1980: President Carter vs. Republican (after Reagan 1976 defeat)

[President Johnson]

July 1976: Former California Governor Ronald Reagan defeats incumbent President Gerald Ford for the Republican nomination. He picks Senator Richard Schweiker as his running mate.

November 1976: Reagan loses the election to Jimmy Carter.

What happens in 1980? Who are the GOP frontrunners? Is Gerald Ford in play again or is Bush the older the strong favorite? I guess Reagan would have been finished after a 1976 defeat by Carter.

[Adam the Gr8]

With Ford not losing the 1976 general to Carter and Reagan being known as the losing candidate, I think Ford would be in a great position to run. Maybe he could run a sort of "I told you so" campaign. Given the situation in 1980 Ford would probably win big and no longer be known as an accidental president.
If Ford stays out of it, I think Bush would be the nominee and would also win by a pretty big EV margin.
Either of them would probably be more tolerable to Anderson moderates than Reagan and get some of their votes, but would have under performed Reagan in the South for the same reason.


I would post maps but I'm not able to yet.

[Kingpoleon]

489: Fmr. Pres. Gerald Ford(R-MI)/Rep. Millicent Fenwick(R-NY)
49: Pres. Jimmy Carter(D-GA)/Sen. Russell Long(D-LA)

Rep. John Rarick(AI-LA)/Fmr. Gov. Lester Maddox(AI-GA) - 9.3%

[Sir Mohamed]

Yes, Ford would have been in a strong position for 1980 and I think he might have run and won the nomination. Not sure about his running mate (I picked Bush). However, I’m not absolutely sure whether Reagan would run again; that would depend on the 1976 result. If the election was very very close, I might have run again but likely lost the former president.

I doubt there would have been a third party run by some southern Dem.

Ford manages to win a solid victory in such a scenario. He would likely have underperformed Reagan in the South a little.

Former President Gerald R. Ford (R-MI)/Former CIA-Director George Bush (R-TX): 477 EV. (53.4%)
President James E. Carter (D-GA)/Vice President Walter Mondale (D-MN): 61 EV. (42.9%)


Just a random question: Could Ford have run for reelection in 1984 under that scenario?