I think a case can be made that the brain dead have been a majority of the Republican primary electorate since, and including, the candidacy of Ronnie Raygun.
And what a nasty piece of work he was. Went from being a union president to busting unions, went from working with tons of gay people in Hollywood to being a homophobic shit heel - all for personal gain. And no one's explained satisfactorily how he ever managed to afford to buy a big ranch in some of the most expensive real estate in the country.
"it wasn't until September 1985, four years after the crisis began, that President Ronald Reagan first publicly mentioned AIDS."