Could Mondale have done better with a different campaign?

[SingingAnalyst]

I voted No. Perhaps under a best case scenario (voters were genuinely worried about Reagan's "the bombing starts in 5 minutes" quip; Mondale had shot something back after Reagan's "I will not exploit... my opponent's youth and inexperience" line to neutralize its effect) Mondale could have reached 43% and picked up MA, RI, and maybe MD.

Mondale still would have lost the EV, 498-40.

Reagan had several things in his favor:

1. The economy, while not great, was starting to recover.

2. Voters had just dumped two incumbent Presidents in a row; all Reagan had to do was show up and be halfway decent, and he'd be re-elected. Americans were not going to have their 5th president in a bit more than a decade (going back to Aug. 8, 1974).

3. Mondale's issues simply did not resonate with the voters of 1984. Anti-discrimination protection for gays and lesbians? Only 23% knew someone gay or lesbian in 1984 (Gallup) and religious fundamentalism-based anti-gay sentiment was running high. Raise taxes? Voters thought taxes were already too high, particularly on the working and middle class, as Prop 13 in CA showed on June 6, 1978. The deficit? A complicated issue voters didn't really care about. A woman VP? Pandering. "I don't want them [religious fundamentalists like Jerry Falwell] to have any influence whatsoever" as Mondale said to a group of Jewish women in Brooklyn shortly before the election? Jews (67-32 Mondale) constituted 3% of the 1984 electorate; white born-again Christians (80-20 Reagan): 15%.

I see no way Mondale could have made it close.

[SingingAnalyst]

Sure, Reagan was always going to win, but I feel like Mondale could have done much better. First of all, from what I've read, they held back on negativity towards Reagan because of his personal favorables. This seems idiotic, if your opponent is popular you should go all the more negative, since driving their numbers down should be your priority. Also, it seems from the ads he emphasized the deficit above all else, something most voters don't completely understand, yet alone care about. The second biggest issue was arms control, another loser for the Democrats in this period in time. I feel like he could have done a lot better by emphasizing jobs and healthcare.

I'd be interested to know the source, and if it's true. Though I was only 18 (as of Sept.) I remember Mondale (and other Dems) throwing everything including the kitchen sink at Reagan: he was inattentive (Beirut Oct. 23, 1983) and possibly too old; he didn't care about the poor; he was a militarist; he was out of touch on issues like abortion. Then again, maybe I just got that impression because I was living in Cambridge, MA (which voted Mondale 76.2% - 23.4%) at the time.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot, Mondale opposed the death penalty, favored by 70%+ of Americans. That couldn't have helped him.

[SingingAnalyst]

He obviously should have targeted rich, White suburbanites.

I remember walking down the street in the wealthy suburb of Brookline, MA (Mondale 69.2%-30.7%) and seeing a small foreign car (which was odd enough to me as a kid from Macomb County, MI, where all the cars were American) with a bumper sticker "Reagan for the rich; Mondale for the rest".