1984 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania
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Elections in Pennsylvania |
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The 1984 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania took place on November 6, 1984, and was part of the 1984 United States presidential election. Voters chose 25 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
Pennsylvania voted for the Republican nominee, President Ronald Reagan, over the Democratic nominee, former Vice President Walter Mondale. Reagan won Pennsylvania by a margin of 7.35%, making Pennsylvania 5.5% more Democratic than the nation at large.
Reagan won the state by sweeping the small towns and rural areas of central Pennsylvania and performing well in the traditionally Republican suburbs of Philadelphia, but the race was kept within single digits by Mondale’s strong showing in heavily unionized and traditionally Democratic Western Pennsylvania, as well as his decisive victories in the cities of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. As of the 2020 presidential election[update], this is the last election in which Lackawanna County has voted Republican, the last time that Erie County gave a majority to a Republican (Donald Trump would win it by plurality in 2016), and the last time a Republican won one-third of the vote in Philadelphia.[1]
This was one of only three elections since the Civil War in which Pennsylvania has voted more Democratic than neighboring New York (along with 1952 and 1956), and the most recent election in which it voted to the left of Illinois, Washington, or Hawaii. Reagan became the first Republican ever to win the White House without carrying Mercer or Armstrong Counties; George H. W. Bush would repeat this feat four years later, while his son would win without Mercer but with Armstrong in 2000.
Marian Bell, James F. Malone III, Ginny Thornburgh, Coral Scranton, Fred Anton, Harvey Bartle III, Thomas Milhollan, Marta Bell Schoeninger, John H. Ware III, and Theodore Metzger Jr. were among the Republican electors. The Democratic elector slate included Judith Heh, Roxanne Jones, Cathy Irvis, James J. Manderino, and Nancy Nancarrow. Malone was the chair of the electors and Bell was an elector for Richard Nixon in 1972 and Reagan in 1980.[2]
Primaries
[edit]Republican primary
[edit]Ronald Reagan ran uncontested, winning 616,916 votes (Turnout: 27.66%)
Democratic primary
[edit]Jesse Jackson's voters were 81% black and 18% white.[3] 41% of Jackson voters listed Mondale as their second candidate in exit polls conducted by CBS News and The New York Times' while 19% listed Hart and 24% selected none.[4]
Candidate | Votes | Percent |
---|---|---|
Walter Mondale | 747,267 | 45.15% |
Gary Hart | 551,335 | 33.31% |
Jesse Jackson | 264,463 | 15.98% |
John Glenn | 22,605 | 1.37% |
Others | 69,281 | 4.19% |
Totals | 1,654,951 | Turnout: 52.10% |
Results
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bb/1984_United_States_Presidential_Election_in_Pittsburgh_Metropolitan_Statistical_Area.svg/220px-1984_United_States_Presidential_Election_in_Pittsburgh_Metropolitan_Statistical_Area.svg.png)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7b/President_Ronald_Reagan_delivers_remarks_in_Doylestown%2C_Pennsylvania.jpg/220px-President_Ronald_Reagan_delivers_remarks_in_Doylestown%2C_Pennsylvania.jpg)
1984 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania[5] | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | Percentage | Electoral votes | |
Republican | Ronald Reagan (incumbent) | 2,584,323 | 53.34% | 25 | |
Democratic | Walter Mondale | 2,228,131 | 45.99% | 0 | |
Consumer | Sonia Johnson | 21,628 | 0.45% | 0 | |
Libertarian | David Bergland | 6,982 | 0.14% | 0 | |
Workers' League | Edward Winn | 2,059 | 0.04% | 0 | |
Communist | Gus Hall | 1,780 | 0.04% | 0 | |
Totals | 4,844,903 | 100.00% | 25 |
Results by county
[edit]County | Ronald Reagan Republican |
Walter Mondale Democratic |
Various candidates Other parties |
Margin | Total votes cast | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
# | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | ||
Adams | 16,786 | 69.44% | 7,289 | 30.15% | 99 | 0.41% | 9,497 | 39.29% | 24,174 |
Allegheny | 284,692 | 42.76% | 372,576 | 55.96% | 8,480 | 1.27% | -87,884 | -13.20% | 665,748 |
Armstrong | 13,709 | 48.37% | 14,525 | 51.25% | 110 | 0.39% | -816 | -2.88% | 28,344 |
Beaver | 32,052 | 36.79% | 54,765 | 62.86% | 300 | 0.34% | -22,713 | -26.07% | 87,117 |
Bedford | 13,085 | 70.57% | 5,424 | 29.25% | 34 | 0.18% | 7,661 | 41.32% | 18,543 |
Berks | 74,605 | 65.94% | 37,849 | 33.45% | 691 | 0.61% | 36,756 | 32.49% | 113,145 |
Blair | 30,104 | 65.52% | 15,651 | 34.06% | 190 | 0.41% | 14,453 | 31.46% | 45,945 |
Bradford | 14,808 | 72.71% | 5,474 | 26.88% | 85 | 0.42% | 9,334 | 45.83% | 20,367 |
Bucks | 130,119 | 63.25% | 74,568 | 36.25% | 1,032 | 0.50% | 55,551 | 27.00% | 205,719 |
Butler | 31,676 | 55.94% | 24,735 | 43.68% | 215 | 0.38% | 6,941 | 12.26% | 56,626 |
Cambria | 32,173 | 44.50% | 39,865 | 55.14% | 258 | 0.36% | -7,692 | -10.64% | 72,296 |
Cameron | 2,031 | 67.05% | 990 | 32.68% | 8 | 0.26% | 1,041 | 34.37% | 3,029 |
Carbon | 10,701 | 54.41% | 8,836 | 44.93% | 131 | 0.67% | 1,865 | 9.48% | 19,668 |
Centre | 27,802 | 62.85% | 16,194 | 36.61% | 240 | 0.54% | 11,608 | 26.24% | 44,236 |
Chester | 92,221 | 70.11% | 38,870 | 29.55% | 440 | 0.33% | 53,351 | 40.56% | 131,531 |
Clarion | 9,836 | 64.27% | 5,407 | 35.33% | 61 | 0.40% | 4,429 | 28.94% | 15,304 |
Clearfield | 18,653 | 60.62% | 11,963 | 38.88% | 153 | 0.50% | 6,690 | 21.74% | 30,769 |
Clinton | 6,678 | 59.24% | 4,525 | 40.14% | 70 | 0.62% | 2,153 | 19.10% | 11,273 |
Columbia | 14,402 | 63.39% | 8,254 | 36.33% | 62 | 0.27% | 6,148 | 27.06% | 22,718 |
Crawford | 20,181 | 60.80% | 12,792 | 38.54% | 222 | 0.67% | 7,389 | 22.26% | 33,195 |
Cumberland | 49,282 | 69.29% | 21,374 | 30.05% | 467 | 0.66% | 27,908 | 39.24% | 71,123 |
Dauphin | 54,330 | 61.28% | 33,576 | 37.87% | 752 | 0.85% | 20,754 | 23.41% | 88,658 |
Delaware | 161,754 | 61.79% | 98,207 | 37.51% | 1,821 | 0.70% | 63,547 | 24.28% | 261,782 |
Elk | 8,470 | 60.47% | 5,486 | 39.17% | 51 | 0.36% | 2,984 | 21.30% | 14,007 |
Erie | 55,860 | 51.12% | 52,471 | 48.02% | 935 | 0.86% | 3,389 | 3.10% | 109,266 |
Fayette | 21,314 | 37.69% | 35,098 | 62.07% | 135 | 0.24% | -13,784 | -24.38% | 56,547 |
Forest | 1,468 | 63.36% | 839 | 36.21% | 10 | 0.43% | 629 | 27.15% | 2,317 |
Franklin | 27,243 | 70.13% | 11,480 | 29.55% | 122 | 0.31% | 15,763 | 40.58% | 38,845 |
Fulton | 3,254 | 71.14% | 1,309 | 28.62% | 11 | 0.24% | 1,945 | 42.52% | 4,574 |
Greene | 6,376 | 40.40% | 9,365 | 59.33% | 43 | 0.27% | -2,989 | -18.93% | 15,784 |
Huntingdon | 10,220 | 69.57% | 4,430 | 30.15% | 41 | 0.28% | 5,790 | 39.42% | 14,691 |
Indiana | 18,845 | 54.22% | 15,791 | 45.43% | 123 | 0.35% | 3,054 | 8.79% | 34,759 |
Jefferson | 11,334 | 65.31% | 5,950 | 34.28% | 71 | 0.41% | 5,384 | 31.03% | 17,355 |
Juniata | 5,059 | 65.66% | 2,624 | 34.06% | 22 | 0.29% | 2,435 | 31.60% | 7,705 |
Lackawanna | 48,132 | 50.57% | 45,851 | 48.17% | 1,202 | 1.26% | 2,281 | 2.40% | 95,185 |
Lancaster | 99,090 | 75.63% | 31,308 | 23.90% | 618 | 0.47% | 67,782 | 51.73% | 131,016 |
Lawrence | 19,277 | 44.43% | 23,981 | 55.27% | 128 | 0.30% | -4,704 | -10.84% | 43,386 |
Lebanon | 27,008 | 71.61% | 10,520 | 27.89% | 188 | 0.50% | 16,488 | 43.72% | 37,716 |
Lehigh | 61,799 | 59.69% | 41,089 | 39.69% | 649 | 0.63% | 20,710 | 20.00% | 103,537 |
Luzerne | 69,169 | 53.50% | 58,482 | 45.23% | 1,640 | 1.27% | 10,687 | 8.27% | 129,291 |
Lycoming | 28,498 | 68.02% | 13,147 | 31.38% | 250 | 0.60% | 15,351 | 36.64% | 41,895 |
McKean | 10,963 | 69.22% | 4,818 | 30.42% | 58 | 0.37% | 6,145 | 38.80% | 15,839 |
Mercer | 24,211 | 49.11% | 24,658 | 50.01% | 434 | 0.88% | -447 | -0.90% | 49,303 |
Mifflin | 9,106 | 63.35% | 5,178 | 36.03% | 89 | 0.62% | 3,928 | 27.32% | 14,373 |
Monroe | 16,109 | 65.82% | 8,193 | 33.48% | 172 | 0.70% | 7,916 | 32.34% | 24,474 |
Montgomery | 181,426 | 64.18% | 99,741 | 35.29% | 1,499 | 0.53% | 81,685 | 28.89% | 282,666 |
Montour | 4,174 | 66.81% | 2,055 | 32.89% | 19 | 0.30% | 2,119 | 33.92% | 6,248 |
Northampton | 44,648 | 53.49% | 37,979 | 45.50% | 840 | 1.01% | 6,669 | 7.99% | 83,467 |
Northumberland | 22,109 | 61.13% | 13,748 | 38.01% | 308 | 0.85% | 8,361 | 23.12% | 36,165 |
Perry | 9,365 | 71.42% | 3,692 | 28.16% | 56 | 0.43% | 5,673 | 43.26% | 13,113 |
Philadelphia | 267,178 | 34.60% | 501,369 | 64.94% | 3,555 | 0.46% | -234,191 | -30.34% | 772,102 |
Pike | 6,343 | 71.17% | 2,503 | 28.08% | 67 | 0.75% | 3,840 | 43.09% | 8,913 |
Potter | 5,164 | 73.94% | 1,789 | 25.62% | 31 | 0.44% | 3,375 | 48.32% | 6,984 |
Schuylkill | 37,330 | 58.96% | 25,758 | 40.68% | 224 | 0.35% | 11,572 | 18.28% | 63,312 |
Snyder | 8,968 | 78.73% | 2,383 | 20.92% | 40 | 0.35% | 6,585 | 57.81% | 11,391 |
Somerset | 19,502 | 58.23% | 13,900 | 41.50% | 89 | 0.27% | 5,602 | 16.73% | 33,491 |
Sullivan | 1,926 | 66.67% | 952 | 32.95% | 11 | 0.38% | 974 | 33.72% | 2,889 |
Susquehanna | 10,566 | 69.95% | 4,471 | 29.60% | 67 | 0.44% | 6,095 | 40.35% | 15,104 |
Tioga | 10,532 | 71.92% | 4,060 | 27.72% | 52 | 0.36% | 6,472 | 44.20% | 14,644 |
Union | 7,792 | 73.66% | 2,747 | 25.97% | 40 | 0.38% | 5,045 | 47.69% | 10,579 |
Venango | 13,507 | 59.44% | 9,114 | 40.11% | 104 | 0.46% | 4,393 | 19.33% | 22,725 |
Warren | 10,838 | 62.93% | 6,244 | 36.26% | 139 | 0.81% | 4,594 | 26.67% | 17,221 |
Washington | 34,782 | 40.47% | 50,911 | 59.24% | 244 | 0.28% | -16,129 | -18.77% | 85,937 |
Wayne | 10,061 | 75.66% | 3,155 | 23.73% | 81 | 0.61% | 6,906 | 51.93% | 13,297 |
Westmoreland | 71,377 | 46.82% | 79,906 | 52.41% | 1,181 | 0.77% | -8,529 | -5.59% | 152,464 |
Wyoming | 7,230 | 74.01% | 2,518 | 25.78% | 21 | 0.21% | 4,712 | 48.23% | 9,769 |
York | 75,020 | 68.67% | 33,359 | 30.54% | 868 | 0.79% | 41,661 | 38.13% | 109,247 |
Totals | 2,584,323 | 53.34% | 2,228,131 | 45.99% | 32,449 | 0.67% | 356,192 | 7.35% | 4,844,903 |
Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican
[edit]Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic
[edit]See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016
- ^ "Faithful electors vote 25-0 in a celebration of Reagan". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. December 18, 1984. p. 6. Archived from the original on September 5, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Ranney 1985, p. 54.
- ^ Ranney 1985, p. 62.
- ^ David Leip. "1984 Presidential General Election Results – Pennsylvania". Dave Leip’s U.S. Election Atlas. Retrieved March 23, 2018.
Works cited
[edit]- Ranney, Austin, ed. (1985). The American Elections of 1984. Duke University Press. ISBN 0822302306.