Utah weighed in as the most Republican state in the nation in this election.[1] Carter's share of the popular vote remains the worst ever by a Democrat in Utah. Reagan won Carbon County by a mere three votes, but easily beat Carter throughout the rest of the state, who was widely criticized for his inability to understand issues specific to the West (especially water development).[2] Carter’s next best county was Tooele where Reagan obtained 62.03 percent of the vote; Reagan surpassed three-quarters of the vote in seventeen of twenty-nine counties. In spite of Reagan's massive victory in the state, incumbent Democratic governor Scott M. Matheson was comfortably re-elected in the concurrent gubernatorial election - the last time a Democrat has won the Utah governorship to date.
Liberal Republican John B. Anderson ran as an independent candidate with some success in the Northeast, the Pacific Northwest, Colorado[3] and some college towns;[4] however in largely conservative, Mormon Utah, Anderson possessed less appeal, getting 5.01 percent of the vote statewide, and could not exceed 9.42 percent of the vote in any county. Anderson polled a mere three votes and 0.42 percent of the vote in Piute County, and a very low 1.47 percent of the vote out of over 86,000 votes cast in the second most populated county in the state, Utah County.
Results
1980 United States presidential election in Utah[5]
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