Salem Press

The Eighties in America offers comprehensive coverage of the impact of the 1980's on the United States and Canada. With free, unlimited online access to all the "Decades" titles in your collection.

Geraldine Ferraro
Running against a reasonably popular incumbent seeking a second term, Walter Mondale was a slight underdog and sought a dramatic gesture that might enable him to overtake the Reagan-Bush team. He decided to use his choice of running mate as a statement about the inclusiveness and progressiveness of the Democratic Party, and he sought a woman or racial minority to complete his ticket. After interviewing several candidates, Mondale settled on Ferraro, hoping that the excitement over the historic nomination of a woman to be vice president would help him win votes.

Ferraro's nomination was initially met with favorable publicity, but problems soon developed. Ferraro was both pro-choice and a Roman Catholic. Her decision to protect a woman's right to terminate her pregnancy thus put her at odds with her faith, a fact discussed in the media. Immediately after her nomination, moreover, Ferraro promised that both she and her husband, John Zaccaro, would release their tax returns. A month later, she announced that she would release hers, but Zaccaro could not release his for business reasons. This provoked a media storm, forcing Ferraro to seek a compromise: She announced that Zaccaro would release a financial statement instead of a tax return. Initially, he refused to release even this statement; this long, drawn-out incident in the middle of the campaign seriously compromised Ferraro's credibility.

Ferraro comported herself well in her vice presidential debate against George H. W. Bush, even scoring high marks when she caught Bush being patronizing. Still, if her candidacy was calculated to convince more women to vote for the Democratic ticket, it failed to do so: Post-election exit polls indicated that a majority of female voters had voted for the opposition. Women did later begin to vote for Democrats to a greater degree than for Republicans, however, creating the so-called gender gap.