The United States presidential election, 1980, was a democratic election held in 1980 to decide the next president of the United States the Socialist/Progressive/Moderate nominee was the incumbent President, Edmund Muskie of Maine, and the Christian Democratic Party nominee was Bob Dole, Senator from Kansas. Muskie had only been president since 1977, as he was George McGovern's Vice President. McGovern resigned from the presidency due to his inability to handle it, and gave the presidency over to his Vice President, Muskie in 1977.