654,192 636,730 Start date November 4, 1980 | 48.75% 47.45% | |
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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%.
Reagan's margin of victory largely rested upon his strong performances in Mobile and Baldwin counties along the Gulf Coast, and Jefferson and Shelby counties in the Birmingham metropolitan area. Reagan also won three counties home to large cities: Madison (Huntsville), Montgomery and Tuscaloosa.
The 1980 election would set up Alabama to become a Republican stronghold for future presidential elections, after having been part of the Democratic Solid South for most of its statehood since 1824.