1984 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania

The 1984 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania took place on November 6, 1984, and was part of the 1984 United States presidential election. Voters chose 25 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president. Pennsylvania voted for the Republican nominee, President Ronald Reagan, over the Democratic nominee, former Vice President Walter Mondale. Reagan won Pennsylvania by a margin of 7.35%, making Pennsylvania 5.5% more Democratic than the nation at large.

Reagan won the state by sweeping the small towns and rural areas of central Pennsylvania and performing well in the traditionally Republican suburbs of Philadelphia, but the race was kept within single digits by Mondale’s strong showing in heavily unionized and traditionally Democratic Western Pennsylvania, as well as his decisive victories in the cities of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. As of the 2024^[update], this is the last election in which Lackawanna County has voted Republican, the last time that Erie County voted Republican until 2016, and the last time a Republican won one-third of the vote in Philadelphia.^[1]

This was one of only three elections since the Civil War in which Pennsylvania has voted more Democratic than neighboring New York (along with 1952 and 1956), and the most recent election in which it voted to the left of Illinois, Washington, or Hawaii. Reagan became the first Republican ever to win the White House without carrying Mercer or Armstrong Counties; George H. W. Bush would repeat this feat four years later, while his son would win without Mercer but with Armstrong in 2000.

Marian Bell, James F. Malone III, Ginny Thornburgh, Coral Scranton, Fred Anton, Harvey Bartle III, Thomas Milhollan, Marta Bell Schoeninger, John H. Ware III, and Theodore Metzger Jr. were among the Republican electors. The Democratic elector slate included Judith Heh, Roxanne Jones, Cathy Irvis, James J. Manderino, and Nancy Nancarrow. Malone was the chair of the electors and Bell was an elector for Richard Nixon in 1972 and Reagan in 1980.^[2]

Primaries

Republican primary

Ronald Reagan ran uncontested, winning 616,916 votes (turnout: 27.66%).

Democratic primary

Jesse Jackson's voters were 81% black and 18% white.^[3] 41% of Jackson voters listed Mondale as their second candidate in exit polls conducted by CBS News and The New York Times, while 19% listed Hart and 24% selected none.^[4]

Candidate	Votes	Percent
Walter Mondale	747,267	45.15%
Gary Hart	551,335	33.31%
Jesse Jackson	264,463	15.98%
John Glenn	22,605	1.37%
Others	69,281	4.19%
Totals	1,654,951	Turnout: 52.10%

Results

1984 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Republican	Ronald Reagan (incumbent)	2,584,323	53.34%	25
	Democratic	Walter Mondale	2,228,131	45.99%	0
	Consumer	Sonia Johnson	21,628	0.45%	0
	Libertarian	David Bergland	6,982	0.14%	0
	Workers' League	Edward Winn	2,059	0.04%	0
	Communist	Gus Hall	1,780	0.04%	0
Totals			4,844,903	100.00%	25

Results by county

County	Ronald Reagan Republican		Walter Mondale Democratic		Various candidates Other parties		Margin		Total votes cast
County	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	Total votes cast
Adams	16,786	69.44%	7,289	30.15%	99	0.41%	9,497	39.29%	24,174
Allegheny	284,692	42.76%	372,576	55.96%	8,480	1.27%	-87,884	-13.20%	665,748
Armstrong	13,709	48.37%	14,525	51.25%	110	0.39%	-816	-2.88%	28,344
Beaver	32,052	36.79%	54,765	62.86%	300	0.34%	-22,713	-26.07%	87,117
Bedford	13,085	70.57%	5,424	29.25%	34	0.18%	7,661	41.32%	18,543
Berks	74,605	65.94%	37,849	33.45%	691	0.61%	36,756	32.49%	113,145
Blair	30,104	65.52%	15,651	34.06%	190	0.41%	14,453	31.46%	45,945
Bradford	14,808	72.71%	5,474	26.88%	85	0.42%	9,334	45.83%	20,367
Bucks	130,119	63.25%	74,568	36.25%	1,032	0.50%	55,551	27.00%	205,719
Butler	31,676	55.94%	24,735	43.68%	215	0.38%	6,941	12.26%	56,626
Cambria	32,173	44.50%	39,865	55.14%	258	0.36%	-7,692	-10.64%	72,296
Cameron	2,031	67.05%	990	32.68%	8	0.26%	1,041	34.37%	3,029
Carbon	10,701	54.41%	8,836	44.93%	131	0.67%	1,865	9.48%	19,668
Centre	27,802	62.85%	16,194	36.61%	240	0.54%	11,608	26.24%	44,236
Chester	92,221	70.11%	38,870	29.55%	440	0.33%	53,351	40.56%	131,531
Clarion	9,836	64.27%	5,407	35.33%	61	0.40%	4,429	28.94%	15,304
Clearfield	18,653	60.62%	11,963	38.88%	153	0.50%	6,690	21.74%	30,769
Clinton	6,678	59.24%	4,525	40.14%	70	0.62%	2,153	19.10%	11,273
Columbia	14,402	63.39%	8,254	36.33%	62	0.27%	6,148	27.06%	22,718
Crawford	20,181	60.80%	12,792	38.54%	222	0.67%	7,389	22.26%	33,195
Cumberland	49,282	69.29%	21,374	30.05%	467	0.66%	27,908	39.24%	71,123
Dauphin	54,330	61.28%	33,576	37.87%	752	0.85%	20,754	23.41%	88,658
Delaware	161,754	61.79%	98,207	37.51%	1,821	0.70%	63,547	24.28%	261,782
Elk	8,470	60.47%	5,486	39.17%	51	0.36%	2,984	21.30%	14,007
Erie	55,860	51.12%	52,471	48.02%	935	0.86%	3,389	3.10%	109,266
Fayette	21,314	37.69%	35,098	62.07%	135	0.24%	-13,784	-24.38%	56,547
Forest	1,468	63.36%	839	36.21%	10	0.43%	629	27.15%	2,317
Franklin	27,243	70.13%	11,480	29.55%	122	0.31%	15,763	40.58%	38,845
Fulton	3,254	71.14%	1,309	28.62%	11	0.24%	1,945	42.52%	4,574
Greene	6,376	40.40%	9,365	59.33%	43	0.27%	-2,989	-18.93%	15,784
Huntingdon	10,220	69.57%	4,430	30.15%	41	0.28%	5,790	39.42%	14,691
Indiana	18,845	54.22%	15,791	45.43%	123	0.35%	3,054	8.79%	34,759
Jefferson	11,334	65.31%	5,950	34.28%	71	0.41%	5,384	31.03%	17,355
Juniata	5,059	65.66%	2,624	34.06%	22	0.29%	2,435	31.60%	7,705
Lackawanna	48,132	50.57%	45,851	48.17%	1,202	1.26%	2,281	2.40%	95,185
Lancaster	99,090	75.63%	31,308	23.90%	618	0.47%	67,782	51.73%	131,016
Lawrence	19,277	44.43%	23,981	55.27%	128	0.30%	-4,704	-10.84%	43,386
Lebanon	27,008	71.61%	10,520	27.89%	188	0.50%	16,488	43.72%	37,716
Lehigh	61,799	59.69%	41,089	39.69%	649	0.63%	20,710	20.00%	103,537
Luzerne	69,169	53.50%	58,482	45.23%	1,640	1.27%	10,687	8.27%	129,291
Lycoming	28,498	68.02%	13,147	31.38%	250	0.60%	15,351	36.64%	41,895
McKean	10,963	69.22%	4,818	30.42%	58	0.37%	6,145	38.80%	15,839
Mercer	24,211	49.11%	24,658	50.01%	434	0.88%	-447	-0.90%	49,303
Mifflin	9,106	63.35%	5,178	36.03%	89	0.62%	3,928	27.32%	14,373
Monroe	16,109	65.82%	8,193	33.48%	172	0.70%	7,916	32.34%	24,474
Montgomery	181,426	64.18%	99,741	35.29%	1,499	0.53%	81,685	28.89%	282,666
Montour	4,174	66.81%	2,055	32.89%	19	0.30%	2,119	33.92%	6,248
Northampton	44,648	53.49%	37,979	45.50%	840	1.01%	6,669	7.99%	83,467
Northumberland	22,109	61.13%	13,748	38.01%	308	0.85%	8,361	23.12%	36,165
Perry	9,365	71.42%	3,692	28.16%	56	0.43%	5,673	43.26%	13,113
Philadelphia	267,178	34.60%	501,369	64.94%	3,555	0.46%	-234,191	-30.34%	772,102
Pike	6,343	71.17%	2,503	28.08%	67	0.75%	3,840	43.09%	8,913
Potter	5,164	73.94%	1,789	25.62%	31	0.44%	3,375	48.32%	6,984
Schuylkill	37,330	58.96%	25,758	40.68%	224	0.35%	11,572	18.28%	63,312
Snyder	8,968	78.73%	2,383	20.92%	40	0.35%	6,585	57.81%	11,391
Somerset	19,502	58.23%	13,900	41.50%	89	0.27%	5,602	16.73%	33,491
Sullivan	1,926	66.67%	952	32.95%	11	0.38%	974	33.72%	2,889
Susquehanna	10,566	69.95%	4,471	29.60%	67	0.44%	6,095	40.35%	15,104
Tioga	10,532	71.92%	4,060	27.72%	52	0.36%	6,472	44.20%	14,644
Union	7,792	73.66%	2,747	25.97%	40	0.38%	5,045	47.69%	10,579
Venango	13,507	59.44%	9,114	40.11%	104	0.46%	4,393	19.33%	22,725
Warren	10,838	62.93%	6,244	36.26%	139	0.81%	4,594	26.67%	17,221
Washington	34,782	40.47%	50,911	59.24%	244	0.28%	-16,129	-18.77%	85,937
Wayne	10,061	75.66%	3,155	23.73%	81	0.61%	6,906	51.93%	13,297
Westmoreland	71,377	46.82%	79,906	52.41%	1,181	0.77%	-8,529	-5.59%	152,464
Wyoming	7,230	74.01%	2,518	25.78%	21	0.21%	4,712	48.23%	9,769
York	75,020	68.67%	33,359	30.54%	868	0.79%	41,661	38.13%	109,247
Totals	2,584,323	53.34%	2,228,131	45.99%	32,449	0.67%	356,192	7.35%	4,844,903

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

Lackawanna

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

References

^ Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016
^ "Faithful electors vote 25-0 in a celebration of Reagan". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. December 18, 1984. p. 6. Archived from the original on September 5, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Ranney 1985, p. 54.
^ Ranney 1985, p. 62.
^ David Leip. "1984 Presidential General Election Results – Pennsylvania". Dave Leip’s U.S. Election Atlas. Retrieved March 23, 2018.

Works cited

Ranney, Austin, ed. (1985). The American Elections of 1984. Duke University Press. ISBN 0822302306.

[how-1] Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016

[2] "Faithful electors vote 25-0 in a celebration of Reagan". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. December 18, 1984. p. 6. Archived from the original on September 5, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.

[FOOTNOTERanney198554-3] Ranney 1985, p. 54.

[FOOTNOTERanney198562-4] Ranney 1985, p. 62.

[5] David Leip. "1984 Presidential General Election Results – Pennsylvania". Dave Leip’s U.S. Election Atlas. Retrieved March 23, 2018.

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