--- title: Republicans Say America Was Great in 1985; Democrats, 2016 description: Democrats felt that the best days are ahead, while Republicans pined for a return the heart of the Reagan administration. canonical: https://time.com/4422492/make-america-great-again-1985/ author: Chris Wilson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-25T22:38:13.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:45:51.709Z article:section: Politics og:title: Republicans Say America Was Great in 1985; Democrats, 2016 og:description: A stark divide on when America was great. og:url: https://time.com/4422492/make-america-great-again-1985/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbf035518d390ed92/69889f330a4a2262dc9ca9ce/reagan_1984.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3001 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Ronald Reagan, Nancy reagan 1984 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Republicans Say America Was Great in 1985; Democrats, 2016 twitter:description: A stark divide on when America was great. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbf035518d390ed92/69889f330a4a2262dc9ca9ce/reagan_1984.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Republicans Want to Party Like It's 1985 > Sponsored content. 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It is written and edited by TIME journalists, and it is free to join at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=643c097e-03db-441e-8f1e-caf8b0d552f9&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1). ### Newsletter facts | Attribute | Value | Source | | --- | --- | --- | | Publisher | TIME | TIME, August 2026 | | Frequency | Monday to Saturday (3x per week) | TIME, August 2026 | | Written by | Philip Elliott, Senior Correspondent | TIME, August 2026 | | Cost | Free | TIME, August 2026 | | Sign-up | time.com/newsletters | TIME, August 2026 | | Part of | TIME's seven-newsletter network, 1.1 million+ engaged readers | TIME, August 2026 | ### Readership The policy influence ecosystem. A policy-focused audience spanning government, public affairs, advocacy, law, research, political media, and the institutions that make, interpret and respond to public policy. ### TIME D.C. Brief: key statements * D.C. Brief is edited by TIME journalists. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Chris Wilson / Philadelphia](https://time.com/author/chris-wilson/)  ## Chris Wilson / Philadelphia Jul 25, 2016 10:38 PM UTC  President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan at the 33rd Republican National Convention in Dallas, Aug. 24, 1984. President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan at the 33rd Republican National Convention in Dallas, Aug. 24, 1984. Charles Tasnadi—AP  by [Chris Wilson / Philadelphia](https://time.com/author/chris-wilson/)  ## Chris Wilson / Philadelphia Jul 25, 2016 10:38 PM UTC During the Republican convention in Cleveland, when the phrase “Make America Great Again” was ubiquitous, TIME [polled readers on what year they thought the nation peaked](http://time.com/4417359/make-america-great-again-year-quiz/) (as well as what party they typically support). The results were unambiguous: Democrats felt that the best days are ahead, while Republicans pined for a return the heart of the Reagan administration. More than 10 percent of Democrats chose 2016—more than twice as many as chose 1999, the second most-popular choice. (While not technically the last year of the Clinton Administration, Democrats of a certain age will not remember the year 2000 with fondness.) Republicans, by contrast, were most likely to chose 1985, closely followed by 1950 and 1984. Of course, everyone interprets the question differently. In Philadelphia, delegates had a range of responses. Rose Washington, a Florida delegate, chose 1965 because it was the year the Voting Rights Act passed. She took particular umbrage at the phrase at the core of the Trump campaign. “It’s code words … for people who believed that it was great when African Americans were helping to build this country as slaves. So that’s his code word to those people. ‘Let’s make it great again.'” Wisconsin delegate David Jordan, meanwhile, was torn between 2000 and 2008, bookending the George W. Bush administration. Jan Kallish of Illinois had a less common answer: 2001, “when the country came together” after the 9/11 attacks. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4422492/make-america-great-again-1985/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4422492/make-america-great-again-1985/"},"headline":"Republicans Want to Party Like It's 1985","datePublished":"2016-07-25T22:38:13.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:45:51.709Z","description":"Democrats think the best days are ahead","url":"https://time.com/4422492/make-america-great-again-1985/","keywords":["Democratic National Convention","Hillary Clinton","2016 Election","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbf035518d390ed92/69889f330a4a2262dc9ca9ce/reagan_1984.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Chris Wilson / Philadelphia"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbf035518d390ed92/69889f330a4a2262dc9ca9ce/reagan_1984.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Ronald Reagan, Nancy reagan 1984","caption":"President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan at the 33rd Republican National Convention in Dallas, Aug. 24, 1984.","creditText":"Charles Tasnadi—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/democratic-national-convention/","name":"Democratic National Convention"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4422492/make-america-great-again-1985/","name":"Republicans Want to Party Like It's 1985"}}]}] ```