The 1980 United States presidential election in South Carolina took place on November 4, 1980. All 50 states and The District of Columbia were part of the 1980 United States presidential election. South Carolina voters chose eight electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
South Carolina was won by former California Governor Ronald Reagan (R) by a very slim margin of 1 point and a half. This remains the third-closest presidential election in South Carolina history after the controversial 1876 election and the transformative 1952 election.
The state weighed in for this election as 8% more Democratic than the national average, just 3% less than four years earlier. , this is the last election in which the following counties voted for a Democratic presidential candidate: Anderson, Cherokee, Greenwood, Laurens, Oconee, Saluda and York.
Among white voters, 64% supported Reagan while 32% supported Carter.
Carter lost in eight of the ten most populous counties.
Reagan and Carter both won three congressional districts. Carter won a district that elected a Republican.