Reagan: Sagging GOP Rebuilt in His Image

"Reagan's 1980 campaign symbolized the emergence of the conservatives as the dominant force in the party 16 years after the Goldwater debacle, and Reagan owed much to the intellectual and ideological foundation laid by the Arizona senator in that losing cause. "Nixon was the old establishment, and Reagan picked up the conservative mantle from Goldwater and had a better ability to communicate the message," said Ed Rollins, who managed Reagan's 1984 campaign.
What the 1980 campaign demonstrated, to the surprise of many Democrats who underestimated his political skills, was Reagan's ability to enunciate strong conservative principles without being threatening to a majority of Americans. With Carter weighed down by an economy plagued by rising oil prices and inflation out of control and a hostage crisis in Iran that continued throughout the year, Reagan exploited the country's demoralized mood with an upbeat campaign in which he promised to return the country to greatness.
That campaign marked a major shift in the Republican Party's approach to economics when he embraced the supply-side tax-cutting philosophy of many young conservatives. The man he eventually would choose as his vice president, George H.W. Bush, dubbed it "voodoo economics" during their battle for the nomination, and John B. Anderson, who started the campaign as a Republican but left the party to run an independent candidacy, said Reagan's promises to cut taxes, boost the defense budget and balance the budget amounted to "blue smoke and mirrors.". . .
"Without Ronald Reagan, we would not have the shift in partisanship where the parties are virtually split," said Richard B. Wirthlin, who was Reagan's pollster. "The Democratic Party could have extended its dominance much longer without Reagan's appeal to blue-collar workers, some labor unions, the South and young people. Those were the four groups that moved most dramatically in 1980, and most of that shift has endured.". . .
Reagan's political success also forced Democrats to undergo their own transformation, led by Bill Clinton in his 1992 campaign. Democrats under Clinton sought to shed their image as tax-and-spend liberals and as a party whose foreign policy was paralyzed by its opposition to the Vietnam War. In shifting the party to the center, Clinton challenged the rise of the Republicans and helped produce the parity between the parties that exists today."