1980 United States presidential election in California

The 1980 United States presidential election in California took place on November 4, 1980 as part of the 1980 United States presidential election. State voters chose 45 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

California voted for the Republican nominee, the state's former governor Ronald Reagan, in a landslide over the Democratic incumbent, Jimmy Carter. Reagan won his home state by a wide 16.78% point margin and carried all but three counties. Carter carried only three of the state's 58 counties: Alameda, San Francisco and Yolo.

As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last time for a Republican candidate to carry the counties of Marin and Santa Cruz in a presidential election. This election indeed constitutes the most Republican California has voted relative to the whole nation since 1928; here, it was widely believed that Carter lacked understanding of critical Western issues, most importantly water development. This also remains the last time a Republican won the San Francisco Bay Area, and the last one in which San Francisco gave less than 60% of the vote to the Democratic candidate.

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

 * El Dorado
 * Fresno
 * Mariposa
 * Los Angeles
 * Tuolumne
 * Mendocino
 * Trinity
 * Amador
 * Shasta
 * Madera
 * Merced
 * Del Norte
 * Tehama
 * Placer
 * Lake
 * Stanislaus
 * Sacramento
 * Yuba
 * Santa Cruz
 * Plumas
 * Sierra
 * Lassen
 * Solano
 * Humboldt