# Carter's Poll Numbers, July 1980

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carters-poll-numbers-july-1980/629258>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 24, 2012, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carters-poll-numbers-july-1980/629258 "2012-07-24T16:52:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\
**Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carters-poll-numbers-july-1980/629258/1 "2012-07-24T16:52:43Z")

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What were Carter’s poll numbers like at this point in the 1980 election? Was it close? Or was Reagan running away with it by then?

Sent from my SGH-i677 using Board Express

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**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\
**Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carters-poll-numbers-july-1980/629258/2 "2012-07-24T16:56:45Z")

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[Cite](http://blog.constitutioncenter.org/2012/07/historic-poll-trends-give-edge-to-obama/):

> [@](#):
>
> The 1980 campaign was unsettled in July, as Reagan was up 37 to 34 on Jimmy Carter, with 21 percent of registered voters opting for Anderson. Reagan soared in the debates that fall as Carter and Anderson faded.

Fairly close, with a strong Independent third party candidate added into the mix.

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**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\
**Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carters-poll-numbers-july-1980/629258/3 "2012-07-24T17:02:58Z")

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It depends on what polls you looked at. Some had Reagan slightly ahead, some had him slightly behind. Reagan surged a bit as it got closer to the election (especially after the debates), but he never ran away with it in the polls. Most of the polls predicted a fairly close election all the way up until the end.

Then Reagan won by a landslide. It made the pollsters look a bit silly.