Why was Reagan so popular
When most people look at a electoral college map after an election they usually see small clusters of blue in the larger and more popular states and red in the smaller more rural states however that was not true in 1984 when Ronald Reagan won all states except DC and Minnesota. Reagan completely destroyed the opposition and it was a year that Republicans should be proud of. This is important to know because we learned in APUSH what were Reagan's pollicies but not really how he became so popular with the people. He was a simple man that many people were able to relate to, he almost felt like a grandfather to many Americans. Reagan is also known for his USSR jokes and One liners which he had in a box in his cabinet. He told them in many of his speeches to get the people to laugh and he was able to talk to the people in a way that they wanted.thats why he was nicknamed the great communicator."In all of that time I won a nickname, 'The Great Communicator.' But I never thought it was my style or the words I used that made a difference: It was the content. I wasn't a great communicator, but I communicated great things, and they didn't spring full bloom from my brow, they came from the heart of a great nation -- from our experience, our wisdom, and our belief in principles that have guided us for two centuries." A quote from Ronald during his farewell address really shows how much love he had for the American people in a genuine way which most Americans were not able to experience.
He was a man that was able to face on hard problems like the cold war and communism and was able to break them down and solve them with the American people in a simplistic way, so they could understand it. Also with his trickle down economics he was able to revolutionize the way the economy worked which was a very risky thing for a president to do in his day and age. Another thing people liked Reagan for was he was able to make fun of himself sometimes. When he was running for his second term age began to become a problem that a lot of the opposition said was a reason for him not to become president. However he was able to beat that by making a joke at his opponent and many times made jokes about him being so old, and it really showed that his age was one of the reason he was able to face problems in such a wise approach.
I think another reason that Reagan was very popular was that he wasn't a typical politician. He was a former movie star and governor of California, which was considered to be off the grid for most Americans. But after the American people began to have trust issues with the way past presidents dealt with Vietnam and other communist threats, Reagan was easily elected and welcomed into the political maze. Despite the fact that he was somewhat unqualified for the job, to the public he seemed very trustworthy and, like you said, grandfatherly, and he always kept his charm. (For more information on Reagan, read this article: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/understanding-two-sides-reagan-polarizing-political-icon-pragmatic-president/ )
ReplyDeleteI think the more curious fact is that Reagan's presidency itself wasn't high regarded. While his elections reached record electoral votes, his job approval rating averaged 53% according to Gallup polls -- slightly below the average of all US presidents Gallup recorded for. According to Gallup, a lot of this can contributed to Reagan's failure to help the economy; the recession in the early 80s really made his popularity dip.
ReplyDelete