[research99]

The point is that it wasn’t the grassroots that elected Reagan per Cruz’s current rhetoric, but it was in fact an anti-incumbent vote among swing voters in 1980 that removed Carter from office.

[SoConPubbie]

The point is that it wasn’t the grassroots that elected Reagan per Cruz’s current rhetoric, but it was in fact an anti-incumbent vote among swing voters in 1980 that removed Carter from office.

All speculation on your point with no support in facts on the ground.

I was there, and everyone I know, conservatives and people who would be considered traditional social conservatives and those who understood what the constitution was all about were as excited as hell to be able to vote for Ronald Reagan.

My experience tells me it was a grassroots tsunami that swept Ronald Reagan into office, your theory not withstanding.

[Lakeshark]

The grassroots groups energized Reagan's election. The rejection of Carter's weakness and incompetence with the Iran crisis and the poor economy was far more important than any "anti-incumbent" movement.

The American people knew Carter was wrong, and threw him out in spite of the media's insistence that Reagan was an "extremist". The more people heard from Reagan themselves, the more they liked him. The more they saw of Carter, the more they disliked him.