Reddit generally thinks Reagan is a garbage president but he was very popular during his presidency, winning 49 states in 1984. I was hoping to hear what made him so popular at the time from people who remember him.

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  4. I don’t know a ton about this off the top of my head (his presidency predates me by multiple decades), but as well as I remember from history class:

    * it was sort of the era where neoliberal thinking was “in”. This was when Thatcher was in power in the UK; the neoliberal economic model was very popular and pretty widely accepted
    * he had been a hollywood actor, and was already a household name and generally well-liked.
    * Nixon had had to resign because of his personal conduct (Watergate), not because Republican ideology of the time was unpopular.
    * pretty much nobody disagreed with his foreign policy, which was one of the major issues of the time (Cold War and all that). Even today, most of what he’s criticized for is domestic policy; his conduct during the cold war and handling of the USSR is still generally popular in the US (although has been tarnished by a lot of the covert stuff that the CIA and other parts of the US government were doing, which came out later).
    * He was very charismatic and had a sense of humor (again, Hollywood). Like in [this famous clip of him reacting to a balloon popping a couple of months after he had been shot](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_jNTdGDezw)

    edit: also, his opponents in 81 and 84 respectively were Carter and his VP Mondale. The Carter administration was generally regarded as having been fairly ineffective in general and especially bad on the economy. The accuracy of that is arguable, but that was the sentiment at the time.

    edit: you might like this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2h4DkpFP_aw

  5. He won two pretty convincing elections, though if you actually look at the popular vote it isn’t quite the landslide that the EC makes it out to be, not to mention he mostly had at least the US House controlled by the Dems and that kept some of the worst impulses in check or means Dems could brag about some accomplishments as well.

    It probably also helps that his predecessor and successor had one term presidencies that aren’t necessarily fondly remembered.

    I don’t think Reagan, being a moderate GOP Gov of California, could win a GOP nomination today.

  6. Reagan was popular in large part because of what preceded him- tax rates were pretty high, relations with Russia were tough, and Carter failed to capture popular American sentiment.

    While many of Reagan’s reforms had unfortunate side effects, many of them were lauded. Tax cuts helped everybody, an immigration amnesty order was compassionate, he led on nuclear reduction, and generally speaking was able to connect with Americans. Some of what he did was popular but bad- the drug war, for instance, but hadn’t quite come hoke to roost during his time in office.

  7. The 70s saw unprecedented socioeconomic transformations and there was a lot of economic turmoil in the US and political turmoil abroad. Regan represented the antithesis of the democratic political establishment which at that time was made up of labor unions, religious/ethnic minorities, working class southerners, inner-city political machines, etc. He had a more pro-business/anti-regulation agenda and is known for neoliberal policies and galvanizing the social conservative/evangelical base. They had good results short-term as the economy bounced back in the 80s. But, and this is why he is not popular on reddit, the result of 4 decades of neoliberal policies has, in my view, completely ruined the middle class and is the main reason for unprecedented wealth inequality.

  8. First, some context. Leading up to the election of 1980, America saw and went through some shit. There was the gas shortage of the early 70s and the recession of the late 70s. Reagan made some big promises with snappy speech writers and great charisma (he was a literal movie star after all). He instilled confidence that he could fix the economy. After he was elected (i don’t actually know how close it was and I’m not looking it up), the economy recovered. Frankly, it’s probable that would have happened regardless but it probably happened faster with him. The economy was probably the biggest thing, but he was also getting shit done especially with the USSR. Some 40 years later we are seeing and still living with the effects of his policies, and not a lot of it is seen in a good light especially by the younger generation (which is the biggest portion of reddit’s population).

  9. The 1984 economy was doing very well with the sugar rush it got from deregulation, the end of stagflation, and the demographic dividend of the Baby Boomers coming of age. 7.2% GDP growth, those are developing economy numbers. The economy is not the only, but by far the single biggest factor in elections. The largest age demographic being in their 20s at the time certainly helped the economy and helped his legacy.

  10. Reddit is full of people who are still salty about the US’ very creation almost 250 years ago. So it’s no surprise that they grasp on to and hold tight a 40 year old grudge about Reagan beating the Peanut Farmer. Not to mention that this place is full of people who consider themselves to be intellectuals because they watched a documentary that contradicted what they, barely paid attention to is more accurate, learned in school. Or read a book that the publisher obviously said needed a better hook to sell and found the most controversial thing they could. Now that you understand why certain Redditors have a hate boner for Reagan let’s delve in to the other topic.

    Reagan was popular because he was a change. Ronnie Ray Gun smiled, he told people how great the US was, and how we could all do better without the need of some all intrusive government. Seriously, watch his speeches. His humor made people genuinely laugh.

    Here’s his [American and Soviet citizen arguing joke. ](https://youtu.be/9qh-1_tXeuQ)That’s a funny joke. Carter was….well boring is an insult to other really boring Presidents, looking at you Grover Cleveland. Reagan had charisma and he was wiling to be outwardly optimistic. His speeches are interesting to watch and you can tell everyone from Bush to Obama and everyone else tried to recreate that spark with….varying results. The man had personality, even his opponents give him that.

    So to sum up. Reddit has a creepy hate boner. People back then liked him for not being Carter.

  11. Other than his drug war positions he was a decent president imo. He wasn’t a coward like most politicians at least

  12. **Reagan as a person:**

    He was a famous actor. He was a popular Californian governor. The failed assassination attempt.

    **Political realignment:**

    The white working class realignment to the Republican party (Reagan Democrats in the rustbelt). A general conservative political climate. The rise of the religious right and their political activism. The success of the Southern Strategy brought southern conservatives into the Republican party.

    The traditional Democratic (New Deal Democrats) center-left leadership collapsed for a number of reasons including the weakened conservative democrats, the decline of the labor unions, the disastrous Carter administration, LBJ’s decision not to run for a second term, the ’68 democratic convention, the economy, etc. led to the left having enough strength to have their candidates nominated in multiple elections. These candidates were far too left than the political environment and proved extremely unpopular.

    **The Cold War:**

    His hard stance against the Soviet Union and his contribution to the end of the cold war. Carter’s poor handling of the Iranian revolution and voters’ perception of him as weak against the USSR. Liberal Hawks’s abandonment and expulsion from the Democratic party post-Vietnam War led to the publics loss of faith in the Democrat’s ability to manage international relations.

    **Reaganomics and the economy:**

    There were 2 quick recessions that resolved themselves during his early presidency. People gave his economic program credit for the strong economic growth during his presidency. Tax cuts, deregulation, and union busting were popular (and still are) at the time. The ongoing and successful “taxpayer revolt” in the Western US made him popular in those states. He followed a profoundly unpopular president and a decade of economic instability, stagflation, and the oil crisis. He was succeeded by an unpopular president and a recession.

  15. He was charismatic and humorous. His role as a diplomat and statesman is generally fondly remembered. Of course he had his immediate detractors as an unapologetic Conservative and also for simply being the American president, but his effect internationally was more like Obama than Trump, for example. People liked him on a personal level. This is important. Reagan was so liked he is sometimes called ‘The Teflon President’ for his ability to evade scorn even when scandal, like Iran-Contra, plagued his administration.

    He probably gets too much credit for a relatively peaceful and prosperous decade, (much like Clinton does for the 90s). But it is what it is. The 80s were in many ways a better time than the tumultuous decades that proceeded it. Reagan is the face of the 80s.

    In a nutshell, I think that is why he endures as a popular president. I think if Clinton had not had the Lewinsky scandal, he would be the same way. The 80s and 90s were a special, comparatively peaceful time for the US. It was an interregnum between the endless War of the 20th century and the seemingly endless War and intervention of the 21st…

  16. I was in high school when he was elected. He redefined the expectations for how politicians come across to the public.

    He was an actor, so he was practiced in front of the camera, knew his lines, and knew how to make himself likable. He was known as “the great communicator” for his willingness and ability to speak to the public. He was called “the Teflon President” for his ability to avoid taking responsibility for any problems he created.

  17. People on reddit love to judge people of the past by the standards of today. I’m pretty sure if they lived back then most of them would have voted for Reagan in the landslide of 1984.

  18. Context really helps with this. The America of 1984 was very different than the America of today. My grandfather was 60, and my grandmother was 54. They were fairly liberal people during my memory (I was born in 84). But their entire generation lived through the Great Depression, WW2, the American post war boom, the Cold War, and Vietnam. To people who endured all those things, someone like Reagan was very charismatic and endured all that with them.

    [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsmgPp_nlok](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsmgPp_nlok)

    ​

    This is a single question on a debate between George H. W. Bush and Ronald Reagan for the 1980 Presidential Nomination. Its only a few minutes long and the topic is illegal immigration, specifically children who are immigrants attending public schools. This is still a sensitive issue to this day, but compare this rhetoric to what we have been hearing from the right over the last few years. There is no talk of murderers and rapists, the talk is that these are good people in a difficult situation.

    I might have many idealogical disagreements with both people here, but their response is extremely sensible. To people of 1980, this would have resonated in a very meaningful way.

    We (Millennials) will probably have our own Ronald Reagan in the 2050s or 2060s. Someone who came from our generation, endured what we did, endured what we will endure. We will have the attitude that this person is a “Go team go” .

    People of a different generation, with a different experience, and a different culture are going to judge things by different expectations. The people of 1980 and 1984 were different people. The boomers were still in their 20s, hell some were still in high school. And the policies in the 1980s didn’t completely screw them over.

  19. The USA was kind of in the dumps after Nixon, Ford, and Carter. In comes Reagan, who could consistently roll 20’s on his charisma checks, and whose economic policies really did improve things for a lot of Americans in the 1980’s after a decade of serious economic malaise. People will come in and nitpick the economic statistics and joke about trickle-down economics, but the GDP growth doesn’t lie.

  22. In the late 70’s the US was coming off the worst economy it had seen since the great depression. Reagan’s policies were seen as successfully turning the economy around at the time.

    Today there is a debate if those policies actually turned the economy around or if the turn around was already set in motion before he took office. There’s also a debate of continuing his policies creating a greater economic divide in the US.

  23. Reagan was awesome, and reddit is full of idiots lol. That’s about all you need to know. The guy literally won 49 states and reddit hates him. But most of them weren’t around to actually experience what a good economy, good morale, and patriotic feelings feel like. Now everyone just wants to be a victim and feel like the world is against them. Pretty much explains what’s going on right now with Biden.

  24. Reddit hates him because

    A: People who aren’t Redditors like him.

    B: He was a Republican. Notice how they never list him supporting the Hughes Amendment in FOPA as part of their criticisms.

  26. Suppose you’re living in the 1980s. You remember how the United States was repeatedly absolutely humiliated by countries a small fraction of our size in the 1970s- first North Vietnam, then OPEC, then Iran. The economy was beyond a mess and the communists were in full force with their goal of eradicating freedom and democracy throughout the world. And you woke up wondering if today would be the day they’d push the button and send nuclear weapons to New York, Washington, and Chicago. One President resigns as a crook and the other one was a clear example of the Peter Principal.

    So now you have a President that turns the economy around (at least in the short term), talks tough to the Soviets, projects an image of a proud, strong America. That message really resonates.

  27. Largely because of the exact same reasons he’s hated now. Reagan essentially mortgaged the future to provide short term benefits for the people who voted for him. It siphoned money and stability away from the young in the future and even the old in the future and created essentially what was supposed to be a rock solid fortress around baby boomers and their parents. Everything else was going to decay because it was being stripped for parts, but their retirements dnd lifestyle would never be touched. Reddits a younger demographic, full of the people most directly targeted by those policies later. Obviously it didn’t even really work for boomers, because the housing crisis hollowed them out as well, but they’re bad at admitting they’re wrong. Demands the country go back to how it was are really just a demand to recenter all policies around their comfort and desires, even as those policies essentially strip away any quality of life for anyone else.

  28. I was 7 in 1980 so vaguely remember him being elected. By 1984 I was 11 and much more in tune with news and politics. I think it was several factors:

    1. The 1970s were a rough decade in the US and pretty much any President in the 80’s would’ve been viewed positively in comparison (though Carter did many good things that no doubt put things on the right path);

    2. Reagan was the consoler-in-chief like mentioned before. He could put the country at ease in his addresses (remember no internet or 24 hour news cycles to hang on every word);

    3. Technology was starting to make things better a little bit each year (cable TV, VCRs, video game systems, personal computers and higher tech cars). This wasn’t related to Reagan, but he benefitted from that energy imo;

    4. The ideological battle with the USSR was turning in the US’ favor and Reagan was seen as a reason for this (true or not);

    5. Thatcher was in office in the UK and both were seen as a dynamic duo on the world stage, helping both in terms of popularity.

    I’m sure I could think of others but these have popped into my head over the years when I’ve thought of this question.

  29. The short term results of his presidency are all that is remembered. The lomg term effects, ie the current economic mess we have, largely stems from his deregulation and ridiculous overspending, a habit few elected officials have even tried to curb

  32. He was an actor and had a remarkably good speechwriting team. When you put together a talented professional actor and good script writers you get a good outcome – from a communications standpoint.

    Watch the challenger address. I think Reagan was a shit President, but that’s one of the greatest speeches an American president has ever delivered.

  33. He wasn’t so universally beloved at the time of his presidency. (Really no President is.) His popularity was more gained in hindsight. (Again, like most Presidents.)

  34. Reagan wasn’t that popular during his first term, but he seemed to be portrayed as someone mythical by certain people.

    He cut the tax from 70% to 28% for rich class, but coupled with closure of several loopholes. So that ended up [top 10% paying more than before proportionally](https://www.heritage.org/sites/default/files/~/media/images/reports/1996/bg1086/bg1086c9.jpg).

    He was blamed for war hawkish, deregulation, and war on drugs, but his role seems overstated. It was Nixon who started war on drugs while Reagan accelerated it hard. It was Carter who started deregulation while Reagan continued the process. He was pretty smooth and soft on soviet during his second term to the point where ‘moderate’ Nixon accused him of being too cozy on the communists.

    He fired PATCO for strike, but people forget that they actually endorsed Reagan over Carter, and Reagan compromised on 10% increase in wage and much better benefits, only to get rejected by the union.

    But truth be told, he was corrupt. He definitely wasn’t a clean guy just like the rest of his administration, but some people seem to overstate his ‘influence’.

  36. Friendly, optimistic, and morally righteous personality combined with policies that helped the economy and addressed the threat of the Soviet Union.

  39. 1- he was charismatic

    2- Mondale was shit

    3- he was tough on the Soviets

    4- good economic policies for the time

    5- remember this is Reddit

  40. Reagan had his problems for sure. The reason reddit hates him so much is because reddit is super leftwing and hates nothing more than effective conservatives and religious people.

  41. When he was elected the economy was crap, America had just had 4 presidents in a row end in failure, the Soviet Union was at its peak of power, and America seemed like a nation in decline. In 1984 the economy was booming, the Soviet Union was clearly behind the United States, and Reagan made Americans feel confident in their identity again. He could say with a straight face that America was stronger and better than ever before and most people agreed.

  42. Everybody was fan of Reagan until 2016 when the Don used Ron’s playbook to become President. Then he became an extremist from his grave.

  43. This isn’t an answer to your question, but you know, the weird thing is that I remember him being a huge joke at the time. I was just a kid but I very specifically remember more or less all contemporary references to him being that he was a senile old fool. In real life, on TV, and even occasionally in movies (1985’s Back to the Future has a line implying that the mere fact that he became president was a joke; 1991’s Rock ‘n; Roll High School Forever, released two years after he left office, takes place at Reagan High School, the joke being that a school would never be named after such a laughable president).

    It’s not like I grew up in such a liberal area or anything. My county voted for him 56-35 in 1980 and 62-38 in 1984.

  44. People are short-sighted. Reagan’s policies boosted the economy in the short term but trashed it in the long term, so back then he looked good because the economy was up and now he looks bad because we’re dealing with all the fallout. The combination of the good economy and overall more conservative society back then allowed his atrocious social policies to be overlooked (ignoring AIDS as a “disease of the gay community”) or they hadn’t had enough time yet to fully reveal how destructive they were (war on drugs).

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