were, at that time, hopelessly Democratic.

1984 was a different story.  The GOP gained House seats (although they still lost the House, and they kept the Senate, upsetting a Democrat in KY to offset Republicans being defeated in TN, IL, and IA.  One big difference is that while a number of conservative Democrats avoided Mondale, they didn't volubly oppose him the way they did in denouncing McGovern.  It didn't matter; people were FOR Reagan.