T Boone Pickins: My Case for Reagan 1984

Boone Pickins, My Case for Reagan (1984)

Boone Pickins, "My Case for Reagan" 1984

During the 1980 presidential campaign Republican Ronald Reagan suggested that Americans ask themselves whether or not they better off financially than they were four years earlier, at the beginning of President Jimmy Carter's administration. This became a key issue in the 1984 presidential campaign when President Reagan sought another four years in the White House. Even though there was a recession during 1982 Reagan won a landslide victory over the Democratic nominee Walter Mondale.

The economy was a key issue in the 1984 presidential race because the Reagan Administration's policy of cutting taxes and reducing spending on social programs were much more beneficial to some segments of American society than others. Businessman T. Boone Pickins made a case for the reelection of Reagan based on the economic conditions of the time. Pickins argued that more than any other President in the last 30 years Reagan understood the wisdom of allowing the free markets to operate freely and competitively. Pickins claimed that the free enterprise system makes it possible for every American to "attain his or her dream of material and spiritual wealth" (Pickins).

By reducing government intervention, Reagan injected a new competitive spirit into the marketplace. There was an atmosphere that encourages business efficiency. Merger and acquisition activity, properly undertaken within the constraints of antitrust laws, allowed companies and even entire industries to restructure and become more efficient and financially sound. Shareholders reaped the rewards of their investments, and the government received additional revenues as taxes paid on those gains.

Real disposable income rose by approximately 9% during Reagan's first term compared to about 5% under Carter. On the other hand, reductions in transfer payments and increased social security taxes hurt lower income families earning $10,000 or less lowering their disposable income by -1.2% (Abramowitz, Lanoue, and Ramesh 850).

Kinder, Adams and Gronke (492) identify three possibilities as to why Reagan was able to garnish such over whelming support given the economic conditions. The first is supplied by the pocket book hypothesis which asserts that political preferences reflect in a direct and immediate way the economic circumstances of the day. If this were the case than Mondale lost because the economy was booming, unemployment was falling, inflation was under control and Reagan was president.

The second possibility, the sociotropic hypothesis, is that voters pay attention not so much to their own economic problems and achievements when casting their ballets as they do the economic problems and achievements of the country. The key issue for sociotropic voters is not what have you done for me lately, but what have you done for the country? In this scenario Reagan was returned to office because a majority of the voters judged the national economy to be a success and credited the incumbent.

The third supposition is Americans rely not only on information about their own social group, but also on information about the changing fortunes of different factions such as the poor, the rich, African-Americans, the elderly, and so forth. Groups of this sort appear to constitute a natural frame of reference for those trying to understand the complex world of politics. Americans often reply in terms of group benefits when asked what they like or dislike about a candidate. The party or candidate is simply endorsed as being for a group with which the voter identifies, or as being above the selfish demands of certain groups within the population. In others words the voter's main consideration is the perceived economic position of their group.