Because of Ohio's long-time bellwether status, Carter and Reagan campaigned heavily in the state from the start of the presidential primaries.[1] At the beginning of the campaign, it was clear that inflation and the Iranian hostage crisis were cutting heavily into Carter's popularity in the industrial areas of the state,[2] although Reagan was not viewed warmly by the state's electorate either.[3]
Despite the coldness with which the incumbent President was received on his first visit to Columbus, Carter did gain a critical victory over challenger Ted Kennedy in Ohio's presidential primary on June 4, owing to his dominance of Ohio's heavily Appalachian rural counties[4] plus the endorsement of both Buckeye State Senator John Glenn[5] and Cleveland's Plain Dealer newspaper.[6]
In the earliest polls after the nominations were settled, Reagan was slightly ahead of Carter,[7] and from midsummer the GOP nominee targeted Ohio as part of his strategy of appealing to industrial workers in the Northeast and Great Lakes region.[8] Ohio gained further attention from a court case that allowed independent candidate and former Republican rival to Reagan John B. Anderson to be on the state's ballot,[9] but Reagan continued his strategy of seeking the support of Ohio's industrial workers during the remainder of the summer.[10] However, after the challenger being ahead for the first half of the fall – although never by an irreversible margin – by mid-October Ohio was seen as close because Reagan was not gaining so much support from industrial workers as he had hoped in August,[11] with voters simply debating “which candidate they liked least”.[12] However, by the beginning of November, Ohio was viewed as the most problematic of the three “key” Midwestern states[a] for Carter's re-election battle, as he was only seventy-five thousand votes ahead in Cuyahoga County, which he had won by over 93,000 votes in his 11,000-vote statewide triumph four years previously.[13] The Equal Rights Amendment and abortion were also seen as severely handicapping Carter in the Southern-leaning Appalachian counties where he had done well in 1976.[13]
Ohio was won by former California GovernorRonald Reagan (R) by 11%.[14] Ohio voted very close to the nation for both Carter and Reagan, although Anderson was 0.7% below his national percentage. Reagan was the first Republican since Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956 to carry heavily populated Lucas County.[15]
^Michigan and Illinois were the other two states considered in this context, and Carter also lost them, though by smaller margins than Ohio.
References
^Weisman, Steven R.; ‘Carter and Reagan 'Debate' in Ohio, Six Blocks Apart: Two Images of the U.S.’; The New York Times Special, May 29, 1980, p. A1
^Schellhardt, Timothy D.; ‘Midwest Mood: Carter's Support Slides In a Blue-Collar Town That Backed Him in ‘76’; Wall Street Journal, June 2, 1980, p. 1
^Smith, Terence; ‘Visits by Carter and Reagan to Put Ohio's Capital on the Political Map: Little Enthusiasm for Candidates – “Turned His Back on the State”’; New York Times Special, May 29, 1980. p. B6
^Nyhan, David and Black, Chris; ‘Carter Is Over Top; Kennedy Will Fight On – Ohio to President; N.J. to Senator; California Close’; The Boston Globe, June 4, 1980, p. 1
^‘Campaign Report: Carter Gets Endorsement From Senator Glenn of Ohio’; The New York Times, May 22, 1980, p. B8
^‘Campaign Report: Kennedy Warns of Threats Of Unrest in Inner Cities; Carter and Reagan Lead In Poll of Jersey Residents; Cleveland Plain Dealer Endorses Carter and Reagan’; The New York Times, May 26, 1980, p. A13
^‘Reagan Leads, Poll Indicates’; The Boston Globe, June 16, 1980, p. 1
^Sperling, Godfrey, Jr.; ‘How Reagan plans to beat Carter in November; “Northeast strategy” targets Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, banks on big 'blue collar' vote’; The Christian Science Monitor, July 16, 1980
^‘Campaign Report: Anderson Wins Court Battle To Be on the Ohio Ballot’; The New York Times, July 18, 1980, p. A7
^Broder, David S. ‘Reagan, Citing 'the Carter Depression,' Courts Labor: Decrying 'the Carter Depression,' Reagan Courts Support of Labor’; The Washington Post, August 28, 1980, p. A1
^Clymer, Adam; ‘Ohio Race Expected to Be Close As Labor Mobilizes for President’; New York Times Special, October 16, 1980, p. A1
^Hunt, Albert R.; ‘Buckeye Ambivalence: In Pivotal Ohio, With Reagan Slightly Ahead, Voters Debate Which Candidate They Like Least’; The Wall Street Journal, October 9, 1098. p. 48
^ abHealy, Robert L.; ‘Ohio, Mich, and Illinois may decide the election’; The Boston Globe, November 1, 1980, p. 1
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