I would suspect that philosophically, many that voted for Reagan in 80 and 84, had serious differences with him....you simply don’t win with the kind of margins he had unless you take a lot of votes from people that are normally politically on the other side. So what was it? Winning the office frankly is a lot about likability........that explains why Obama’s likability gap over Romney mattered. It’s not just about being right on the issues. Not to diminish Reagan, but in many ways the battle for the Presidency is somewhat of a “beauty contest.” Fortunately, behind Reagan’s facade, was a lot of substance.
We need a candidate with some “sizzle to go along with the steak.”
What won millions over to Reagan was his social conservatism and strong national defense.
Americans reacted favorably to Reagan’s Americanism, by 1984 the nation was fully behind him and he swept the nation’s vote.
Romney was anti-Reagan during the period and even left the party and remains anti-Reagan and anti-conservative today.
Romney is foreign, exotic, removed, alien to Americans, the anti-Reagan with no patriotism, as his refusal to serve proved, in fact, he comes from an extremely anti-American family, which is how his father came to be born in their adopted country of Mexico.
I believe many people voted for Reagan because he wasn’t going to take any more crap from the Iranians, after Carter kissed their ass for 400 days. Romney won that first debate, and realized that he might actually win. His second debate was nothing more than agreeing with all of Obama’s positions, and so he didn’t come across as someone who was going to be tough on defense. That is why he lost.