This remark generated applause and laughter,[293] even from Mondale. At that point, Broder suggested that age was no longer a liability for Reagan,[294] and Mondale's campaign felt that "the election was over".[295] In November, Reagan won a landslide reelection victory with 59 percent of the popular vote and 525 electoral votes. Mondale won 41 percent of the popular vote and 13 electoral votes from the District of Columbia and his home state of Minnesota.[296]

Response to the AIDS epidemic
Reagan has been criticized for his delayed and muted response to the AIDS epidemic. This 1987 art installation by ACT UP quotes Reagan on AIDS with a blank slate, representing total silence.
The AIDS epidemic began to unfold in 1981,[297] and AIDS was initially difficult to understand for physicians and the public.[298] As the epidemic advanced, according to White House physician and later physician to the president, brigadier general John Hutton, Reagan thought of AIDS as though "it was the measles and would go away". However, the October 1985 death of his friend Rock Hudson changed Reagan's view; Reagan approached Hutton for more information on the disease. 