General Discussion

"Reagan succeeded in winning 27 percent of the Democratic vote ... and he bagged 56 percent of the white vote, five points more than Ford four years earlier. Backlash politics appeared to have paid off for Reagan. Moreover, pollster Lou Harris found that 61 percent of white fundamentalist Protestants -- who had supported Carter by a two-to-one margin in 1976 -- voted for Reagan. This swing accounted for about two-thirds of the winning margin. 'Reagan would have lost the election by one percentage point without the help of the Moral Majority,' Harris observed.

"The Moral Majority and its New Right allies had delivered. They had not only appealed to the fears and resentments of many Americans; with their apocalyptic messaging accusing liberals and Democrats (and 'militant homosexuals,' educators, unions, the media, and others) of deliberately imperiling children, families, and the entire nation, they had encouraged these grievances and worries. They had ignited anxiety, dread, and suspicion -- to raise money and win elections."