Democratic Party presidential primaries, 1980
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Results of the 1980 Democratic National Convention
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The 1980 Democratic presidential primaries were the selection process by which voters of the Democratic Party chose its nominee for President of the United States in the 1980 U.S. presidential election. Incumbent President Jimmy Carter was again selected as the nominee through a series of primary elections and caucuses culminating in the 1980 Democratic National Convention held from August 11 to August 14, 1980, in New York City. It is notable for being the last time that an incumbent president lost a state's presidential primary.
In October 1978, Iran, a major oil supplier to the United States at the time, was experiencing a major uprising that severely damaged its oil infrastructure and greatly weakened its capability to produce oil. In January 1979, shortly after Iran's leader Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi fled the country, lead Iranian opposition figure Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned from a 14-year exile and installed an Islamist régime that was hostile towards the United States. The damage that resulted from Khomeini's rise to power would soon be felt throughout many American cities. In the spring and summer of 1979 inflation was on the rise and various parts of the country were experiencing energy shortages. The gas lines last seen just after the Arab/Israeli war of 1973 were back and President Carter was widely blamed.
President Carter's approval ratings were very low—28% according to Gallup, with some other polls giving even lower numbers. In July Carter returned from Camp David and announced a reshuffling of his cabinet on national television, giving a speech whose downcast demeanor resulted in it being widely labelled the "malaise speech." While the speech caused a brief upswing in the president's approval rating, the decision to dismiss several cabinet members was widely seen as a rash act of desperation, causing his approval rating to plummet back into the twenties. Some Democrats felt it worth the risk to mount a challenge to Carter in the primaries. Although Hugh Carey and William Proxmire decided not to run, Senator Edward M. Kennedy finally made his long-expected run at the Presidency.
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