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1984 United States presidential election in Minnesota

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1984 United States presidential election in Minnesota

← 1980 November 6, 1984 1988 →
Turnout70.94%[1] Decrease
 
Nominee Walter Mondale Ronald Reagan
Party Democratic (DFL) Republican
Home state Minnesota California
Running mate Geraldine Ferraro George H. W. Bush
Electoral vote 10 0
Popular vote 1,036,364 1,032,603
Percentage 49.72% 49.54%


President before election

Ronald Reagan
Republican

Elected President

Ronald Reagan
Republican

Mondale and former President Jimmy Carter celebrate Mondale's March 13th successes in the 1984 primaries. Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The 1984 United States presidential election in Minnesota took place on November 6, 1984, as part of the 1984 United States presidential election. Voters chose ten representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Minnesota voted for the DFL candidate, former Vice President Walter Mondale. He narrowly won his home state over incumbent President Ronald Reagan by just 3,761 votes, giving him his only state victory in the election (Mondale also carried the District of Columbia), resulting in the state weighing in at around 18 percentage points more Democratic than the nation at large. Minnesota was the only state not to back Reagan in either of his two presidential campaigns. Although Mondale won only twenty of the state's 87 counties – making Reagan the only presidential nominee to win a majority of counties in every state – his large majorities in the heavily unionized Iron Range of the northeast overbalanced Reagan's majorities in the more Republican west of the state. Had Reagan overcome Mondale's 3,761 vote margin, he would have been the first nominee since 1820 to carry all the states, with Nixon's 1972 49-state victory being less narrow both on account of Massachusetts's 14 electoral votes and the margin of 220,000 votes (nearly 9%).

Since the Republican Reagan won all 49 other states in 1984, this established Minnesota's status as the state with the longest streak of voting Democratic. As of the 2024 presidential election, it still has not voted for a Republican presidential candidate since Richard Nixon carried it when he was re-elected in 1972, though is the closest that a Republican presidential candidate has come to carrying the state since then. However, the District of Columbia has voted Democratic in all presidential elections since 1964, when it was first granted the right to vote in presidential elections. As of 2020, only five of the 20 counties Mondale won in 1984 were won by either Hillary Clinton in 2016 or Joe Biden in 2020. Some examples of counties that have been lost to the Republican Party include those after 1996 (Anoka County), after 2008 (Aitkin County), or after 2012 (Itasca County). Minnesota regenerated as a left-leaning force in the 1990s, late 2000s and early 2010s, but has become a Democratic-leaning state in the 21st century, ironically with many former rural Mondale counties voting Republican in the 21st century. As Mondale won the state with a plurality, he became the only major party nominee to fail to get a majority of the vote in any state since William Howard Taft in 1912.

Despite Mondale carrying his home state, Republican Senator Rudy Boschwitz was re-elected the same night. When Reagan was asked in December 1984 what he wanted for Christmas, he joked, "Well, Minnesota would have been nice".[2] This marked the first time that a Republican won two terms without ever winning the state at least once and the second time since its statehood after 1916.

Results

[edit]
1984 United States presidential election in Minnesota[3][4]
Party Candidate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Democratic-Farmer-Labor Walter Mondale 1,036,364 49.72% 10
Republican Ronald Reagan (incumbent) 1,032,603 49.54% 0
Independent Democrat Lyndon LaRouche 3,865 0.19% 0
Socialist Workers Melvin Mason 3,180 0.15% 0
Libertarian David Bergland 2,996 0.14% 0
America First Bob Richards 2,377 0.11% 0
Citizens Sonia Johnson 1,219 0.06% 0
Write-ins Write-ins 723 0.03% 0
Communist Gus Hall 630 0.03% 0
Workers League Edward Winn 260 0.01% 0
New Alliance Dennis Serrette 232 0.01% 0
Invalid or blank votes
Totals 2,084,449 100.00% 10
Voter turnout 68%

Results by county

[edit]
County Walter Mondale
DFL
Ronald Reagan
Republican
Various candidates
Other parties
Margin Total votes cast
# % # % # % # %
Aitkin 3,943 53.17% 3,422 46.14% 51 0.69% 521 7.03% 7,416
Anoka 50,305 51.63% 46,578 47.80% 557 0.57% 3,727 3.83% 97,440
Becker 5,456 41.65% 7,553 57.65% 92 0.70% -2,097 -16.00% 13,101
Beltrami 7,481 49.88% 7,414 49.43% 103 0.69% 67 0.45% 14,998
Benton 4,922 41.42% 6,830 57.48% 131 1.10% -1,908 -16.06% 11,883
Big Stone 1,994 51.83% 1,821 47.34% 32 0.83% 173 4.49% 3,847
Blue Earth 11,877 45.08% 14,298 54.27% 172 0.65% -2,421 -9.19% 26,347
Brown 4,469 34.44% 8,399 64.72% 109 0.84% -3,930 -30.28% 12,977
Carlton 9,189 64.70% 4,877 34.34% 137 0.96% 4,312 30.36% 14,203
Carver 6,725 35.75% 11,963 63.60% 121 0.64% -5,238 -27.85% 18,809
Cass 4,773 41.61% 6,619 57.71% 78 0.68% -1,846 -16.10% 11,470
Chippewa 3,047 43.01% 3,964 55.95% 74 1.04% -917 -12.94% 7,085
Chisago 6,683 51.21% 6,279 48.12% 87 0.67% 404 3.09% 13,049
Clay 10,294 46.84% 11,565 52.62% 119 0.54% -1,271 -5.78% 21,978
Clearwater 1,917 47.63% 2,066 51.33% 42 1.04% -149 -3.70% 4,025
Cook 1,129 47.82% 1,219 51.63% 13 0.55% -90 -3.81% 2,361
Cottonwood 3,073 41.61% 4,275 57.89% 37 0.50% -1,202 -16.28% 7,385
Crow Wing 8,719 43.10% 11,362 56.16% 151 0.75% -2,643 -13.06% 20,232
Dakota 49,125 46.83% 55,119 52.54% 667 0.64% -5,994 -5.71% 104,911
Dodge 2,786 38.36% 4,428 60.97% 48 0.66% -1,642 -22.61% 7,262
Douglas 5,444 37.43% 9,005 61.92% 94 0.65% -3,561 -24.49% 14,543
Faribault 3,993 41.01% 5,690 58.44% 53 0.54% -1,697 -17.43% 9,736
Fillmore 4,351 40.44% 6,342 58.94% 67 0.62% -1,991 -18.50% 10,760
Freeborn 9,338 52.26% 8,413 47.09% 116 0.65% 925 5.17% 17,867
Goodhue 8,679 43.44% 11,171 55.92% 128 0.64% -2,492 -12.48% 19,978
Grant 1,867 46.73% 2,111 52.84% 17 0.43% -244 -6.11% 3,995
Hennepin 272,401 51.47% 253,921 47.98% 2,912 0.55% 18,480 3.49% 529,234
Houston 3,512 37.99% 5,645 61.06% 88 0.95% -2,133 -23.07% 9,245
Hubbard 2,806 37.50% 4,621 61.76% 55 0.74% -1,815 -24.26% 7,482
Isanti 5,378 48.38% 5,660 50.91% 79 0.71% -282 -2.53% 11,117
Itasca 11,455 54.68% 9,306 44.42% 187 0.89% 2,149 10.26% 20,948
Jackson 3,437 51.89% 3,131 47.27% 55 0.83% 306 4.62% 6,623
Kanabec 2,660 46.47% 3,027 52.88% 37 0.65% -367 -6.41% 5,724
Kandiyohi 8,402 46.41% 9,539 52.69% 163 0.90% -1,137 -6.28% 18,104
Kittson 1,610 48.07% 1,716 51.24% 23 0.69% -106 -3.17% 3,349
Koochiching 4,238 54.74% 3,466 44.77% 38 0.49% 772 9.97% 7,742
Lac qui Parle 2,685 48.84% 2,731 49.68% 81 1.47% -46 -0.84% 5,497
Lake 4,468 68.43% 2,003 30.68% 58 0.89% 2,465 37.75% 6,529
Lake of the Woods 824 42.47% 1,094 56.39% 22 1.13% -270 -13.92% 1,940
Le Sueur 5,070 45.47% 6,033 54.10% 48 0.43% -963 -8.63% 11,151
Lincoln 1,827 48.04% 1,905 50.09% 71 1.87% -78 -2.05% 3,803
Lyon 5,389 42.57% 7,170 56.64% 100 0.79% -1,781 -14.07% 12,659
Mahnomen 1,241 47.79% 1,328 51.14% 28 1.08% -87 -3.35% 2,597
Marshall 2,705 43.58% 3,433 55.31% 69 1.11% -728 -11.73% 6,207
Martin 4,673 38.80% 7,308 60.67% 64 0.53% -2,635 -21.87% 12,045
McLeod 4,864 35.43% 8,728 63.58% 135 0.98% -3,864 -28.15% 13,727
Meeker 4,156 42.76% 5,511 56.70% 53 0.55% -1,355 -13.94% 9,720
Mille Lacs 4,011 47.92% 4,307 51.45% 53 0.63% -296 -3.53% 8,371
Morrison 6,225 44.85% 7,556 54.44% 99 0.71% -1,331 -9.59% 13,880
Mower 12,498 60.53% 8,054 39.01% 95 0.46% 4,444 21.52% 20,647
Murray 2,741 49.17% 2,780 49.87% 54 0.97% -39 -0.70% 5,575
Nicollet 5,789 43.37% 7,472 55.97% 88 0.66% -1,683 -12.60% 13,349
Nobles 4,619 48.09% 4,876 50.77% 110 1.15% -257 -2.68% 9,605
Norman 2,202 50.31% 2,152 49.17% 23 0.53% 50 1.14% 4,377
Olmsted 16,335 36.44% 28,129 62.76% 359 0.80% -11,794 -26.32% 44,823
Otter Tail 9,714 38.02% 15,664 61.30% 173 0.68% -5,950 -23.28% 25,551
Pennington 2,913 44.89% 3,536 54.49% 40 0.62% -623 -9.60% 6,489
Pine 5,223 53.41% 4,493 45.95% 63 0.64% 730 7.46% 9,779
Pipestone 2,391 43.46% 3,043 55.32% 67 1.22% -652 -11.86% 5,501
Polk 7,033 44.56% 8,617 54.60% 132 0.84% -1,584 -10.04% 15,782
Pope 2,757 47.03% 3,064 52.27% 41 0.70% -307 -5.24% 5,862
Ramsey 141,623 59.15% 95,667 39.95% 2,153 0.90% 45,956 19.20% 239,443
Red Lake 1,294 51.91% 1,184 47.49% 15 0.60% 110 4.42% 2,493
Redwood 2,957 32.64% 6,020 66.45% 82 0.91% -3,063 -33.81% 9,059
Renville 3,972 41.25% 5,571 57.86% 86 0.89% -1,599 -16.61% 9,629
Rice 10,880 50.55% 10,456 48.58% 189 0.88% 424 1.97% 21,525
Rock 2,188 42.11% 2,971 57.18% 37 0.71% -783 -15.07% 5,196
Roseau 2,319 39.91% 3,445 59.28% 47 0.81% -1,126 -19.37% 5,811
St. Louis 77,683 68.83% 34,162 30.27% 1,013 0.90% 43,521 38.56% 112,858
Scott 9,452 42.71% 12,573 56.81% 108 0.49% -3,121 -14.10% 22,133
Sherburne 6,140 43.98% 7,738 55.43% 82 0.59% -1,598 -11.45% 13,960
Sibley 2,761 36.97% 4,638 62.10% 69 0.92% -1,877 -25.13% 7,468
Stearns 20,944 40.55% 30,216 58.51% 485 0.94% -9,272 -17.96% 51,645
Steele 5,060 36.38% 8,780 63.12% 70 0.50% -3,720 -26.74% 13,910
Stevens 2,451 42.66% 3,251 56.58% 44 0.77% -800 -13.92% 5,746
Swift 3,531 54.42% 2,893 44.59% 64 0.99% 638 9.83% 6,488
Todd 4,657 41.19% 6,585 58.25% 63 0.56% -1,928 -17.06% 11,305
Traverse 1,325 48.30% 1,399 51.00% 19 0.69% -74 -2.70% 2,743
Wabasha 3,872 41.87% 5,299 57.31% 76 0.82% -1,427 -15.44% 9,247
Wadena 2,454 36.13% 4,306 63.40% 32 0.47% -1,852 -27.27% 6,792
Waseca 3,527 38.80% 5,509 60.60% 55 0.60% -1,982 -21.80% 9,091
Washington 28,527 49.23% 29,046 50.13% 369 0.64% -519 -0.90% 57,942
Watonwan 2,425 40.57% 3,526 58.98% 27 0.45% -1,101 -18.41% 5,978
Wilkin 1,410 37.14% 2,367 62.36% 19 0.50% -957 -25.22% 3,796
Winona 9,577 43.99% 11,981 55.03% 212 0.97% -2,404 -11.04% 21,770
Wright 12,486 44.45% 15,399 54.82% 205 0.73% -2,913 -10.37% 28,090
Yellow Medicine 3,018 43.64% 3,819 55.22% 79 1.14% -801 -11.58% 6,916
Totals 1,036,364 49.72% 1,032,603 49.54% 15,482 0.74% 3,761 0.18% 2,084,449

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

[edit]

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

[edit]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Office of the State Of Minnesota Secretary of State". www.sos.state.mn.us. Retrieved July 22, 2017.
  2. ^ "Minnesota heads Reagan's wish list". The Tuscaloosa News. Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Associated Press. December 4, 1984. p. 27. Retrieved July 18, 2012.
  3. ^ "1984 Presidential Election Results – Minnesota". Dave Leip's U.S. Election Atlas. Retrieved January 28, 2009.
  4. ^ Minnesota Secretary of State, "Voter Participation and Vote for President and Vice President, ... November 6, 1984 General Election," The Minnesota Legislative Manual 1985-1986 (St. Paul, 1985)