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1976 United States presidential election in California

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1976 United States presidential election in California

← 1972 November 2, 1976 1980 →
Turnout81.53% (of registered voters) Decrease 0.60 pp
57.32% (of eligible voters) Decrease 7.20 pp[1]
 
Nominee Gerald Ford Jimmy Carter
Party Republican Democratic
Home state Michigan Georgia
Running mate Bob Dole Walter Mondale
Electoral vote 45 0
Popular vote 3,882,244 3,742,284
Percentage 49.35% 47.57%

County Results

President before election

Gerald Ford
Republican

Elected President

Jimmy Carter
Democratic

The 1976 United States presidential election in California took place on November 2, 1976, as part of the 1976 United States presidential election. State voters chose 45 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

California narrowly voted for the Republican incumbent, Gerald Ford, over the Democratic challenger, Jimmy Carter.

Ford won the state with a plurality of 49.35% of the vote to Carter's 47.57%, a victory margin of 1.78%, which made California almost 4% more Republican than the nation-at-large.

As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last time that a Democrat has won the counties of Amador, El Dorado, Lassen, Madera, Placer, Shasta, Sierra and Yuba,[2] Carter is also the last candidate from either party to carry Los Angeles by only a plurality. This also remains the last election in which a Republican presidential candidate won at least 40% of the vote in San Francisco, and the last time that county was not the most Democratic in the state. This is also the last time when a Democrat has won the presidency without California and the last time that the state would vote Republican in a close election. The state would not vote for a losing candidate again until 2000, and for the loser of the popular vote until 2004.

Campaign

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A presidential debate was held in San Francisco at the Palace of Fine Arts with President Ford and Jimmy Carter in attendance. The debate was sponsored by the League of Women Voters with Pauline Frederick from NPR being the moderator of the debate. 63.9 million people watched the debate.[3]

Results

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1976 United States presidential election in California[4]
Party Candidate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Republican Gerald Ford (incumbent) 3,882,244 49.35% 45
Democratic Jimmy Carter 3,742,284 47.57% 0
No party Eugene McCarthy (write-in) 58,412 0.74% 0
Independent Roger MacBride 56,388 0.72% 0
American Independent Lester Maddox 51,098 0.65% 0
Peace and Freedom Margaret Wright 41,731 0.53% 0
Independent Peter Camejo 17,259 0.22% 0
Independent Gus Hall 12,766 0.16% 0
No party Thomas J. Anderson (write-in) 4,565 0.06% 0
No party Jules Levin (write-in) 222 0.00% 0
No party Write-ins 74 0.00% 0
No party Ben Bubar (write-in) 34 0.00% 0
No party Ernest Miller (write-in) 26 0.00% 0
No party Frank Taylor (write-in) 14 0.00% 0
Invalid or blank votes
Totals 7,867,117 100.00% 45
Voter turnout

Results by county

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County Gerald Ford
Republican
Jimmy Carter
Democratic
Various candidates
Other parties
Margin Total votes cast
# % # % # % # %
Alameda 155,280 38.09% 235,988 57.89% 16,413 4.02% -80,708 -19.80% 407,681
Alpine 225 50.34% 189 42.28% 33 7.38% 36 8.06% 447
Amador 3,699 46.13% 4,037 50.35% 282 3.52% -338 -4.22% 8,018
Butte 28,400 51.77% 24,203 44.12% 2,251 4.11% 4,197 7.65% 54,854
Calaveras 3,695 49.08% 3,607 47.91% 226 3.01% 88 1.17% 7,528
Colusa 2,733 52.74% 2,340 45.16% 109 2.10% 393 7.58% 5,182
Contra Costa 126,598 49.35% 123,742 48.24% 6,194 2.41% 2,856 1.11% 256,534
Del Norte 2,481 45.29% 2,789 50.91% 208 3.80% -308 -5.62% 5,478
El Dorado 12,472 47.69% 12,763 48.80% 919 3.51% -291 -1.11% 26,154
Fresno 72,533 48.10% 74,958 49.71% 3,314 2.19% -2,425 -1.61% 150,805
Glenn 4,094 52.67% 3,501 45.04% 178 2.29% 593 7.63% 7,773
Humboldt 18,034 41.58% 23,500 54.18% 1,838 4.24% -5,466 -12.60% 43,372
Imperial 10,618 49.94% 10,244 48.18% 400 1.88% 374 1.76% 21,262
Inyo 3,905 58.23% 2,635 39.29% 166 2.48% 1,270 18.94% 6,706
Kern 58,023 52.29% 50,567 45.57% 2,371 2.14% 7,456 6.72% 110,961
Kings 8,263 49.65% 8,061 48.44% 318 1.91% 202 1.21% 16,642
Lake 5,462 44.46% 6,374 51.88% 449 3.64% -912 -7.42% 12,285
Lassen 3,007 42.97% 3,801 54.32% 190 2.71% -794 -11.35% 6,998
Los Angeles 1,174,926 47.78% 1,221,893 49.69% 62,258 2.53% -46,967 -1.91% 2,459,077
Madera 6,844 45.96% 7,625 51.20% 423 2.84% -781 -5.24% 14,892
Marin 53,425 52.52% 43,590 42.86% 4,700 4.62% 9,835 9.66% 101,715
Mariposa 2,012 46.61% 2,093 48.48% 212 4.91% -81 -1.87% 4,317
Mendocino 9,784 45.49% 10,653 49.53% 1,072 4.98% -869 -4.04% 21,509
Merced 14,842 46.08% 16,637 51.65% 729 2.27% -1,795 -5.57% 32,208
Modoc 1,917 51.20% 1,733 46.29% 94 2.51% 184 4.91% 3,744
Mono 1,600 58.80% 1,025 37.67% 96 3.53% 575 21.13% 2,721
Monterey 40,896 51.02% 36,849 45.97% 2,408 3.01% 4,047 5.05% 80,153
Napa 20,839 51.83% 18,048 44.89% 1,318 3.28% 2,791 6.94% 40,205
Nevada 8,170 48.40% 7,926 46.95% 785 4.65% 244 1.45% 16,881
Orange 408,632 62.16% 232,246 35.33% 16,555 2.51% 176,386 26.83% 657,433
Placer 18,154 45.03% 21,026 52.16% 1,131 2.81% -2,872 -7.13% 40,311
Plumas 2,884 43.94% 3,429 52.25% 250 3.81% -545 -8.31% 6,563
Riverside 97,774 49.24% 96,228 48.46% 4,556 2.30% 1,546 0.78% 198,558
Sacramento 123,110 44.63% 144,203 52.27% 8,563 3.10% -21,093 -7.64% 275,876
San Benito 3,398 50.87% 3,122 46.74% 160 2.40% 276 4.13% 6,680
San Bernardino 113,265 49.49% 109,636 47.90% 5,984 2.61% 3,629 1.59% 228,885
San Diego 353,302 55.74% 263,654 41.60% 16,839 2.66% 89,648 14.14% 633,795
San Francisco 103,561 40.31% 133,733 52.06% 19,594 7.63% -30,172 -11.75% 256,888
San Joaquin 50,277 49.60% 48,733 48.08% 2,351 2.32% 1,544 1.52% 101,361
San Luis Obispo 27,785 51.17% 24,926 45.91% 1,587 2.92% 2,859 5.26% 54,298
San Mateo 117,338 50.63% 102,896 44.40% 11,507 4.97% 14,442 6.23% 231,741
Santa Barbara 60,922 50.83% 55,018 45.91% 3,904 3.26% 5,904 4.92% 119,844
Santa Clara 219,188 49.46% 208,023 46.94% 15,927 3.60% 11,165 2.52% 443,138
Santa Cruz 31,872 43.09% 37,772 51.06% 4,325 5.85% -5,900 -7.97% 73,969
Shasta 17,273 45.63% 19,200 50.72% 1,381 3.65% -1,927 -5.09% 37,854
Sierra 680 43.15% 841 53.36% 55 3.49% -161 -10.21% 1,576
Siskiyou 7,070 48.37% 7,060 48.31% 485 3.32% 10 0.06% 14,615
Solano 26,136 42.40% 33,682 54.64% 1,826 2.96% -7,546 -12.24% 61,644
Sonoma 50,555 47.72% 50,353 47.52% 5,044 4.76% 202 0.20% 105,952
Stanislaus 32,937 44.83% 38,448 52.34% 2,080 2.83% -5,511 -7.51% 73,465
Sutter 8,745 54.21% 6,966 43.18% 420 2.61% 1,779 11.03% 16,131
Tehama 6,110 44.81% 6,990 51.27% 535 3.92% -880 -6.46% 13,635
Trinity 1,989 45.66% 2,172 49.86% 195 4.48% -183 -4.20% 4,356
Tulare 31,864 54.52% 25,551 43.72% 1,027 1.76% 6,313 10.80% 58,442
Tuolumne 6,104 46.94% 6,492 49.93% 407 3.13% -388 -2.99% 13,003
Ventura 82,670 53.20% 68,529 44.10% 4,201 2.70% 14,141 9.10% 155,400
Yolo 18,376 42.42% 23,533 54.33% 1,408 3.25% -5,157 -11.91% 43,317
Yuba 5,496 44.74% 6,451 52.51% 338 2.75% -955 -7.77% 12,285
Total 3,882,244 49.35% 3,742,284 47.57% 242,589 3.08% 139,960 1.78% 7,867,117

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

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References

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  1. ^ "Historical Voter Registration and Participation in Statewide General Elections 1910-2018" (PDF). California Secretary of State. Retrieved May 5, 2022.
  2. ^ Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016
  3. ^ "1976 Debates". The Commission on Presidential Debates. Retrieved October 3, 2024.
  4. ^ "1976 Presidential General Election Results - California". Dave Leip's U.S. Election Atlas. Retrieved August 25, 2008.