Real approval or according to the media? Carter’s approval had to have been nearly as low as Nixon’s at this point. Reagan did not have it locked up, if I remember correctly, and the only way he avoided a floor fight at the convention was by co-opting President Bush 41 by offering him the VP.
Yeah, I read on FR that Reagan was behind in the polls a month before the election.
I don’t remember that but I find it hard to believe Carter was in the running at the time.
I was in the Air Force, in our 4th year of drawdowns following the Vietnam Era drawdown. Morale was in the crapper. Reagan promised to build the military. I would think he got high 80’s to 90s from military voters.
“Real approval or according to the media? Carter’s approval had to have been nearly as low as Nixon’s at this point. Reagan did not have it locked up, if I remember correctly, and the only way he avoided a floor fight at the convention was by co-opting President Bush 41 by offering him the VP.”
You remember incorrectly. Bush 41 had an impressive string of late primary victories but the math showed he could not catch Reagan and he politely dropped out. Then the rumor got out that Ford was going to be the VP pick and some kind of “co presidency” would occur. When the “co presidency” thing started being talked about, that is when Reagan put the kabosh on that idea and picked Bush 41. Both Ford and Bush were considered due to their military and foreign policy experience.
WHICH BRINGS US TO HILLARY. If the polls keep going down for Obama watch for her to replace Biden.