Reagan had a serious problem to overcome when he ran.
Reagan had to convince people that he was not scary, Reagan was known as a true conservative and he had to assure voters that he was calm and cool and good, he succeeded of course and won a strong victory, but he didn’t convince everyone.
Mitt Romney left the GOP during that Reagan campaign and switched to independent and didn’t vote for Reagan.
You have fallen for misinformation. Romney, who is not a career politician, was involved in the private sector and in raising his family during the Reagan era. Furthermore, Romney has stated that he voted for Ronald Reagan both times and that he was only registered as an Independent because in Massachusetts, Independents are allowed to vote in either the Republican or Democratic primaries, a common practice in Massachusetts, found useful in helping nominate more moderate Democrats.
Anybody running with an "R" after his name is in the same boat.
To the Dem mind there are three kinds of Republicans:
1. So called moderates, millionaire country club tycoons,the back room dealers. They never see them working, but whenever they see them they seem to have plenty. Liberals tolerate this kind; they serve good liquor and plenty of it, with food their own government salary rarely allows. They're the perfect host and that's how they should stay.
2.Conservative and middle class 'pubs typically gather around bible thumping collection-plate con artists. These drovers live off their flock, which would otherwise be a rabble, so libs are grateful they have an outlet to keep this volatile demographic under control. And they're happier still that it's someone else doing it. The fact is, they abhor these people-- they're moralistic, stingy, acquisitive drones. They eat mediocre food and pray just before; they don't get high and party, and seem to disapprove whenever anyone else does. Libs believe conservatives want all science teachers tried for heresy. They're drearily non--intellectual beasts of burdens; the fact that these people are so competent enrages the lib.
3.Finally there's the rabid conservative. These guys are scary -- violent, paranoid and misanthropic. Their entire wardrobe is either camo or white. They've got basements bigger than their house and full of canned goods and guns. But they're kind of interesting too, and great wellspring of inspiration for writers of the paper-back literature found in airport newsstands. But they're also form the primordial ooze that all Republican principals arise from. This subset is the source, and all Republicans are but a few steps from reverting to this state.
This is, in a nutshell, the Lib mythology of Republicans. Note the parallels to the human mind, you have the reptile brain (group 3), the mammalian brain (group 2) and finally, the neo-cortex, (group 1.) Or, you have the id (3), the super-ego (2), and the ego (1).
I'm sure literary types formulated this code, and over the past century journalists have codified and hammered it home. It's entirely fabricated, prejudiced, deliberately destructive and plainly shows their contempt for people; it insults the collective intelligence of everyone.
It has become has become what you might call the "Cliff Notes Guide to Reporting; take the narrative framework and plug in your characters-- instant lit! I now doubt there's a 'journalist' alive who could write so much as a sentence without this ideological meme for a crutch. Romney's got his work cut out for him. To them, he's a combination of 1&2, so the contempt level is squared.
He can only beat this the way Reagan did-- on camara, speaking directly to our people, promising better things and invoking the "shining city on the hill."