IIRC a lot of people thought 1980 would be a lot closer than it actually turned out to be, so probably two or three states there. Arkansas is certainly one that comes to mind.
A lot of them actually. IIRC, I found a copy of Time's map from the week before the election in which Alabama and North Carolina were both Safe Carter and much of the rest of the South was Lean Carter.
While their margins were off, Reagan's worst region was easily the South, and he barely won most of those states. I wouldn't be surprised if pundits underestimated the growing suburban vote in the South, which accounted for almost all of Reagan's strength and certainly his margin of victory.
If you watch coverage of the 1980 election night, the news anchors were STUNNED at Reagan's electoral landslide. They knew he was going to win but couldn't believe how widespread his victory was. And the electoral vote margin was amplified because Reagan won 6 southern states by less than 2% (the closest state that year was Massachusetts, which Reagan won by 0.15%, thanks to Anderson).
