Republicans to Mitt Romney: You're no Reagan

[TroyD]

9/23/12

A handsome former governor faced a vulnerable incumbent, a weak economy and a crisis in the Middle East.

The description is of the 1980 presidential race between President Jimmy Carter and challenger Ronald Reagan. And it’s become the Mitt Romney campaign’s go-to analogy as he struggles in the polls in the final stretch of the campaign, insisting to donors and strategists that the election is still winnable in the final weeks.

But 2012 is not 1980, when Carter lost to Reagan in a landslide. The 32-year-old comparison just doesn’t hold up well under scrutiny: the electoral map for Reagan was friendlier, the 1980 economy feebler, the incumbent more vulnerable, the crisis overseas worse and Reagan’s campaign skills were simply better.

“It’s a stretch,” said Reagan biographer Lou Cannon, who covered the 1980 campaign for The Washington Post. “It’s hard to make a Carter out of [President] Obama, and it’s even harder to make a Reagan out of Romney. I don’t mean any disrespect to Romney, but I think he’s run a poor campaign. You can’t say anything within this close a margin is over. I don’t do that. But he’s got a lot more to do at this point to win than Reagan had to do.”

More:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0912/81566.html

[katmondoo]

1. I think we are fortunate he is not a charismatic leader

Think where we would be with the lies and the hidden agenda if he were able to turn America RED with some spellbinding rhetoric. Scares me. We do not have to worry about that scenario happening.

[Drunken Irishman]

2. I've been saying this all summer ... it ain't 1980...

Look, the realities of an election boils down to one question: Would another candidate win? In 1980, whether it was Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford or John Connally running ... it's very likely all three would have defeated Jimmy Carter. Of all the major potential Republican nominees in '80, all probably would have defeated Carter. Just as, in 1992, Clinton, Cuomo, Tsongas, Gore or even Jerry Brown would have defeated George H.W. Bush.

That isn't the case this go around. None of the Republicans would have defeated Obama - not Santorum, Gingrich, Palin, Bachmann, Perry and Cain.

Carter had an approval rating stuck in the 30s and a disapproval pushing 60. In comparison, Obama's average approval right now is 50% and his disapproval is 47%. That approval is essentially 15 points better than Carter's in 1980 and his disapproval roughly 10% better. THAT is why this is not 1980! So, these Republicans have to stop comparing the two. They're not comparable. Carter was a very unpopular president. Obama is not really popular, but he's not very unpopular, either. Half the country is willing to give Obama a second term. In '80, only roughly 30% of the country was willing to give Carter a second term.