1984 United States presidential election in California
← 1980 November 6, 1984 1988 →
Turnout74.93% (of registered voters) Decrease 2.31 pp
59.08% (of eligible voters) Increase 2.04 pp[1]
 
Nominee Ronald Reagan Walter Mondale
Party Republican Democratic
Home state California Minnesota
Running mate George H. W. Bush Geraldine Ferraro
Electoral vote 47 0
Popular vote 5,467,009 3,922,519
Percentage 57.51% 41.27%
President before election

Ronald Reagan
Republican

Elected President

Ronald Reagan
Republican

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Reagan holding a campaign rally at Los Angeles Pierce College on the eve of the election
Reagan and his wife Nancy celebrate at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles after the announcement of his 1984 electoral victory

The 1984 United States presidential election in California took place on November 6, 1984, as part of the 1984 United States presidential election. State voters chose 47 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president. California voted for the Republican incumbent and former California Governor, Ronald Reagan, in a landslide over the Democratic challenger, former Minnesota Senator and Vice President Walter Mondale. Reagan easily won his home state with a comfortable 16.24% margin and carried all but five counties. Despite this, California's margin was 1.97% more Democratic than the nation as a whole.

Reagan is the last Republican to carry the following California counties in a presidential election: Contra Costa, Humboldt, Lake, Los Angeles, Mendocino, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano and Sonoma.[2] Reagan is also the last candidate from either party to carry every county they won in the state with a majority. This is also the most recent occasion where a Republican won more than thirty percent of the vote in San Francisco, won the state by double digits (George H. W. Bush would win the state by a 3-point margin in 1988), and won every county of Greater Southern California. Reagan became the first Republican ever to win the White House without Marin or Santa Cruz Counties.

As a result of this election, San Francisco and Alameda were the only two counties in California to have never been carried by Reagan in either of his campaigns for president or for Governor of California (Reagan also did not carry Yolo County in any of his presidential campaigns; however, he carried the county in his 1966 gubernatorial campaign).

Results

1984 United States presidential election in California[3]
Party Candidate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Republican Ronald Wilson Reagan (Incumbent) 5,467,009 57.51% 47
Democratic Walter Frederick Mondale 3,922,519 41.27% 0
Libertarian David Bergland 115,513 1.22% 0
American Independent Bob Richards 39,265 0.41% 0
Peace and Freedom Sonia Johnson 26,297 0.28% 0
No party Write-in 366 0.00% 0
No party Dennis L. Serrette (write-in) 16 0.00% 0
Invalid or blank votes —
Totals 9,505,423 100.00% 47
Voter turnout —

Results by county

County Ronald Reagan
Republican 		Walter F. Mondale
Democratic 		David P. Bergland[4]
Libertarian 		Robert E. Richards[4]
American Independent 		Sonia Johnson[4]
Peace and Freedom 		Margin
% # % # % # % # % # % #
Orange 74.70% 635,013 24.27% 206,272 1.03% 8,792 0.31% 2,619 0.17% 1,412 50.43% 428,741
Mono 72.31% 2,659 26.16% 962 1.51% 56 0.73% 27 0.40% 15 46.15% 1,697
Sutter 71.23% 14,477 27.24% 5,535 1.52% 311 0.55% 112 0.45% 92 43.99% 8,942
Inyo 70.32% 5,863 28.30% 2,360 1.37% 115 0.58% 49 0.24% 20 42.02% 3,503
Modoc 69.49% 2,995 28.28% 1,219 2.19% 96 1.46% 64 0.23% 10 41.21% 1,776
Glenn 69.74% 6,020 28.82% 2,488 1.42% 124 0.87% 76 0.19% 17 40.92% 3,532
Ventura 68.67% 151,383 30.19% 66,550 1.14% 2,529 0.39% 862 0.22% 493 38.48% 84,833
Colusa 65.30% 3,388 33.25% 1,725 1.43% 75 0.69% 36 0.31% 16 32.05% 1,663
San Diego 65.30% 502,344 33.41% 257,029 1.28% 9,894 0.45% 3,523 0.25% 1,966 31.89% 245,315
El Dorado 64.93% 27,583 33.69% 14,312 1.36% 583 0.57% 245 0.26% 111 31.24% 13,271
Kern 65.03% 94,776 34.01% 49,567 0.96% 1,401 0.40% 585 0.17% 248 31.02% 45,209
San Bernardino 64.80% 222,071 33.98% 116,454 1.21% 4,180 0.60% 2,063 0.21% 736 30.82% 105,617
Calaveras 64.26% 7,632 34.36% 4,081 1.37% 164 0.59% 71 0.25% 30 29.90% 3,551
Kings 64.10% 13,364 35.13% 7,324 0.76% 160 0.31% 64 0.16% 34 28.97% 6,040
Yuba 63.52% 9,780 34.68% 5,339 1.78% 278 1.01% 157 0.27% 42 28.84% 4,441
Tulare 63.88% 51,066 35.11% 28,065 1.01% 812 0.43% 343 0.25% 200 28.77% 23,001
San Luis Obispo 63.72% 49,035 35.02% 26,946 1.25% 969 0.45% 350 0.22% 174 28.70% 22,089
Riverside 63.48% 182,324 35.53% 102,043 0.98% 2,835 0.44% 1,276 0.18% 532 27.95% 80,281
Butte 63.06% 45,381 35.32% 25,421 1.60% 1,162 0.71% 519 0.27% 193 27.74% 19,960
Placer 62.94% 38,035 35.24% 21,294 1.80% 1,098 0.51% 311 0.27% 163 27.70% 16,741
Tehama 62.78% 11,586 35.37% 6,527 1.83% 342 1.18% 221 0.21% 39 27.41% 5,059
Nevada 62.36% 19,809 35.25% 11,198 2.37% 761 0.97% 313 0.25% 81 27.11% 8,611
Santa Barbara 62.76% 89,314 36.01% 51,243 1.23% 1,763 0.31% 442 0.24% 350 26.75% 38,071
Shasta 62.19% 33,041 36.32% 19,298 1.47% 788 0.81% 434 0.23% 124 25.87% 13,743
Imperial 62.01% 13,829 36.94% 8,237 1.05% 235 0.43% 97 0.27% 60 25.07% 5,592
Amador 61.48% 6,986 36.86% 4,188 1.64% 189 0.87% 100 0.33% 38 24.62% 2,798
Mariposa 61.20% 3,989 36.81% 2,399 1.97% 130 1.21% 80 0.24% 16 24.39% 1,590
Lassen 61.09% 5,352 37.14% 3,254 1.74% 155 1.13% 100 0.27% 24 23.95% 2,098
San Benito 60.71% 5,695 37.89% 3,554 1.39% 131 0.44% 42 0.33% 31 22.82% 2,141
Trinity 59.71% 3,544 37.37% 2,218 2.85% 173 1.48% 90 0.63% 38 22.34% 1,326
Madera 60.04% 13,954 38.70% 8,994 1.25% 293 0.61% 142 0.23% 54 21.34% 4,960
San Joaquin 59.61% 81,795 39.24% 53,846 1.14% 1,572 0.53% 729 0.29% 399 20.37% 27,949
Stanislaus 59.23% 55,655 39.86% 37,459 0.91% 861 0.39% 369 0.21% 196 19.37% 18,196
Del Norte 58.41% 3,996 39.41% 2,696 2.14% 149 1.48% 103 0.19% 13 19.00% 1,300
Siskiyou 58.25% 10,544 39.39% 7,130 2.32% 427 1.19% 219 0.33% 61 18.86% 3,414
Merced 58.85% 24,997 40.05% 17,012 1.09% 468 0.34% 147 0.39% 168 18.80% 7,985
Tuolumne 58.09% 10,485 40.35% 7,283 1.55% 283 0.84% 154 0.31% 56 17.74% 3,202
Napa 57.77% 26,322 40.82% 18,599 1.39% 640 0.52% 240 0.29% 131 16.95% 7,723
Sierra 56.86% 1,078 41.19% 781 1.93% 37 0.99% 19 0.26% 5 15.67% 297
Monterey 57.16% 55,710 41.79% 40,733 1.05% 1,027 0.38% 371 0.24% 235 15.37% 14,977
Plumas 56.61% 5,224 41.58% 3,837 1.79% 167 0.68% 63 0.40% 37 15.03% 1,387
Alpine 56.65% 264 41.63% 194 1.69% 8 1.06% 5 0.21% 1 15.02% 70
Sacramento 55.56% 204,922 43.14% 159,128 1.29% 4,791 0.53% 1,959 0.31% 1,136 12.42% 45,794
Lake 54.83% 10,874 43.61% 8,648 1.55% 309 0.45% 89 0.23% 45 11.22% 2,226
Santa Clara 54.81% 288,638 43.65% 229,865 1.53% 8,136 0.45% 2,413 0.35% 1,858 11.16% 58,773
Solano 54.51% 51,678 44.29% 41,892 1.19% 1,138 0.45% 426 0.24% 228 10.22% 9,786
Los Angeles 54.50% 1,424,113 44.35% 1,158,912 1.14% 29,889 0.36% 9,368 0.30% 7,808 10.15% 265,201
Contra Costa 54.48% 172,331 44.57% 140,994 0.94% 2,993 0.31% 999 0.18% 561 9.91% 31,337
Fresno 54.30% 104,757 44.74% 86,315 0.96% 1,864 0.44% 860 0.21% 400 9.56% 18,442
Mendocino 52.09% 16,369 45.85% 14,407 2.03% 646 0.67% 213 0.59% 188 6.24% 1,962
San Mateo 51.87% 135,185 46.91% 122,268 1.21% 3,178 0.35% 924 0.22% 565 4.96% 12,917
Humboldt 51.64% 27,832 46.79% 25,217 1.55% 842 0.56% 305 0.49% 269 4.85% 2,615
Sonoma 51.08% 76,447 47.64% 71,295 1.27% 1,915 0.37% 563 0.32% 489 3.44% 5,152
Marin 49.02% 56,887 49.58% 57,533 1.40% 1,630 0.30% 348 0.27% 320 -0.56% -646
Yolo 47.84% 24,329 50.89% 25,879 1.26% 645 0.37% 188 0.35% 178 -3.05% -1,550
Santa Cruz 45.20% 41,652 53.27% 49,041 1.51% 1,404 0.30% 277 0.43% 395 -8.07% -7,389
Alameda 40.01% 192,408 58.65% 282,041 1.33% 6,425 0.34% 1,645 0.46% 2,223 -18.64% -89,633
San Francisco 31.44% 90,219 67.35% 193,278 1.20% 3,475 0.30% 856 0.34% 973 -35.91% -103,059

References

  1. ^ "Historical Voter Registration and Participation in Statewide General Elections 1910-2018" (PDF). California Secretary of State. Retrieved May 5, 2022.
  2. ^ Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016
  3. ^ "1984 Presidential General Election Results - California". Dave Leip's U.S. Election Atlas. Retrieved August 25, 2008.
  4. ^ a b c Our Campaigns; CA US Presidential Election November 06, 1984
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