Anderson was a lifelong republican, to the right of Mitt Romney, who was at first supported by Romney/Rockefeller’s wing of the GOP and he ran against Reagan in the primary before going Independent.
Republican Anderson ran as an Independent and hurt Reagan as much as Carter among the total vote, as he served as the middle ground between Carter and Reagan, a true right-winger.
This year, millions of whites just stayed home because of Romney. This year, the guy to the left of John Anderson, the anti-Reagan guy, Mitt Romney, was Jimmy Carter and John Anderson rolled into one.
Carter could only muster 44% of the total under 30 vote in 1980, and 36% of the total white vote in 1980.
Obama won about 40% of the white vote, and worst of all, Romney left millions of white votes on the table which hurt us down the ticket.
Romney was a disaster for republicans, and when you look at who he is and his relationship, or lack of it, to republican politics, you wonder, how in the heck did this fringe character take over the GOP?
People will go to any length to keep the rino dream of the conservative hating, anti-Reagan, Romney, alive.
Unquestionably, Reagan carried Massachusetts, Vermont, New York, Maine, Wisconsin, and possibly other states only because Anderson was in the race, so in that way, Anderson definitely did hurt Carter more than Reagan.
I can see that you are obsessed by Romney, and that explains many of your posts. I don't see what it means to say Romney was more liberal than Anderson, though. Times and issues have changed so much that such a comparison isn't very meaningful.
Suffice it to say, John Anderson was endorsed by the very liberal New Republic in 1980. This year they were violently opposed to Mitt Romney.