1984 United States presidential election in South Dakota

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The 1984 United States presidential election in South Dakota took place on November 6, 1984. Voters in the state chose three electors for the Electoral College.

Ronald Reagan, the Republican incumbent from California, with running mate George H. W. Bush, won South Dakota with 63.00% of the vote (200,267), defeating Walter Mondale, the Democrat from Minnesota, with 36.53% (116,113). Reagan received all three of South Dakota’s electoral votes.

Reagan carried almost every county in the state. Mondale’s best county was Shannon County, while Reagan’s strongest performance came in Haakon County. Notably, the state’s East River counties, such as Brown and Minnehaha (Sioux Falls), voted for Reagan as well.

The result gave Reagan a margin of about 26.5 percentage points, the strongest showing by a presidential nominee in South Dakota since 1952. The election was highly partisan in the state, with over 99.5% voting for either the Republican or Democratic candidates; only four candidates appeared on the ballot.

This election is also notable for a few historical points. Dewey County, Buffalo County, and Clay County have not voted Republican in a presidential election since 1984. Reagan’s 63.00% remains unmatched by any candidate until Donald Trump’s 63.43% in 2024. After Carter’s 1976 win in the state, South Dakota moved more strongly toward Reagan in 1980 and 1984, became more competitive in 1988, and has since largely remained reliably Republican in the 21st century.