In the 1980 Reagan–Carter vote, voting against Carter's performance is an example of what type of vote?

• A. Spin vote
• B. Prospective vote
• C. Retrospective vote
• D. Informed vote

Answer: (C)

Retrospective voting centers on judging incumbents by what they did in the past term. In 1980, voters who were unhappy with Carter’s record—economic troubles, energy issues, and foreign-policy crises—chose Reagan as a reaction to that past performance. They rewarded or punished the incumbent based on what had already happened, not on promises about what might happen in the future.

Prospective voting would focus on what a candidate plans to do if elected, which isn’t what the question describes. A spin vote refers to supporting a candidate to influence media framing, and an informed vote is about having good knowledge to make a choice, neither of which captures evaluating the incumbent’s track record like retrospective voting does.