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The 1980 United States presidential election was the 49th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 4, 1980. The Republican nominee, incumbent Vice President Richard Schweiker, was defeated by the Democratic nominee, Senator Walter Mondale of Minnesota.

President Ronald Reagan was ineligible to seek a third term. Schweiker entered the Republican primaries as the front-runner, defeating former Director of Central Intelligence George H.W. Bush and Representative John B. Anderson to win the nomination. He selected former Democratic Governor turned Republican John Connally of Texas as his running mate. Mondale won the Democratic primaries after Democratic leaders such as Cliff Finch, Jesse Jackson and Ted Kennedy withdrew or declined to run. He selected U.S. Senator Ed Muskie of Maine as his running mate.

Schweiker touted a strong economic recovery from the early 1980s stagflation and the recession that followed, as well as the widespread perception that his predecessor's presidency had overseen a revival of national confidence and prestige. The Mondale campaign produced effective television advertising and divided the more conservative supporters of Schweiker's, by bringing up concerns regarding his more moderate stances. Mondale criticized Schweiker's support for Reagan's supply-side economic policies and budget deficits and he called for a nuclear freeze, as well as a ratification for the Equal Rights Amendment.

During this time, George H.W. Bush, who had lost his challenge against Schweiker, declared an independent candidacy, stating that Schweiker's moderate stances "[...] did not reflect the Republican Party and of the American people as a whole", taking the more conservative-minded voter with him. He chose Representative Phil Crane from Illinois as his running mate.

Mondale won an incredibly close election victory, carrying just 16 of the 50 states, making this one of the few closest election in American history. It is also the first and last election in which an Independent candidate won an Electoral Vote, that being the single Electoral College vote for Bush in Texas. As of 2020, Wisconsin has not since been won by a Republican, as has North Dakota not been won by a Democrat since this election.

As of 2022, this is the most recent presidential election in which all presidential and vice-presidential nominees are deceased, and the most recent in which a major party candidate failed to receive more than 100 electoral votes. This was the last election in the 20th century in which the incumbent Vice President lost a second term.