Replies

None would've voted for Reagan. Why? Because if they were leaning Reagan, they would've known that a vote for Anderson was a vote against Reagan already.

LOL, what??

One could use the same false logic and claim...

"none would have voted for Carter because if they were leaning Carter, they would have known that a vote for Anderson was a vote against Carter."

Anderson was a Republican Congressman who ran for the Republican nomination in 1980, and lost to Reagan. He ran as independant to provide a candidate for those who did not want more Carter, but could not stand Reagan, and for a time RePublicans were very concerned that he would split the anti-carter vote and give Mr Peanut a second term. I don’t think Anderson voters were so anti-Reagan that they would have split 80-20-0 with Cater getting 80%, 20% staying home, and Reagan getting zero. But everybody understood that not voting for Reagan meant not voting for the only guy who could beat Carter, so I don’t doubt that the race would have been closer without Anderson.