Are We Looking At Another 1980?

Julia Azari: “That’s all I can think about right now. Carter, unlike Clinton, was an incumbent. But, similar to this year, the race looked close. Reagan, although a much more conventional politician than Trump, inspired doubts and fears about his qualifications. Carter had won the White House in a tight election in 1976 — closer than the 2012 election that Obama won — and it wasn’t an Electoral College blowout for Carter. Just like now, there was good reason to believe that the country was divided and the parties were too. Just as Clinton fought to beat Bernie Sanders in the primaries, Carter faced a challenger to the left in Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy. The Republican Party, too, was divided, between an establishment candidate —George H.W. Bush — and a newcomer from the entertainment industry.”

“And then on election night, the map went red.”