Reagan dies *during* the 1980 campaign

Depends. If Reagan dies during the primaries, then Bush wins the nomination. If he dies during the general, Bush takes the top of the ticket. Carter was never gonna win in 1980, and Bush could even get a boost from sympathy votes after Reagan's death.
 
Bush would be the nominee, and he would win in a landslide. However he wouldn't win in as big a landslide as Reagan, since Bush lacked Reagan's charisma and vision. In three states (Massachusetts, Tennessee, and Arkansas) Reagan won by less than 1%, so those probably flip, along with some combination of states that Reagan won by less than 5% (Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, South Carolina, North Carolina, New York, Delaware, and Wisconsin). Here's a map of the best-case scenario for Carter:

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Bush: 358
Carter: 180
 
I suppose a little depends also on the manner of his death, whether it's by natural causes (he was already 69, not unheard of) or whether someone like John Hinckley blows him away during the campaign trail. If the latter, he becomes a martyr, long enough to influence the campaign in getting Bush the sympathy vote a'la LBJ in 1964.
 
Who does Bush pick as VP in this world?

Remember, one of the reasons he picked Dan Quayle - and one of the reasons he did *not* pick Jack Kemp - is because he *did not* want someone with a lot of supporters and their own power base.
 
I suppose a little depends also on the manner of his death, whether it's by natural causes (he was already 69, not unheard of) or whether someone like John Hinckley blows him away during the campaign trail. If the latter, he becomes a martyr, long enough to influence the campaign in getting Bush the sympathy vote a'la LBJ in 1964.
John Hinckley did try to assassinate Ronald Reagan during the campaign but he couldn't get close enough to him because of the crowd.If he had set his alarm one hour early he might have succeeded.
 
Remember that Rumsfeld nearly became Reagan's running mate. In fact, the only reason he wasn't was because Reagan apparently forgot his phone number.
 
You could channel anywherebutotl's timeline and have him slip and fall in the shower. Only this time he dies instead of suffering a severe injury
 
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