Reagan sweeps in for a second term

Press, 8 November 1984, Page 1

Reagan sweeps in for a second term

NZPA-AP Washington President Ronald Reagan swept to an avalanche victory over Walter Mondale yesterday.

Mr Reagan, repeatedly interrupted by a throng of cheering supporters at a victory party in Los Angeles, accepted the win and, repeating a campaign motto, told the boisterous crowd, “You ain’t seen nothing yet.” “Tonight is the end of nothing. It is the beginning of everything,” said Mr Reagan. The election “fuels a fire of hope that will keep alive the promise of opportunity as we head into the next century,” he said. Mr Mondale conceded defeat late yesterday after an uphill battle against the popular Republican incumbent. “He has won. We are all Americans. He is our President and we honour him tonight;” Mr Mondale told saddened supporters in his home town of North Oaks, Minnesota. His supporters booed when Mr Mondale said he was conceding, and cheered when he said his campaign had “made history” — a reference to his female vice-presidential running mate, Geraldine Ferraro. Late yesterday Mr Reagan had won 48 states with 525 electoral votes. A total 270 is needed to elect a President, and Mr Reagan’s

campaign chairman, Paul Laxalt said, “We have at least a reasonable chance to have the most historic landslide in all American history.” In the popular vote for President, with 81 per cent of the precincts reporting, Mr Reagan had 59 per cent of the vote and led Mr Mondale by 43,665,218 to 30,275,549 votes. Mr Mondale had won only in the District of Columbia, the Federal district where Washington, the national capital, is. Mr Reagan, aged 73, a former Hollywood movie actor and governor of California, is the oldest man elected President of the United States. Mr Mondale, who was Vice-President under President Carter, is 56. Mr Reagan’s Republican party solidified the control of the Senate it won in 1980, but returns showed that the Democrats were, picking up enough Senate victories to prevent Mr Reagan’s win from translating into a Republican rout in that chamber. The Democrats appeared certain to maintain their hold on the lower chamber of Congress, the House of

Representatives. Industrial states such as New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania fell like nine-pins to Mr Reagan. He easily swept the South, even taking Georgia, which he lost in 1980 to its native son, Mr Carter. Television interviews with voters as they left polling places showed that Mr Reagan won a majority of support from almost every income, age, and ethnic group. Surveys showed that he even won a majority of support from ItalianAmericans and women in spite of the presence on the Democratic ticket of Geraldine Ferraro, the first of her sex and ethnic group to be a vice-presidential candidate on a main party ticket. The most devoted groups supporting Mr Mondale were blacks, who gave Mr Reagan only about ? 10 per cent of their vote, and Jews, who gave the Democrats 70 per cent of their support. Television network voter surveys showed that Mr Reagan won high marks for leadership and for restoring the country’s economy to health. They said there also appeared to have been a

swing to the Hight by voters. The Prime Minister, Mr Lange, has sent a message to Mr Reagan congratulating him on his re-election. “The reports make it clear that President Reagan has had a decisive victory in the United States election,” Mr Lange said. Mr Reagan, at the Century Plaza Hotel, in Los Angeles, to watch the returns, said his victory four years ago was a “good habit” that proved hard to break. He recited a series of accomplishments during his four years in office, saying, “The credit belongs to the American people.” Mr Reagan said that his Administration had put inflation under control, created new jobs, had begun to “restore traditional values in our society,” and built up America’s defences. With the crowd chanting, “Four more years, four more years,” Mr Reagan recalled that “four years ago our country faced some real problems, but instead of complaining together we rolled up our sleeves and began working together.” “The work isn’t finished. There is much to be done,” Effect on N.Z., P 8