Gerald Ford Republican Jimmy Carter Democratic Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 2, 1976. The Democratic ticket of former Georgia governor Jimmy Carter and Minnesota senior senator Walter Mondale narrowly defeated the Republican ticket of incumbent president Gerald Ford and Kansas junior senator Bob Dole . This was the first presidential election since 1932 in which the incumbent was defeated, as well as the only one of the six presidential elections from 1968 to 1988 to have the Democratic Party ticket win. Ford ascended to the presidency when Richard Nixon resigned in 1974 in the wake of the Watergate scandal , which badly damaged the Republican Party and its electoral prospects. Ford previously served as Nixon's second vice president after his first vice president, Spiro Agnew , resigned in 1973 due to a bribery scandal. Ford promised to continue Nixon's political agenda and govern as a moderate Republican, causing considerable backlash from the conservative wing of his party. Ford narrowly prevailed against former movie star and California governor Ronald Reagan in the Republican primaries . [ 2 ] Carter was unknown outside of his home state of Georgia at the start of the Democratic primaries , but he emerged as the front-runner after his victories in the first set of primaries. Campaigning as a political moderate within his own party and as a Washington outsider, Carter defeated numerous opponents to clinch the Democratic nomination. [ 3 ] Ford pursued a " Rose Garden strategy " in which he sought to portray himself as an experienced leader focused on fulfilling his role as chief executive. [ 4 ] On the other hand, Carter emphasized his status as a reformer who was "untainted" by Washington. [ 5 ] Saddled with a poor economy, the fall of South Vietnam , and the political fallout from the Watergate scandal, including his unpopular pardon of Richard Nixon , Ford trailed by a wide margin in polls taken after Carter's formal nomination in July 1976. Ford's polling rebounded after a strong performance in the first presidential debate, and the race was close on election day. Carter won the election with 297 Electoral College votes and took 50.1% of the popular vote. He carried several Midwestern and Northeastern states along with every state in the Deep South , becoming the first Democrat to accomplish this feat since Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1944 . Carter's narrow victories in Ohio and Wisconsin , which carried a combined 36 electoral votes, were crucial to his win. [ 6 ] Meanwhile, Ford swept the West Coast and Mountain states and took 48.0% of the popular vote. Ford became the first president to have served without ever winning a national election as president or vice president. His loss to Carter was due in part to the backlash against Republican candidates nationwide in the wake of the Watergate scandal, a trend that became apparent in the 1974 elections . Democratic Party Awards and honors Post-presidency One America Appeal Death and state funeral Presidency timeline Judiciary appointments controversies Presidential Library Camp David Accords Egypt–Israel peace treaty Egypt–Israel peace treaty Torrijos–Carter Treaties Engagement with Ruhollah Khomeini Guadeloupe Conference Rabbit incident Iran hostage crisis Operation Eagle Claw Operation Eagle Claw Moral Equivalent of War speech 1979 oil crisis Carter Doctrine Foreign policy International trips International trips 1976 primaries convention debates election 1980 primaries convention debates election The surprise winner of the 1976 Democratic presidential nomination was Jimmy Carter, a former state senator and governor of Georgia. When the primaries began, Carter was little-known at the national level, and many political pundits regarded a number of better-known candidates, such as Senator Henry M. Jackson from Washington, Representative Morris Udall from Arizona, Governor George Wallace of Alabama, and California Governor Jerry Brown , as the favorites for the nomination. However, in the wake of the Watergate scandal , Carter realized that his status as a Washington outsider, political centrist, and moderate reformer could give him an advantage over his better-known establishment rivals. Carter also took advantage of the record number of state primaries and caucuses in 1976 to eliminate his better-known rivals one-by-one. Henry M. Jackson made a fateful decision not to compete in the early Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary, which Jimmy Carter won after liberals split their votes among four other candidates. Though Jackson went on to win the Massachusetts and New York primaries, he was forced to quit the race on May 1, after losing the critical Pennsylvania primary to Carter by twelve percentage points. Carter then defeated Governor Wallace, his main conservative challenger, by a wide margin in the North Carolina primary, forcing Wallace to end his campaign. Representative Udall, a liberal, then became Carter's main challenger. He finished second to Carter in the New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, New York, Michigan, South Dakota, and Ohio primaries, and won the caucuses in his home state of Arizona, while running even with Carter in the New Mexico caucuses. However, the fact that Udall finished second to Carter in most of these races meant that Carter steadily accumulated more delegates for the nomination than Udall did. As Carter closed in on the nomination, an "ABC" ("Anybody But Carter") movement started among Northern and Western liberal Democrats who worried that Carter's Southern upbringing would make him too conservative for the Democratic Party. The leaders of the "ABC" movement, Idaho Senator Frank Church and California Governor Jerry Brown, both announced their candidacies for the Democratic nomination, and defeated Carter in several late primaries. However, their campaigns started too late to prevent Carter from gathering the remaining delegates he needed to capture the nomination. By June 1976, Carter had captured more than enough delegates to win the Democratic nomination. At the 1976 Democratic National Convention , Carter easily won the nomination on the first ballot; Udall finished in second place. Carter then chose Minnesota Senator Walter Mondale, a liberal, as his running mate. Republican Party Military service U.S. Representative for Michigan's 5th Warren Commission Resignation of Richard Nixon Presidency timeline '74 '75 '76–77 timeline '74 '75 '76–77 Foreign International trips International trips Pardon of Richard Nixon Federal-Aid Highway Amendments of 1974 Education for All Handicapped Children Act Assassination attempts Sacramento San Francisco 1976 Primaries Convention Debates Election Presidential Library AEI World Forum Death and state funeral The contest for the Republican Party's presidential nomination in 1976 was between two serious candidates: incumbent president Gerald Ford, a member of the party's moderate wing, and former governor of California Ronald Reagan , a member of the party's conservative wing. The presidential primary campaign between the two men was hard-fought and relatively even; by the start of the Republican Convention in August 1976, the race for the nomination was still too close to call. Ford defeated Reagan by a narrow margin on the first ballot at the 1976 Republican National Convention in Kansas City , and chose Senator Bob Dole from Kansas as his running mate in the place of incumbent vice president Nelson Rockefeller , who had announced the previous year that he was not interested in being considered for the vice presidential nomination. [ 7 ] The 1976 Republican Convention was the last political convention to open with the presidential nomination still being undecided until the actual balloting at the convention. Roger MacBride , who had gained fame in the 1972 election as a faithless elector , ran as the nominee of the Libertarian Party . Eugene McCarthy , a former Democratic Senator from Minnesota, ran as an independent candidate. Ben Bubar , Prohibition Party nominee. Frank Zeidler , former mayor of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, ran as the nominee of Socialist Party USA , which was founded in 1973 in a split with Socialist Party of America . Gus Hall , four-time Communist Party candidate [ 8 ] Lester Maddox , the former Democratic Governor of Georgia (and Lieutenant Governor under Carter), ran as the nominee of the American Independent Party General election Polling aggregation The following graph depicts the standing of each candidate in the poll aggregators from January 1976 to Election Day. One of the advantages Ford held over Carter as the general election campaign began was his presidential privilege to preside over events celebrating the United States Bicentennial ; this often resulted in favorable publicity for Ford. These included the Washington, D. C., fireworks display on the Fourth of July , which was televised nationally. [ 34 ] On July 7, 1976, the President and First Lady served as hosts at a White House state dinner for Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip of the United Kingdom, which was televised on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) network. These events were part of Ford's "Rose Garden" strategy to win the election, meaning that instead of appearing as a typical politician, Ford presented himself as a "tested leader" who was busily fulfilling the role of national leader and chief executive. Not until October did Ford leave the White House to actively campaign across the nation. [ citation needed ] Carter ran as a reformer who was "untainted" by Washington political scandals, [ 35 ] which many voters found attractive in the wake of the Watergate scandal that had led to President Richard Nixon 's resignation. Ford, although personally unconnected with Watergate, was seen by many as too close to the discredited Nixon administration, especially after he granted Nixon a presidential pardon for any crimes he might have committed during his term of office. Ford's pardon of Nixon caused his popularity, as measured by public opinion polls, to plummet. Ford's refusal to explain his reasons for pardoning Nixon publicly (he would do so in his memoirs several years later), also hurt his image. [ citation needed ] Ford unsuccessfully asked Congress to end the 1950s-era price controls on natural gas, which had caused a dwindling of American natural gas reserves after the 1973 oil crisis . [ 36 ] Carter stated during his campaign that he opposed the ending of the price controls and thought such a move would be "disastrous". [ 37 ] After the Democratic National Convention, Carter held a 33-point lead over Ford in the polls. [ 38 ] However, as the campaign continued, the race greatly tightened. During the campaign Playboy magazine published a controversial interview with Carter; in the interview, Carter admitted to having "lusted in my heart" for women other than his wife and used the word "screw," which cut into his support among women and evangelical Christians. [ 39 ] On September 23, Ford performed well in what was the first televised presidential debate since 1960 . Polls taken after the debate showed that most viewers felt that Ford was the winner. Carter was also hurt by Ford's charges that he lacked the necessary experience to be an effective national leader and that he was vague on many issues. [ citation needed ] However, Ford also committed a costly blunder in the campaign that halted his momentum. During the second presidential debate on October 6, Ford stumbled when he asserted that "there is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe, and there never will be under a Ford administration". He added that he did not "believe that the Poles consider themselves dominated by the Soviet Union", and made the same claim with regard to Yugoslavia and Romania (Yugoslavia was not a Warsaw Pact member). [ 40 ] Ford refused to retract his statement for almost a week after the debate, causing his surge in the polls to stall and allowing Carter to maintain a slight lead in the polls. [ citation needed ] A vice-presidential debate, the first formal one of its kind, [ 41 ] between Bob Dole and Walter Mondale also hurt the Republican ticket when Dole asserted that military unpreparedness on the part of Democratic presidents was responsible for all of the wars the U.S. had fought in the 20th century. Dole, a World War II veteran, noted that in every 20th-century war, from World War I to the Vietnam War, a Democrat had been president. Dole then pointed out that the number of U.S. casualties in "Democrat wars" was roughly equal to the population of Detroit. Many voters felt that Dole's criticism was unfairly harsh, and that his dispassionate delivery made him seem cold. Years later, Dole would remark that he regretted the comment, believing that it had hurt the Republican ticket. [ 42 ] One factor that did help Ford in the closing days of the campaign was a series of popular television appearances he did with Joe Garagiola , a retired baseball player for the St. Louis Cardinals and a well-known announcer for NBC Sports . Garagiola and Ford appeared in a number of shows in several large cities. During the show, Garagiola would ask Ford questions about his life and beliefs; the shows were so informal, relaxed, and laid-back that some television critics labelled them the "Joe and Jerry Show". Ford and Garagiola obviously enjoyed one another's company, and they remained friends after the election was over. [ citation needed ] Presidential debates There were three presidential debates and one vice presidential debate during the 1976 general election. [ 43 ] [ 44 ] Despite his campaign's blunders, President Ford managed to close the remaining gap in the polls, and by election day, the race was judged to be even. It took most of that night and the following morning to determine the winner. It was not until 3:30 am EST that NBC was able to declare that Carter had carried Mississippi and had thus accumulated more than the 270 electoral votes needed to win. Seconds later, ABC also declared Carter the winner, based on projections for Carter in Wisconsin and Hawaii, while CBS announced Carter's victory at 3:45 am. [ 46 ] Carter defeated Ford by two percentage points in the national popular vote. The electoral vote was the closest since 1916 ; Carter carried 23 states, with 297 electoral votes, while Ford won 27 states, with 240 electoral votes (one elector, future state Senator Mike Padden from Washington state, pledged to Ford, voted for Reagan [ 47 ] ). Carter's victory came primarily from his near-sweep of the South (he lost only Virginia and Oklahoma), and his narrow victories in large Northern states such as New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Ford did well in the West, carrying every state in that region, except for Hawaii. The most tightly contested state in the election was Oregon, which Ford won by under 2,000 votes. By percentage of the vote, the states that secured Carter's victory were Wisconsin (1.68% margin) and Ohio (.27% margin). Had Ford won these states and all other states he carried, he would have won the presidency. The 27 states he won were, and still are, the most states ever carried by a losing candidate for president. Had Ford won the election, the provisions of the 22nd Amendment would have disqualified him from running again, as he served more than two years of Nixon's second term. Carter became the first non-incumbent president representing a Southern state to be elected since Zachary Taylor in 1848 . As of 2024, this is the last election in which the Democratic ticket won the majority of states in the South or the states of Alabama , Mississippi , South Carolina , and Texas (mainly due to Carter's southern roots), as well as the most recent election in which the losing candidate carried more states than the winning candidate. As a result of his loss, Ford became the most recent person to serve as president without ever being elected to the office, and the first since Chester A. Arthur to do so. Both major-party vice-presidential nominees would later unsuccessfully run for President: Walter Mondale (Democratic) in 1984 and Bob Dole (Republican) in 1996 . Carter was the first Democratic presidential nominee since John F. Kennedy in 1960 to carry states in the Deep South ( Bill Clinton was the only Democrat since 1976 to carry more than one state from the Deep South, doing so in 1992 ), and the only one since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964 to carry a majority of all southern states . Carter performed very strongly in his home state of Georgia , carrying 66.7% of the vote and every county in the state. His winning of 23 states was only the second time in history that the winner of the election won fewer than half the states (after 1960). His 50.1% of the vote was the only time since 1964 that a Democrat managed to obtain an absolute majority of the popular vote in a presidential election until Barack Obama won 52.9% of the vote in 2008 . Carter is one of six Democrats since the American Civil War to obtain an absolute majority of the popular vote, the others being Samuel J. Tilden , Franklin D. Roosevelt , Lyndon B. Johnson, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden . This election represents the last time to date that Texas , Mississippi , Alabama , and South Carolina would vote Democratic, and the last time North Carolina would vote Democratic until 2008 , as well as the last time Florida voted Democratic until 1996 , and the last time Arkansas , Delaware , Kentucky , Louisiana , Missouri , Ohio , Pennsylvania , and Tennessee voted Democratic until 1992 . [ 48 ] This election was the last time that a Democrat won the presidency without winning a number of modern blue states and swing states, specifically California , Connecticut , Illinois , Maine , Michigan , Nevada , New Hampshire , New Jersey , New Mexico , Oregon , Vermont , and Washington . In the case of all of these states plus Iowa , this is the most recent election where all of these states were won by the Republican candidate the same time the Democratic candidate won the modern swing state of North Carolina and modern red states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas, and in the case of Oregon and Washington, the last time the Republican candidate carried these states while losing Massachusetts, New York and Wisconsin; all 5 of these states except Wisconsin in 2016 and 2024 have stayed in the Democratic column from 1988 onward. This is the only time a Democrat has won without New Mexico, as well as one of only two times it voted for a candidate who lost the popular vote, in addition to 2024 . Similarly, it is one of only three instances in which a Democrat won without Nevada (the others being the two elections of Grover Cleveland in 1884 and 1892 ). The Democrats did not win without Iowa again until 2020 . This was the last time a winning Democrat won both Georgia and Florida. All future Democratic presidents won one of the two, but not both simultaneously. It was the first time in exactly 100 years when Florida and Virginia supported different candidates, and the first time since Oklahoma statehood in 1907 when Oklahoma and Tennessee did so. It was also the most recent election in which a losing Republican candidate carried any states in the Northeast . As Carter won 319 more counties than Ford, this election would mark the last time a Democrat won a majority of counties. This was the first election since 1916 in which the winning candidate won fewer than 300 electoral votes; this would not happen again until 2000 . Carter also remains the last Democrat to win a presidential election while winning fewer than 300 electoral votes. This election was the last time until 2024 in which the popular vote margin in all 50 states and the District of Columbia swung in the same direction from the previous election, and the most recent in which they all swung Democratic. [ 49 ] This is the last election in which an incumbent president ran with a running mate who was not the incumbent vice president. This is the only election in which all four major presidential and vice presidential candidates would at some point be their party's nominee for president and lose. In addition to Ford losing this election, Carter would lose reelection to Reagan in 1980 , Mondale would lose to President Reagan in 1984 , and Dole would lose to President Bill Clinton in 1996 . Source (Popular Vote): Leip, David. "1976 Presidential Election Results" . Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections . Retrieved August 7, 2005 . Source (Electoral Vote): "Electoral College Box Scores 1789–1996" . National Archives and Records Administration . Retrieved August 7, 2005 . Results by county, shaded according to winning candidate's percentage of the vote Results by congressional district, shaded according to winning candidate's percentage of the vote Results by state This election represents the second time that the winning candidate has received a majority of the electoral votes while the second-place candidate carried a majority of the states. It had previously happened in the 1960 election . The "margin" column shows the difference between the two leading candidates, and the "swing" column shows the margin swing from the respective party's nominee from 1972 to 1976. Maine allowed its electoral votes to be split between candidates. Two electoral votes were awarded to the winner of the statewide race and one electoral vote to the winner of each congressional district. Ford won all four votes. [ 51 ] States that flipped from Republican to Democratic States and electoral votes where margin of victory was under 1% (34 electoral votes): Oregon, 0.16% (1,713 votes) Ohio, 0.27% (11,116 votes) Maine's 2nd congressional district, 0.28% (620 votes) Maine, 0.84% (4,041 votes) States where margin of victory was 1% to 5% (265 electoral votes): Iowa, 1.01% (12,932 votes) Oklahoma, 1.21% (13,266 votes) Virginia, 1.34% (22,658 votes) Maine's 1st congressional district, 1.36% (3,421 votes) South Dakota, 1.48% (4,437 votes) Wisconsin, 1.68% (35,245 votes) (tipping point state) California, 1.78% (139,960 votes) Mississippi, 1.88% (14,463 votes) Illinois, 1.97% (92,974 votes) New Jersey, 2.16% (65,035 votes) New Mexico, 2.47% (10,271 votes) Hawaii, 2.53% (7,372 votes) Pennsylvania, 2.66% (123,073 votes) Texas, 3.17% (129,019 votes) Missouri, 3.63% (70,944 votes) Washington, 3.88% (60,409 votes) Nevada, 4.36% (8,794 votes) New York, 4.43% (288,767 votes) States where margin of victory was 5% to 10% (105 electoral votes): Connecticut, 5.16% (71,366 votes) Florida, 5.29% (166,469 votes) Michigan, 5.39% (197,028 votes) Delaware, 5.41% (12,765 votes) Louisiana, 5.78% (73,919 votes) North Dakota, 5.86% (17,392 votes) Maryland, 6.08% (86,951 votes) Kentucky, 7.18% (83,865 votes) Montana, 7.44% (24,444 votes) Kansas, 7.55% (72,331 votes) Indiana, 7.62% (169,244 votes) Counties with Highest Percent of Vote (Democratic) Banks County, Georgia 87.85% Starr County, Texas 87.25% Brantley County, Georgia 86.50% Duval County, Texas 86.36% Wilcox County, Georgia 86.15% Counties with Highest Percent of Vote (Republican) Jackson County, Kentucky 79.80% Owsley County, Kentucky 77.03% Hooker County, Nebraska 76.35% Ottawa County, Michigan 74.12% Arthur County, Nebraska 73.66% Voter demographics With voters 30 years of age or older (born in 1946 or earlier) estimated by the exit poll to comprise 69% of the electorate, the Greatest Generation and the Silent Generation constituted the majority of the voting public. [ 52 ] [ f ] Source: CBS News / New York Times interviews with 12,782 voters as they left the polls, as reported in The New York Times , November 9, 1980, p. 28, and in further analysis. The 1976 data are from CBS News interviews. ↑ "Size" = share of 1980 national total. Presidency of Jimmy Carter History of the United States (1964–1980) 1976 United States House of Representatives elections 1976 United States Senate elections 1976 United States gubernatorial elections Inauguration of Jimmy Carter ↑ A faithless Republican elector, Mike Padden in Washington, voted for Ronald Reagan to be president. Padden voted for Bob Dole to be vice president as pledged. As a result, Ford had 240 electoral votes instead of the pledged 241. 1 2 Mike Padden , a Republican faithless elector from Washington , gave Ronald Reagan one electoral vote. 1 2 The running mate of McCarthy varied from state to state. ↑ Research has not yet determined whether Anderson's home state was Tennessee or Texas at the time of the 1976 election. ↑ Percentage point difference in margin from the 1972 election ↑ The last year of the Lost Generation is conventionally defined as 1900, and life expectancy in the United States in 1976 was approximately 73 years. [ 53 ] ↑ "National General Election VEP Turnout Rates, 1789-Present" . United States Election Project . CQ Press . Archived from the original on November 14, 2016 . Retrieved February 21, 2023 . ↑ "1976 Ford Presidential Campaign – Republican Convention" . Ford Library Museum. Archived from the original on August 13, 2024 . Retrieved July 23, 2024 . ↑ Strong, Robert A. (October 4, 2026). "Jimmy Carter: Campaigns and Elections" . Miller Center . Retrieved July 23, 2024 . ↑ "1976 Ford Presidential Campaign – General Election" . Ford Library Museum. Archived from the original on May 15, 2024 . Retrieved January 27, 2024 . ↑ Jackson, Harold (November 20, 2023). "Rosalynn Carter obituary" . The Guardian . ISSN 0261-3077 . Retrieved January 27, 2014 . ↑ Ohio Vote Recount Possible . Galion Inquirer . United Press International . November 15, 1976. Retrieved January 26, 2025. ↑ "The President and the Vice President have a complete understanding between them regarding the Vice President's decision. The letter speaks for itself. The initiative was the Vice President's" (PDF) . Fordlibrarymuseum.gov . Archived (PDF) from the original on October 9, 2022 . Retrieved March 4, 2016 . ↑ "1976 Presidential General Election Results" . uselectionatlas.org . Archived from the original on July 15, 2018 . Retrieved July 24, 2018 . ↑ "Survey: Carter Clings To One-Point Lead" . Iowa City Press-Citizen . Archived from the original on May 25, 2024 . Retrieved May 25, 2024 . 1 2 3 Gallup, George (1978). The 1972-1977 Gallup Poll Public Opinion, Volume II . p. 878. ↑ "Harris Survey: Carter's Lead Shrinks To 45-44%" . Pittsburgh Post-Gazette . ↑ Gallup, George (1978). The 1972-1977 Gallup Poll Public Opinion, Volume II . p. 893. ↑ "Carter's Leading Ford, But..." The Ithaca Journal . Archived from the original on May 25, 2024 . Retrieved May 25, 2024 . 1 2 "Ford, But Not Reagan, Moving Up On Carter" . Chicago Tribune . ↑ Gallup, George (1978). The 1972-1977 Gallup Poll Public Opinion, Volume II . p. 877. ↑ Gallup, George (1978). The 1972-1977 Gallup Poll Public Opinion, Volume II . p. 864. ↑ "Carter Ahead, But Ford Gaining" . Lexington Herald-Leader . Archived from the original on May 25, 2024 . Retrieved May 25, 2024 . ↑ Gallup, George (1978). The 1972-1977 Gallup Poll Public Opinion, Volume II . p. 851. ↑ Gallup, George (1978). The 1972-1977 Gallup Poll Public Opinion, Volume II . p. 850. ↑ "McCarthy Cuts Into Carter's Lead" . Asbury Park Press . Archived from the original on May 25, 2024 . Retrieved May 25, 2024 . ↑ Gallup, George (1978). The 1972-1977 Gallup Poll Public Opinion, Volume II . p. 815. ↑ "Carter Lead Over Ford Isn't Really That Huge" . Asbury Park Press . Archived from the original on May 25, 2024 . Retrieved May 25, 2024 . ↑ Gallup, George (1978). The 1972-1977 Gallup Poll Public Opinion, Volume II . p. 801. ↑ Gallup, George (1978). The 1972-1977 Gallup Poll Public Opinion, Volume II . p. 795. ↑ Gallup, George (1978). The 1972-1977 Gallup Poll Public Opinion, Volume II . p. 774. ↑ "Carter's Well Ahead Of Both GOP Foes" . Muncie Evening Press . Archived from the original on May 25, 2024 . Retrieved May 25, 2024 . ↑ Gallup, George (1978). The 1972-1977 Gallup Poll Public Opinion, Volume II . p. 758. 1 2 "Two Democrats Ahead Of Ford" . The Atlanta Constitution . Archived from the original on May 25, 2024 . Retrieved May 25, 2024 . ↑ Gallup, George (1978). The 1972-1977 Gallup Poll Public Opinion, Volume II . p. 745. ↑ Gallup, George (1978). The 1972-1977 Gallup Poll Public Opinion, Volume II . p. 677. ↑ Gallup, George (1978). The 1972-1977 Gallup Poll Public Opinion, Volume II . p. 674. ↑ "Key Groups Giving Slip To Reagan" . Chicago Tribune . ↑ "Democrats Edge Ford, Reagan" . Chicago Tribune . Archived from the original on May 25, 2024 . Retrieved May 25, 2024 . ↑ "Election of 1976: A Political Outsider Prevails" . Archived from the original on August 2, 2003 . Retrieved August 2, 2003 . C-SPAN. Retrieved on June 20, 2012. ↑ "Commercials - 1976 - Essence" . The Living Room Candidate . August 9, 1974. Archived from the original on August 25, 2012 . Retrieved March 4, 2016 . ↑ Frum, David (2000). How We Got Here: The '70s . New York, New York: Basic Books. pp. 321–322 . ISBN 0-465-04195-7 . ↑ Frum, David (2000). How We Got Here: The '70s . New York, New York: Basic Books. pp. 321–322 . ISBN 0-465-04195-7 . ↑ "Gerald Ford Retrospective" . Gallup . December 29, 2006. Archived from the original on May 21, 2021 . Retrieved October 6, 2019 . ↑ "Jimmy Carter in Plains" . Arcadia Publishing . Archived from the original on May 2, 2017. ↑ "Debating Our Destiny: The Second 1976 Presidential Debate – October 6, 1976" . Pbs.org. October 6, 1976. Archived from the original on December 27, 2015 . Retrieved January 30, 2016 . ↑ "The First VP Debate: Dole-Mondale, 10-15-76" . Janda.org . October 15, 1976. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016 . Retrieved March 4, 2016 . ↑ Bob Dole interview , November 10, 1999. PBS .org. 1 2 3 4 5 "CPD: 1976 Debates" . debates.org . Retrieved January 8, 2019 . ↑ "1976 Debates Overview" . AllPolitics . CNN . 1996. Archived from the original on August 17, 2018 . Retrieved April 24, 2019 . ↑ "The Daily Diary of President Gerald R. Ford - October 22, 1976" (PDF) . Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum . Archived (PDF) from the original on October 9, 2022 . Retrieved April 24, 2019 . ↑ Jules Witcover . Marathon: The Pursuit of the Presidency, 1972–1976 (New York: Viking), p. 11. ↑ Camden, Jim (December 17, 2016). "Electoral College wasn't done deal in 1976. Will it be in 2016?" . The Spokesman-Review . Archived from the original on May 24, 2021 . Retrieved November 14, 2021 . ↑ Sullivan, Robert David; "How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century" Archived November 16, 2016, at the Wayback Machine ; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review ; June 29, 2016 ↑ Skelley, Geoffrey (December 10, 2024). "America's swing to the right in 2024 was wide, if not always deep" . ABC News . Archived from the original on December 10, 2024 . Retrieved December 11, 2024 . 1 2 "1976 Presidential General Election Data - National" . Archived from the original on August 14, 2020 . Retrieved March 18, 2013 . ↑ Barone, Michael; Matthews, Douglas; Ujifusa, Grant (1977). The Almanac of American Politics, 1978 . E. P. Dutton . ↑ "How Groups Voted in 1976" . ropercenter.cornell.edu . Retrieved September 10, 2025 . ↑ Statistical Abstract of the United States: 1978 (PDF) (Report). Statistical Abstract of the United States (99 ed.). U.S. Census Bureau . 1978. p. 69 . Retrieved September 12, 2025 . Further reading Chester, Edward W A guide to political platforms (1977) online Johnstone, Andrew, and Andrew Priest, eds. US Presidential Elections and Foreign Policy: Candidates, Campaigns, and Global Politics from FDR to Bill Clinton (2017) pp 229–249. online MacDougall, Malcolm D. (1977). We Almost Made It . New York: Crown. ISBN 0-517-52933-5 . Roessner, Amber (2020). Jimmy Carter and the Birth of the Marathon Media Campaign . Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press. ISBN 978-0807170793 . Shirley, Craig (2005). Reagan's Revolution: The Untold Story of the Campaign That Started It All . Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson. ISBN 0-7852-6049-8 . Williams, Daniel K. The Election of the Evangelical: Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, and the Presidential Contest of 1976 (University Press of Kansas, 2020) online review The Election Wall's 1976 Election Video Page 1976 popular vote by counties 1976 popular vote by states (with bar graphs) Campaign commercials from the 1976 election Election of 1976 in Counting the Votes Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine Nominee: Jimmy Carter campaign VP nominee: Walter Mondale Other candidates: Birch Bayh Hubert Humphrey Henry M. Jackson Eugene McCarthy Ellen McCormack Jennings Randolph Milton Shapp campaign Sargent Shriver Adlai Stevenson III Incumbent nominee: Gerald Ford campaign VP nominee: Bob Dole Other candidates: James L. Buckley Ronald Reagan campaign positions Nominee: Thomas J. Anderson Nominee: Lester Maddox Nominee: Gus Hall VP nominee: Jarvis Tyner Nominee: Roger MacBride VP nominee: David Bergland Nominee: Margaret Wright VP nominee: Benjamin Spock Nominee: Ben Bubar VP nominee: Earl Dodge Nominee: Peter Camejo VP nominee: Willie Mae Reid Nominee: Lyndon LaRouche Other 1976 elections : House District of Columbia 1976 United States presidential election Democratic primaries Republican primaries Democratic convention Republican convention District of Columbia Delaware Lt. Gov Missouri Lt. Gov North Carolina Lt. Gov Arizona Arizona House Arizona Senate Minnesota House Senate Montana House Senate District of Columbia New Hampshire presidential primary Nevada presidential caucuses South Carolina presidential primary List of nominating conventions Brokered convention Convention bounce Keynote speakers Speeches by spouses of nominees Results summary elections in which the winner lost the popular vote Electoral College margins Electoral College results by state electoral vote changes between elections electoral vote recipients popular votes received popular-vote margins elections in which the winner lost the popular vote Electoral College margins Electoral College results by state electoral vote changes between elections electoral vote recipients popular votes received popular-vote margins Electoral Count Act Certificate of ascertainment Certificate of vote Contingent election Faithless elector Unpledged elector Campaign slogans Election recount ( 2000 ) Historical election polling Major party tickets Major party losers Presidential debates Presidential straw polls Guam Puerto Rico October surprise Red states and blue states Tipping-point state Vice presidential confirmations 1973 1974 House elections Senate elections Gubernatorial elections 39th President of the United States (1977–1981) 76th Governor of Georgia (1971–1975) Georgia State Senator (1963–1967) Timeline 1977 1978 1979 1980 January 1981 Political positions Judicial appointments controversies Executive Actions Executive Order 11967 Executive Order 12036 Executive Order 12086 Executive Order 12148 Executive Order 12170 Executive Order 12172

Executive Order 11967 Executive Order 12036 Executive Order 12086 Executive Order 12148 Executive Order 12170 Executive Order 12172 Rabbit incident Catoctin Mountain Park Run Carter Doctrine International trips Camp David Accords Egypt–Israel peace treaty Egypt–Israel peace treaty Torrijos–Carter Treaties Iran hostage crisis Operation Eagle Claw Canadian Caper Engagement with Ruhollah Khomeini 1979 oil crisis Support for Iraq during the Iran-Iraq War Operation Eagle Claw Engagement with Ruhollah Khomeini 1979 oil crisis Support for Iraq during the Iran-Iraq War Diplomatic relations with China Goldwater v. Carter Goldwater v. Carter Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 Senior Executive Service Senior Executive Service Strategic Arms Limitation Talks 1980 Summer Olympics boycott Cannabis policy Community Reinvestment Act Airline Deregulation Act Clean Air Act Amendments of 1977 Clean Water Act of 1977 Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act Federal Reserve Reform Act of 1977 Electronic Fund Transfer Act Fair Debt Collection Practices Act Financial Institutions Regulatory and Interest Rate Control Act of 1978 Right to Financial Privacy Act Right to Financial Privacy Act Humphrey–Hawkins Full Employment Act Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 Solar power at the White House Three Mile Island accident Presidential transition of Ronald Reagan Moral Equivalent of War Island of Stability A Crisis of Confidence State of the Union Addresses 1978 1979 1980 1981 Georgia gubernatorial elections 1966 1970 Presidential campaigns 1976 1980 Democratic Party presidential primaries 1976 1980 Democratic National Conventions 1972 1976 1980 Presidential debates 1976 1980 Presidential elections 1976 1980 Presidential Library and Museum Habitat for Humanity Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project Jimmy Carter National Historical Park Jimmy Carter House Jimmy Carter House Nairobi Agreement, 1999 One America Appeal Continuity of Government Commission Death and state funeral Everything to Gain (1987) The Hornet's Nest (2003) Our Endangered Values (2006) Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid (2006) reaction and commentary reaction and commentary Beyond the White House (2007) We Can Have Peace in the Holy Land (2009) White House Diary (2010) A Call to Action (2014) A Full Life (2015) Nobel Peace Prize Presidential Medal of Freedom Freedom of the City Silver Buffalo Award Philadelphia Liberty Medal United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights Christopher Award Carter–Menil Human Rights Prize Jimmy Carter Peanut Statue (1976) USS Jimmy Carter Jimmy Carter National Historical Park (1987) Georgia State Capitol statue (1994) Plains, Georgia Birthplace Home Mary Prince (nanny) Jimmy Carter (2002 television documentary) Man from Plains (2007 documentary) Eradication of dracunculiasis " Mush from the Wimp " Rosalynn Carter (wife) Jack Carter (son) Amy Carter (daughter) Jason Carter (grandson) James Earl Carter Sr. (father) Lillian Gordy Carter (mother) Gloria Carter Spann (sister) Ruth Carter Stapleton (sister) Billy Carter (brother) Emily Dolvin (aunt) Hugh Carter (cousin) Ronald Reagan → 1976 campaign selection convention debate election transition 1980 campaign convention election Reagan transition 1984 campaign primaries running mate selection convention debates election running mate selection Joan Mondale (wife) Ted Mondale (son) Eleanor Mondale (daughter) ← Nelson Rockefeller George H. W. Bush → 38th President of the United States (1974–1977) 40th Vice President of the United States (1973–1974) U.S. Representative for MI–5 (1949–1973) Federal-Aid Highway Amendments of 1974 Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Safe Drinking Water Act Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 Equal Credit Opportunity Act Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act Education for All Handicapped Children Act Halloween Massacre Vladivostok Summit Meeting on Arms Control Helsinki Accords National Security Study Memorandum 200 Whip Inflation Now Cannabis policy Assassination attempts Sacramento San Francisco 1976 state visit by Elizabeth II to the United States State of the Union Addresses 1975 1976 1977 Judicial appointments Supreme Court candidates controversies Supreme Court candidates Betty Ford's August 1975 60 Minutes interview Executive Orders Presidential Proclamations Gerald R. Ford Birthsite and Gardens President Gerald R. Ford Jr. Boyhood Home Gerald R. Ford Jr. House Warren Commission Confirmation as Vice President AEI World Forum Death and state funeral Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library United States House of Representatives elections 1948 1950 1952 1954 1956 1958 1960 1962 1964 1966 1968 1970 1972 1976 presidential campaign presidential election Carter transition presidential election Carter transition Republican Party presidential primaries 1976 1980 1976 Republican National Convention 1976 1980 The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976) Superman vs. Muhammad Ali (1978) The Betty Ford Story (1987) Assassins (1990) " Two Bad Neighbors " (1996) Saturday Night Live parodies Chevy Chase The X-Presidents (1997) Presidential Reunion (2010) The X-Presidents (1997) Presidential Reunion (2010) The Political Machine (2004) The Butler (2013) The First Lady (2022) Gerald R. Ford International Airport Gerald R. Ford Award Ford School of Public Policy Ford House Office Building USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) Gerald R. Ford Freeway U.S. Postage stamps Charles Henry King (grandfather) Leslie Lynch King Sr. (father) Dorothy Gardner Ford (mother) Gerald Rudolff Ford (stepfather) Thomas Gardner Ford (half-brother) Betty Ford (wife) Michael Gerald Ford (son) John Gardner Ford (son) Steven Meigs Ford (son) Susan Ford Bales (daughter) Liberty (family dog) ← Richard Nixon Nelson Rockefeller → 40th President of the United States (1981–1989) 33rd Governor of California (1967–1975) General Electric Showcase House Rancho del Cielo 668 St. Cloud Road Political positions Governorship of California Presidential Library and Museum Official White House portraits 1989 trip to Japan Death and state funeral Riderless horse Riderless horse First inauguration Second inauguration Domestic policy Economic policy Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 Government cheese Tax Reform Act of 1986 Assassination attempt Strategic Defense Initiative Reagan Doctrine Cold War 1st term 2nd term Soviet Union summits Geneva Reykjavík Washington INF Treaty Moscow Governors Island Washington INF Treaty Governors Island Constructive engagement Invasion of Grenada Iran–Contra affair Cannabis policy International trips Opinion polling Grace Commission Cabinet Bush vice presidency Bush vice presidency Judicial appointments Supreme Court controversies Administration scandals " We begin bombing in five minutes " Impeachment efforts Executive orders Presidential proclamations Bush transition Ronald Reagan Speaks Out Against Socialized Medicine (1961) "A Time for Choosing" (1964) States' rights speech (1980) First inaugural address (1981) Congressional joint session address (1981) "Ash heap of history" (1982) "Evil empire" (1983) Second inaugural address (1985) "Tear down this wall!" (1987) State of the Union 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 Where's the Rest of Me? An American Life The Reagan Diaries 1966 California gubernatorial election 11th commandment 11th commandment 1970 California gubernatorial election Republican presidential primaries (1968 Republican National Convention (1968 1976 presidential campaign 1980 presidential campaign "There you go again" "Let's make America great again" "There you go again" "Let's make America great again" 1984 presidential campaign "Morning in America" "Bear in the woods" "Morning in America" "Bear in the woods" United States presidential election (1976 In music Let Them Eat Jellybeans! (1981) Let Them Eat Jellybeans! (1981) U.S. Postage stamps Rap Master Ronnie Ed the Happy Clown (1983 comic series) Spitting Image (TV series) (1984) A Mind Forever Voyaging (1985 game) The Dark Knight Returns (1986) film adaptation film adaptation Pizza Man (1991 film) The Day Reagan Was Shot (2001 film) Reagan's War (2002 book) The Reagans (2003 film) Reagan (2011 documentary) The Butler (2013 film) Killing Reagan (2015 book) Killing Reagan (2016 film) Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War (2020 game) The Reagans (2020 miniseries) Reagan (2024 film) The Brink of War (2026) U.S. Capitol statue Namesakes and memorials Ronald Reagan Day Reagan Day Dinner USS Ronald Reagan Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport Virginia statue Budapest statue Ronald Reagan Monument, Warshaw Jane Wyman (first wife) Nancy Reagan (second wife) Maureen Reagan (daughter) Michael Reagan (adopted son) Patti Davis (daughter) Ron Reagan (son) Jack Reagan (father) Nelle Wilson Reagan (mother) Neil Reagan (brother) "What would Reagan do?" George H. W. Bush → 1976 United States presidential election Presidency of Jimmy Carter November 1976 in the United States Articles with short description Short description is different from Wikidata Use American English from January 2025 All Wikipedia articles written in American English Use mdy dates from November 2013 Elections using electoral votes All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from September 2023 Webarchive template wayback links Pages using bar box without float left or float right