1976 United States presidential election
The 1976 United States presidential election happened on November 2, 1976. Jimmy Carter, the Democratic candidate and former Governor of Georgia, won the election. He defeated the incumbent president, Gerald Ford, who was a Republican.
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538 members of the Electoral College 270 electoral votes needed to win | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Turnout | 53.5%[1]  1.7 pp | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Presidential election results map. Blue denotes states won by Carter/Mondale and red denotes those won by Ford/Dole. Pink is the electoral vote for Ronald Reagan by a Washington faithless elector. Numbers indicate the number of electoral votes cast by each state and the District of Columbia. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Jimmy Carter won the election by 297 electoral votes, compared to incumbent president Gerald Ford, who received 240 electoral votes. A faithless elector from Washington voted for Ronald Reagan, who would win the 1980 election.
This election followed the resignation of President Richard Nixon in 1974 due to the Watergate scandal. It is the last election to have a Democratic candidate to receive a preferable vote in the American South, which is typically known to be Republican; however, Florida is considered a swing state.
This is the last election where one of the two major candidates is still alive. Jimmy Carter is currently 100 years old, and has been the oldest living former president since George H.W. Bush's death in 2018.
Candidates
changeDemocratic Party
changeDemocratic candidates
- Jimmy Carter, former governor of Georgia
- Jerry Brown, governor of California
- George Wallace, governor of Alabama
- Morris Udall, U.S. representative from Arizona
- Henry M. Jackson, U.S. senator from Washington
- Frank Church, U.S. senator from Idaho
- Robert Byrd, U.S. senator from West Virginia
- Sargent Shriver, former U.S. ambassador to France, from Maryland
- Fred R. Harris, former U.S. senator from Oklahoma
- Birch Bayh, U.S. senator from Indiana
- Lloyd Bentsen, U.S. senator from Texas
- Terry Sanford, former governor of North Carolina
- Milton Shapp, governor of Pennsylvania
- Walter Fauntroy, U.S. representative from Washington, D.C.
- Ellen McCormack, housewife
Candidates gallery
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Senator Henry M. Jackson of Washington -
Senator Frank Church of Idaho -
Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia -
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Former Senator Fred Harris of Oklahoma -
Senator Birch Bayh of Indiana -
Senator Lloyd Bentsen of Texas -
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Delegate Walter Fauntroy of Washington, D.C.
Republican Party
changeRepublican candidates
- Gerald Ford, President of the United States from Michigan
- Ronald Reagan, former governor of California
Candidates gallery
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References
change- ↑ "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". Uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved October 21, 2012.
- ↑ A faithless Republican elector voted for Reagan for president. The same elector voted for Dole for vice president as pledged.