The United States presidential election in Alabama was held on November 4, 1980. Former California Governor Ronald Reagan narrowly won the state and its 9 electoral votes, winning 48.8% to incumbent President Jimmy Carter's 47.5%. John B. Anderson came in third place, winning 1.23%, although Alabama was Anderson's weakest state in the entire country. Two other candidates, Conservative Party nominee John Rarick and Libertarian Party candidate Ed Clark, each received close to one percent of the vote.

The key to Reagan’s narrow victory statewide, was his landslide victory in the ‘Over the Mountain’ suburbs of Birmingham. For example, The Locksley Fire Station precinct in Mountain Brook, voted for Reagan by landslide margin of 3,662 to 527 for Carter, this precinct alone nearly accounted for 20 percent of Reagan’s statewide margin. Reagan’s support from these areas contributed to Reagan winning Jefferson County (the state’s largest county), by a larger raw vote margin than he won the state by, in spite of easily losing to Carter in precincts the core of Birmingham.

, this is the last election in which Limestone County, Morgan County, Marshall County, Talladega County, Cullman County, Tallapoosa County, Bibb County, Randolph County, Henry County, Lamar County, and Clay County voted for a Democratic presidential candidate. This is also the most recent election where Alabama was more Democratic than the nation at-large and where Alabama voted left of several modern-day blue and purple states like California, Connecticut, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania.Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016

Among white voters, 59% supported Reagan while 36% supported Carter.

Results

Result by county CountyRonald ReaganRepublicanJimmy CarterDemocraticJohn B. AndersonIndependentJohn RarickAlabama ConservativeEd ClarkLibertarianVarious candidatesOther partiesMarginTotal # % # % # % # % # % # % # % Autauga 6,292 56.87% 4,295 38.82% 125 1.13% 216 1.95% 119 1.08% 16 0.14% 1,997 18.05% 11,063 Baldwin 18,652 65.78% 8,448 29.80% 414 1.46% 272 0.96% 465 1.64% 102 0.36% 10,204 35.98% 28,353 Barbour 4,171 46.34% 4,458 49.53% 65 0.72% 202 2.24% 80 0.89% 25 0.28% -287 -3.19% 9,001 Bibb 2,491 44.30% 3,097 55.08% 22 0.39% 5 0.09% 8 0.14% 0 0.00% -606 -10.78% 5,623 Blount 6,819 53.59% 5,656 44.45% 75 0.59% 37 0.29% 92 0.72% 45 0.35% 1,163 9.14% 12,724 Bullock 1,446 25.65% 3,960 70.25% 29 0.51% 158 2.80% 33 0.59% 11 0.20% -2,514 -44.60% 5,637 Butler 3,810 45.53% 4,156 49.67% 59 0.71% 205 2.45% 107 1.28% 31 0.37% -346 -4.14% 8,368 Calhoun 17,475 49.17% 17,017 47.88% 433 1.22% 90 0.25% 286 0.80% 240 0.68% 458 1.29% 35,541 Chambers 4,864 40.88% 6,649 55.88% 122 1.03% 145 1.22% 96 0.81% 23 0.19% -1,785 -15.00% 11,899 Cherokee 2,482 38.55% 3,764 58.47% 63 0.98% 51 0.79% 70 1.09% 8 0.12% -1,282 -19.92% 6,438 Chilton 6,615 57.64% 4,706 41.00% 60 0.52% 17 0.15% 46 0.40% 33 0.29% 1,909 16.64% 11,477 Choctaw 2,859 43.45% 3,680 55.93% 22 0.33% 5 0.08% 14 0.21% 0 0.00% -821 -12.48% 6,580 Clarke 5,059 47.44% 5,249 49.23% 55 0.52% 197 1.85% 84 0.79% 19 0.18% -190 -1.79% 10,663 Clay 2,764 48.09% 2,858 49.73% 34 0.59% 34 0.59% 41 0.71% 16 0.28% -94 -1.64% 5,747 Cleburne 2,389 52.78% 2,050 45.29% 34 0.75% 21 0.46% 27 0.60% 5 0.11% 339 7.49% 4,526 Coffee 6,760 50.45% 6,140 45.82% 189 1.41% 153 1.14% 137 1.02% 20 0.15% 620 4.63% 13,399 Colbert 6,619 33.07% 12,550 62.71% 209 1.04% 315 1.57% 226 1.13% 94 0.47% -5,931 -29.64% 20,013 Conecuh 2,948 47.69% 3,102 50.19% 29 0.47% 48 0.78% 36 0.58% 18 0.29% -154 -2.50% 6,181 Coosa 1,714 40.72% 2,383 56.62% 19 0.45% 55 1.31% 25 0.59% 13 0.31% -669 -15.90% 4,209 Covington 7,014 51.54% 6,305 46.33% 110 0.81% 55 0.40% 70 0.51% 54 0.40% 709 5.21% 13,608 Crenshaw 2,478 47.15% 2,704 51.45% 39 0.74% 11 0.21% 14 0.27% 10 0.19% -226 -4.30% 5,256 Cullman 10,212 45.92% 11,525 51.82% 228 1.03% 81 0.36% 124 0.56% 70 0.31% -1,313 -5.90% 22,240 Dale 7,247 57.64% 4,936 39.26% 134 1.07% 112 0.89% 130 1.03% 14 0.11% 2,311 18.38% 12,573 Dallas 7,647 42.14% 9,770 53.84% 131 0.72% 412 2.27% 164 0.90% 23 0.13% -2,123 -11.70% 18,147 DeKalb 9,673 51.75% 8,820 47.19% 107 0.57% 8 0.04% 51 0.27% 31 0.17% 853 4.56% 18,690 Elmore 8,688 57.20% 5,947 39.15% 171 1.13% 219 1.44% 140 0.92% 25 0.16% 2,741 18.05% 15,190 Escambia 6,513 54.04% 5,148 42.71% 87 0.72% 91 0.75% 136 1.13% 78 0.65% 1,365 11.33% 12,053 Etowah 16,177 42.79% 20,790 54.99% 358 0.95% 147 0.39% 234 0.62% 100 0.26% -4,613 -12.20% 37,806 Fayette 3,315 48.83% 3,389 49.92% 47 0.69% 4 0.06% 23 0.34% 11 0.16% -74 -1.09% 6,789 Franklin 4,448 41.33% 6,136 57.01% 51 0.47% 30 0.28% 66 0.61% 32 0.30% -1,688 -15.68% 10,763 Geneva 4,747 49.30% 4,703 48.85% 67 0.70% 45 0.47% 45 0.47% 21 0.22% 44 0.45% 9,628 Greene 1,034 22.79% 3,474 76.55% 16 0.35% 6 0.13% 7 0.15% 1 0.02% -2,440 -53.76% 4,538 Hale 2,074 34.69% 3,583 59.93% 56 0.94% 224 3.75% 35 0.59% 7 0.12% -1,509 -25.24% 5,979 Henry 2,813 47.85% 2,973 50.57% 18 0.31% 29 0.49% 26 0.44% 20 0.34% -160 -2.72% 5,879 Houston 14,884 64.05% 7,848 33.77% 184 0.79% 104 0.45% 132 0.57% 86 0.37% 7,036 30.28% 23,238 Jackson 4,897 34.48% 8,776 61.79% 156 1.10% 185 1.30% 176 1.24% 13 0.09% -3,879 -27.31% 14,203 Jefferson 132,612 51.10% 113,069 43.57% 3,509 1.35% 4,054 1.56% 3,243 1.25% 3,025 1.17% 19,543 7.53% 259,512 Lamar 2,778 44.91% 3,366 54.41% 16 0.26% 5 0.08% 15 0.24% 6 0.10% -588 -9.50% 6,186 Lauderdale 10,467 38.42% 15,379 56.45% 431 1.58% 363 1.33% 496 1.82% 107 0.39% -4,912 -18.03% 27,243 Lawrence 2,456 28.09% 6,112 69.92% 64 0.73% 30 0.34% 54 0.62% 26 0.30% -3,656 -41.83% 8,742 Lee 10,982 49.98% 9,606 43.72% 643 2.93% 290 1.32% 421 1.92% 30 0.14% 1,376 6.26% 21,972 Limestone 4,574 34.18% 8,180 61.12% 183 1.37% 258 1.93% 172 1.29% 17 0.13% -3,606 -26.94% 13,384 Lowndes 1,524 28.60% 3,577 67.12% 15 0.28% 172 3.23% 27 0.51% 14 0.26% -2,053 -38.52% 5,329 Macon 1,259 14.35% 7,028 80.10% 36 0.41% 366 4.17% 38 0.43% 47 0.54% -5,769 -65.75% 8,774 Madison 30,604 47.03% 30,469 46.82% 2,246 3.45% 713 1.10% 900 1.38% 140 0.22% 135 0.21% 65,072 Marengo 4,048 41.90% 5,178 53.60% 35 0.36% 255 2.64% 113 1.17% 31 0.32% -1,130 -11.70% 9,660 Marion 5,182 48.26% 5,450 50.75% 61 0.57% 3 0.03% 28 0.26% 14 0.13% -268 -2.49% 10,738 Marshall 8,159 40.93% 10,854 54.45% 283 1.42% 254 1.27% 362 1.82% 21 0.11% -2,695 -13.52% 19,933 Mobile 67,515 57.71% 46,180 39.47% 1,333 1.14% 563 0.48% 899 0.77% 502 0.43% 21,335 18.24% 116,992 Monroe 4,615 50.87% 4,262 46.98% 43 0.47% 51 0.56% 71 0.78% 30 0.33% 353 3.89% 9,072 Montgomery 35,745 53.75% 28,018 42.13% 985 1.48% 1,149 1.73% 503 0.76% 104 0.16% 7,727 11.62% 66,504 Morgan 13,214 45.14% 14,703 50.23% 457 1.56% 297 1.01% 444 1.52% 156 0.53% -1,489 -5.09% 29,271 Perry 2,262 34.68% 4,208 64.52% 28 0.43% 7 0.11% 13 0.20% 4 0.06% -1,946 -29.84% 6,522 Pickens 3,582 43.78% 4,504 55.05% 61 0.75% 9 0.11% 22 0.27% 4 0.05% -922 -11.27% 8,182 Pike 5,220 52.25% 4,417 44.21% 83 0.83% 158 1.58% 74 0.74% 39 0.39% 803 8.04% 9,991 Randolph 3,279 46.22% 3,378 47.62% 58 0.82% 169 2.38% 168 2.37% 42 0.59% -99 -1.40% 7,094 Russell 4,485 33.22% 8,123 60.17% 137 1.01% 522 3.87% 213 1.58% 20 0.15% -3,638 -26.95% 13,500 Shelby 14,957 64.28% 7,396 31.79% 407 1.75% 183 0.79% 290 1.25% 34 0.15% 7,561 32.49% 23,267 St. Clair 7,768 56.89% 5,236 38.35% 121 0.89% 190 1.39% 322 2.36% 17 0.12% 2,532 18.54% 13,654 Sumter 2,104 29.23% 5,015 69.66% 45 0.63% 8 0.11% 16 0.22% 11 0.15% -2,911 -40.43% 7,199 Talladega 9,902 47.97% 10,159 49.22% 140 0.68% 99 0.48% 153 0.74% 188 0.91% -257 -1.25% 20,641 Tallapoosa 5,958 43.80% 7,260 53.37% 96 0.71% 161 1.18% 88 0.65% 40 0.29% -1,302 -9.57% 13,603 Tuscaloosa 19,750 48.50% 19,103 46.91% 789 1.94% 582 1.44% 397 0.98% 99 0.24% 647 1.59% 40,720 Walker 8,795 38.53% 13,616 59.65% 82 0.36% 96 0.42% 152 0.67% 87 0.38% -4,821 -21.12% 22,828 Washington 3,045 45.96% 3,520 53.13% 24 0.36% 2 0.03% 31 0.47% 3 0.05% -475 -7.17% 6,625 Wilcox 2,280 31.40% 4,951 68.19% 13 0.18% 7 0.10% 8 0.11% 2 0.03% -2,671 -36.79% 7,261 Winston 4,981 59.04% 3,368 39.92% 39 0.46% 5 0.06% 20 0.24% 23 0.27% 1,613 19.12% 8,436Totals654,19248.75%636,73047.45%16,4811.23%15,0101.12%13,3180.99%6,1980.46%17,4621.30%1,341,929

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

Autauga Blount Calhoun Chiliton Cleiburne Coffee Covington DeKalb Dale Elmore Escambia Geneva Madison Monroe Pike St. Clair Tuscaloosa Winston

Result by congressional district District Reagan Carter Representative 57.5% 41.5%Jack Edwards 53.7% 45.2%William L. Dickinson 47.0% 51.9%Bill Nichols 46.5% 52.8%Tom Bevill 42.2% 55.7%Ronnie Flippo 54.9% 43.5%John Hall Buchanan Jr. (96th Congress)Albert L. Smith Jr. (97th Congress) 47.6% 51.4%Richard Shelby

See also United States presidential elections in Alabama

References

Works cited