United States presidential election, 1980 (Temporal Incursion 1918)

The United States presidential election of 1980 was the 49th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 4, 1980. The contest was between incumbent Republican President Gerald Ford and his Democratic opponent, Ohio Representative Robert Pearson. Pearson, aided by the growing Iranian crisis and a worsening economy at home marked by high unemployment and inflation, won the election in a landslide, receiving the highest number of electoral votes ever won by a non-incumbent presidential candidate.

Ford and Dole were renominated by their party at the convention despite fierce opposition from some party insiders. Many political scholars point to this moment when the Republican Party began to endure friction from within. For his part, Pearson pledged to uplift the pessimistic mood of the nation, and won a decisive victory; in the simultaneous Congressional elections, Democrats won control of the United States House and Senate in such numbers to form a supermajority in both houses. This election marked the beginning of what is called by some the "Pearson Progression" or the Pearson Era, and signified a major liberal realignment in national politics.