1984 United States presidential election in Rhode Island

Summary

The 1984 United States presidential election in Rhode Island took place on November 6, 1984. All 50 states and the District of Columbia, were part of the 1984 United States presidential election. Voters chose four electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president of the United States.

1984 United States presidential election in Rhode Island

← 1980 November 6, 1984 1988 →
Turnout78.0%[1] Decrease 1.0 pp
 
Nominee Ronald Reagan Walter Mondale
Party Republican Democratic
Home state California Minnesota
Running mate George H. W. Bush Geraldine Ferraro
Electoral vote 4 0
Popular vote 212,080 197,106
Percentage 51.66% 48.02%


President before election

Ronald Reagan
Republican

Elected President

Ronald Reagan
Republican

Rhode Island was won by incumbent United States President Ronald Reagan of California, who was running against former Vice President Walter Mondale of Minnesota. Reagan ran for a second time with incumbent Vice President and former C.I.A. Director George H. W. Bush of Texas, and Mondale ran with Representative Geraldine Ferraro of New York, the first major female candidate for the vice presidency. As of the 2020 presidential election, it is the last time Rhode Island has voted for a Republican in a presidential election, making Rhode Island one of six states to have voted Democratic in every election since this one; the others are Washington, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New York, and Oregon. This was also the final time that the counties of Bristol, Newport and Washington voted for a Republican presidential candidate and the final time a Republican presidential candidate won Kent County or any county in the state until Donald Trump won it in 2016.

As of 2020, this is also the most recent time the following municipalities backed a Republican candidate for president: Bristol, Cranston, Cumberland, Jamestown, Narragansett, Newport, New Shoreham, South Kingstown, Tiverton, Warren, Warwick, Westerly, and Woonsocket.

This is the third and final time in which Rhode Island voted differently than Minnesota, after 1912 and 1928. As of 2020, this also remains the last time that a Republican has won a majority of the vote in any Rhode Island county (Donald Trump would go on to carry Kent County with a plurality in 2016). Rhode Island weighed in for this election as 14% more Democratic than the national average. Rhode Island was one of five states, alongside Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland and West Virginia, that Reagan lost in 1980 but won in 1984.

Results edit

1984 United States presidential election in Rhode Island
Party Candidate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Republican Ronald Reagan (incumbent) 212,080 51.66% 4
Democratic Walter Mondale 197,106 48.02% 0
America First Bob Richards 510 0.12% 0
Libertarian David Bergland 277 0.07% 0
Citizen's Party Sonia Johnson 240 0.06% 0
Workers World Larry Holmes 91 0.02% 0
Communist Party Gus Hall 75 0.02% 0
Socialist Workers Party Melvin Mason 61 0.01% 0
New Alliance Party Dennis Serrette 49 0.01% 0
Write-Ins 3 >0.01% 0
Totals 410,492 100.0% 4

By county edit

1984 United States presidential election in Rhode Island (by county) [2]
County Ronald Wilson Reagan

Republican

Walter Frederick Mondale

Democratic

Other candidates

Various parties

Total Votes
% # % # % # #
Washington 57.6% 24,365 42.1% 17,793 0.3% 147 42,305
Newport 57.4% 19,629 42.3% 14,466 0.3% 114 34,209
Kent 56.2% 40,427 43.5% 31,352 0.3% 214 71,993
Bristol 55.2% 11,635 44.5% 9,386 0.3% 63 21,084
Providence 48.2% 116,024 51.5% 124,109 0.3% 765 240,898

Counties flipped from Democratic to Republican edit

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ This figure is calculated by dividing the total number of votes cast in 1984 (422,851) by an estimate of the number of registered voters in Rhode Island in 1984 (542,216). See "General Election November 2, 1984". Rhode Island Board of Elections. Retrieved February 6, 2018.
  2. ^ "RI.gov: Election Results". www.ri.gov. Retrieved February 11, 2024.