I'm starting to feel bad for Hillary Supporters

[karynnj]

249. I get your point in the general case, but Reagan had over 50% of the vote

I once saw an analysis that even gave Carter all the Anderson votes and showed the states he would win. He fails to get the electoral college. (I did google, but there are tons of right wing sites that came up which I refuse to link to. ) That assumption really goes too far as many "main street" Republicans probably voted for Anderson, who was a moderate Republican. While he would be off the spectrum of Republicans now, then he was very much on the spectrum of Republicans. He very likely got the moderate/liberal Republican vote that actually existed then that might otherwise have either not voted or reluctantly voted for Reagan.

However, that said, there WERE states - many in the Northeast (from memory) that were said to likely change to Carter from Reagan if Anderson did not run.