basic education funding. As for higher education, journalist William Trombley believed that the budget cuts Reagan enacted damaged Berkeley's student-faculty ratio and research. Additionally, the homicide and armed robbery rates increased after 1974, even with the many laws Reagan signed to try toughening criminal sentencing and reforming the criminal justice system. Reagan strongly supported capital punishment, but his efforts to enforce it were thwarted by People v. Anderson in 1972. According to his son, Michael, Reagan said that he regretted signing the Family Law Act that granted no-fault divorces. Unaware of the mental health provision, Reagan expressed regret over signing the Therapeutic Abortion Act that allowed abortions in the cases of rape and incest. Seeking the presidency (1975–1981) 1976 Republican primaries An insufficient conservative to Reagan and many other Republicans, president Gerald Ford was beset from a series of political and economic woes, and Reagan called for a revitalized party in 1975. Reagan repeated "A Time for Choosing" around the country, and on November 20, he announced his presidential campaign, focusing on economic, social problems and to a lesser extent, foreign affairs. Ford never expected Reagan to run, and in a phone call with him, disagreed with his opinion that a primary challenge would not be divisive nor hurt their party. Ford had never been elected president and ran to be elected in his own right. Reagan devastatingly lost the first five primaries of 1976 including New Hampshire, where he popularized the welfare queen narrative about Linda Taylor, exaggerating her misuse of welfare benefits and igniting voter resentment for welfare reform, but never overtly mentioning her name or race. This, along with attacks on federal education aid and federal housing, could, according to his Florida campaign chairman, court racially conservative voters; Reagan denied directly appealing to anti-black voters. By the time of Florida's primary, he referred to a man morphing into a "strapping young buck" after buying steak with food stamps, which became an example of dog whistle politics. Reagan also accused Ford for handing the Panama Canal to Panama's government while Ford implied that Reagan would end Social Security. Yet, his loss in Florida prompted Reagan to win North Carolina desperately, which worked. At that point, party delegates were convinced that Ford's nomination was no longer guaranteed. Reagan's continuation of attacks on social programs, his opposition to forced busing, and increased backing from supporters of a declining George Wallace