Reagan registered as a Republican for the first time in 1962 and was nominated as the Republican candidate for Governor in 1966. So according to your internal timetable you would not have voted for him because he wasn’t really a Republican.
I was speaking of Reagan’s Presidential terms.
Besides being a 2-term governor of CA, Reagan had basically been giving the “Time for Choosing” speech during his GE years to union members and their families.
He didn’t just decide to play “Reality TV” president.