[8] In 1984, a poll conducted with 208 respondents and which had a 9% margin of error reported that 56.7% approved of Sanders while 26.9% disapproved and 16.3% were undecided.

[11] In 1987, Sanders was selected as one of the twenty best mayors in the United States by U.S. News & World Report alongside William H. Hudnut III of Indianapolis, Indiana; Jerry Abramson of Louisville, Kentucky; Raymond Flynn of Boston, Massachusetts; Richard Caliguiri of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Richard Green of Rochester, New Hampshire; Steve Carlson of Jamestown, New York; George Voinovich of Cleveland, Ohio; George Latimer of St. Paul, Minnesota; Henry Maier of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Coleman Young of Detroit, Michigan; Joseph P. Riley Jr. of Charleston, South Carolina; Richard Arrington Jr. of Birmingham, Alabama, Henry Cisneros of San Antonio, Texas, Raúl L. Martínez of Hialeah, Florida, Tom Bradley of Los Angeles, California, Terry Goddard of Phoenix, Arizona, Charles Royer of Seattle, Washington; Robert M. Isaac of Colorado Springs, Colorado; and Don Peoples of Butte, Montana.

[14] Sanders criticized the city council after they voted eight to three to fire his personal secretary which he stated was an insult to the mayor's office.

[16] Sanders stated that it was "an absolute insult" when the city council voted to delay debate on his proposed 25¢ tax increase.

[17] On June 1, 1981, the city council voted eleven to two to reject all of Sanders' non-reappointments except for the appointment of Henry Allard as fourth constable.

[24] However, Sanders later reversed his decisions and stated that he would not testify in the case nor would he veto the city attorney defending the voter board, but would instead file a written memorandum.

[25] During the 1982 elections three of the six pro-Sanders candidates won city council seats, allowing for vetoes made by Sanders to not be overridden, and two others were forced into runoffs that they were defeated in.

[31][32] During Sanders' tenure as mayor only one progressive, Terry Bouricius, served as president of the city council from 1984 to 1985.

[34] William O. Skelton, a Republican, was elected in 1985, to serve as president of the city council and replace Bouricius.

[41] Sanders presided over a group of other New England mayors in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1985, during the writing of a resolution criticizing Reagan's proposed budget cuts towards domestic programs.

[42] Sanders supported Vermont Housing Authority Deputy Director Richard Williams' policy of bringing the agency to Burlington to aid low-income people in rental assistance.

[52] In 1985, Sanders signed a city ordinance preventing housing discrimination against gay people, welfare recipients, elderly, and disabled.

He gave opportunities and the gay community took him up on them.”[53] Sanders joined the picket line of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America during their strike in Windsor, Vermont in 1983.

[54] Sanders called for employees of the Medical Center Hospital of Vermont to organize into a labor union in 1987, to improve their working conditions and quality of healthcare.

Sanders called for students and faculty at the University of Vermont to support nuclear disarmament in 1982, stating that "you are not in the minority".

[58] During the 1983 mayoral election Sanders was criticized by James Gilson, the Republican nominee, for being too active in international politics stating that "Burlington doesn't need a foreign policy".

[59] In 1981, Sanders wrote to President Reagan informing him that voters in Burlington approved a referendum calling for the halting of the United States' aid to El Salvador and to recall all military advisers from the country.

[60] In 1983, Sanders introduced Arnaldo Ramos, a representative of the Democratic Revolutionary Front, who spoke to a crowd of 120 people about the United States' involvement in El Salvador.

Sanders criticized Garcia's visit as a "cheap, disgraceful public relations gimmick which is attempting to make acceptable one of the most bloody governments in recent Western Hemisphere history".

[64][65] Sanders wrote a letter to Reagan on October 17, 1983, calling for him to end the CIA's war in Central America stating that "in the strongest possible terms, I urge you to stop the CIA war against the people of Nicaragua and allow them to develop their independent nation as best they can".

[66] Sanders wrote a letter to Reagan in December 1986, informing him that Burlington voters had voted 7,001 to 5,914 in a referendum to condemn the United States' aid to the Contras in Nicaragua.

There was the required disruption, murder, confusion and, finally, the military action to restore ‘law and order,'”.

[68] A resolution calling for the withdraw of United States soldiers from Grenada failed after a five to five vote in the city council.

[78][79] A three-member Soviet delegation from Yaroslavl, which consisted of Yaroslavl Mayor Alexander Ryabkov, Medical college director Yuri Novikov, and machine factory director Sergi Verkhovets, came to Burlington, Vermont, from October 8 to 14.

[90] Paquette was also considered to have lost because he proposed an unpopular 65 cent per $100 raise in taxes that Sanders opposed.