X.

The Reagan Setback

Landslide victories by Republican presidential nominee Ronald Reagan over Carter in 1980 and Walter Mondale in 1984 further wounded the Democrats, but the party rebounded in 1986 to take control of the U.S. Senate, which had been in Republican hands for six years. The Democrats entered the fall 1988 presidential campaign more unified than at any time since 1976 but were unable to overcome the portrayal of their nominee, Michael Dukakis, as “out of the mainstream” on social, economic, and defense issues; Republican George Bush won the election. However, the Democrats did increase their Senate, House, gubernatorial, and state legislative majorities in the 1988 elections.