President Donald Trump got his election history wrong when he said that Ronald Reagan lost Wisconsin, and that before his 2016 win, no GOP presidential candidate had won the state since Dwight Eisenhower in 1952.
Trump is forgetting that President Eisenhower won Wisconsin again in 1956, and that Richard Nixon was the winner there in 1960, 1968 and 1972. They were followed by Reagan, who won the state in 1980 and 1984.
In fact, during his speech at a campaign rally in Montana, Trump claimed incorrectly that Wisconsin was the only state that Reagan lost in his second election.
Trump, July 5: But think of Wisconsin. Reagan had his big win. He won every state except one, the great state of Wisconsin. I won Wisconsin. First time — first time since Dwight Eisenhower in 1952.
And this wasn’t the first time that Trump made the blunder. He said something similar during a speech in Wisconsin last week.
Trump, June 28: You know, I just realized the other day, they told me — when we won the state of Wisconsin, it hadn’t been won by a Republican since Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952. Did you know that? And I won Wisconsin. And I like Wisconsin a lot, but we won Wisconsin. And Ronald Reagan — remember, Wisconsin was the state that Ronald Reagan did not win.
It’s true that Reagan only lost one state during the 1984 election — but it wasn’t Wisconsin. Reagan lost Minnesota to Democrat Walter Mondale, who was born in Minnesota and represented the state in the U.S. Senate.
Before Reagan’s wins in 1980 and 1984, Nixon, another California Republican, carried Wisconsin in 1968 and 1972. Nixon also won there in 1960, though Democrat John F. Kennedy became president.
That means Trump’s win in 2016 made him the third Republican to carry Wisconsin since Eisenhower did it in 1952 and again in 1956.
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