Would Reagan be welcome in today’s GOP? Actor Dennis Quaid, locals from his hometown offer mixed views

DIXON, ILL. – Locals who live in the late president’s hometown were mixed on whether Ronald Reagan would still be welcome in today’s Republican Party at the premiere of the movie “Reagan” in Dixon, Ill.  

Most political observers would argue today’s MAGA movement looks and sounds different from the party that once consisted of traditional Reagan conservatives. But actor Dennis Quaid, who stars as Reagan in the new biopic, didn’t hesitate when asked if he’d be embraced as the head of the party in 2024.

“Reagan would be the head of the Republican Party these days, there’s no doubt about that,” Quaid told Fox News Digital on the front porch of President Reagan’s boyhood home. “This country yearns for it, in a sense. He was a man of his times, as well. And I think those principles are still there in the Republican Party of today.” 

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Locals in Dixon offered more mixed reactions about Reagan’s presence in today’s GOP as they waited in line for the premiere of “Reagan” at The Dixon: Historic Theatre on August 22, hosted by Young America’s Foundation, with some saying both his policies and his temperament would be at odds with the modern movement.  

“I think they’ve gone way off on the far-right fringe,” Kevin Strock from Sterling, Ill., said of the party’s changing policies. “Reagan was a moderate. I don’t think he’d be welcomed.” 

Some analysts say former President Trump and Reagan were at least alike in their populist theories. But several others have pointed out stark dissimilarities.

There are some, like author Edwin G. Oswald, who have claimed “Reagan would not be welcomed in today’s GOP,” arguing his policies on immigration were “far more liberal than those of today’s GOP.” Reagan signed into law the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, which granted amnesty to 3 million illegal immigrants. In recent years during Trump’s rise, more Republicans have spoken out against providing pathways to citizenship for illegal immigrants and placed renewed emphasis on border control and preventing illegal immigration in the first place.

The Wall Street Journal’s John Lehman focused more on temperaments when he wrote, “Reagan Would Never Vote for Trump.” 

“Reagan’s 11th Commandment was ‘Thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican,’ but Donald Trump is no heir to Reagan’s legacy. He is an insult to it,” Lehman said. “The Reagan I knew would be appalled that someone as unfit as Mr. Trump had become the GOP’s standard-bearer. Reagan would also deeply oppose President Biden’s agenda, and he never trusted or cared much for then-Sen. Biden.” 

Several attendees at the “Reagan” premiere praised him for his integrity, morals, and his ability to “agree to disagree,” suggesting no current presidential candidate shares those qualities and that today’s politicians are more interested in tearing each other down.

“He probably would not be, unfortunately,” one local man said when asked if Reagan would fit in today’s Republican Party. 

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But a few, like Quaid, believed that 40 would still be welcome as the leader of the party. He and Dwight D. Eisenhower are the only Republicans since World War II who won consecutive terms while winning a majority of the popular vote both times.

“I do,” Sara Ortgiesen from Dixon, who marched in Reagan’s inaugural parade, said. “I personally do. I think he’d know how to do it. He was an actor too,” she laughed. 

“Oh I think so,” Becky Anderson from Rock Falls, Ill., similarly told Fox News Digital ahead of viewing “Reagan.” “I think most true Republicans look to Ronald Reagan as their model of what a Republican truly is.” 

The compare/contrast sheds light on the leaders’ policies. Trump recently slammed Vice President Kamala Harris’ plan to ban price gouging as “socialist,” calling her “Comrade Kamala.” Quaid weighed in on what he thought Reagan would say about Harris’ economic agenda.    

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“Well, as far as price controls, I know Reagan wouldn’t have gone for that, because he believed in free market. It’ll find its own way,” Quaid said. 

“Reagan won the Cold War,” Quaid said. “Reagan also testified communists are trying to take over the unions in Hollywood, not just the actors union, but the set builders union and cameras union and writers, everything and make it all one thing. And they had to go through the actors union first, of course, that was the hardest.”

“And Reagan fought that at the time,” Quaid continued. “And when he testified before Congress, he said that we ought to, as a nation, just go ahead and allow the Communist Party to come into the country and let them say their ideas and everything else because democracy can handle it. And it would sort itself out. Because people would see the common sense in things. He believed in common sense.”

Reagan and Trump also stunned their respective political worlds with their presidential victories in 1980 and 2016, which are both widely considered elections that realigned the political landscape.

One alarming thing Reagan and Trump have in common that can’t be disputed: both men survived assassination attempts. Quaid and voters shared their sobering feelings on the political violence that nearly claimed their lives.

“Well, I had the same reaction that I had when Reagan was shot,” Quaid said. “Thank God he survived it. Because the first thing I thought when Reagan got shot was remembering when Kennedy got shot, and it crippled our nation’s spirit for some decades. It was Ronald Reagan who kind of actually brought that spirit back.” 

“Reagan” is out in theaters now. 

Fox News Digital’s Kendall Tietz contributed to this report.