No, Trumpidians, Ronald Reagan Was Not Behind Jimmy Carter In 1980

One of the pervasive myths that Donald Trump fans are using to convince themselves that they are actually winning is that Ronald Reagan was trailing Jimmy Carter in the late stages of the 1980 election. This is the best synopsis of the argument from Whirled Nuts Daily, but only because the very happy Jim Hoft hadn’t gotten around to it:

WILL THIS ELECTION DAY BE REPEAT OF 1980?
Reagan trailed Carter 47-39 just 10 days before vote

This is nonsense and, unfortunately in this case, it is knowingly deceptive crap as the author is not Jim Hoft, who actually seems to believe what he writes. The only way the headline is vaguely true is if you cherry pick which poll you are talking about and ignore all the rest.

This is the polling from 1980:

If you want a thorough deconstruction of this nonsense, go to this post by my colleague Dan McLaughlin from March of this year when the Trump=Reagan hysteria was in full bloom.

A lot of things can happen between now and election day. Hillary Clinton could drop dead of a stroke or commit a felony so brazen that even James Comey would have to notice. But as it stands right now there is no question that Donald Trump is trailing in the polls and is looking at an Electoral College repudiation. No amount of wishful thinking and fake history changes that.

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