U.S. presidential election, 1976 |
| Presidential Candidate |
Electoral Vote |
Popular Vote |
Pct |
Party |
Running Mate
(Electoral Votes) |
| James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. of Georgia (W) |
297 |
40,825,839 |
50.0% |
Democrat |
Walter Frederick Mondale of Minnesota (297) |
| Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr. of Michigan |
240 |
39,147,770 |
48.0% |
Republican |
Robert Joseph Dole of Kansas
(241) |
| Other |
1 |
1,577,333 |
2.0% |
|
| Total |
538 |
81,555,889 |
100.0% |
|
| Other elections: 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988 |
| Source: U.S. Office of the Federal Register
|
Carter, starting from a position of being largely unknown nationally, won primaries first in his native Georgia, then in
Alabama and Indiana, and gained increasing momentum and popularity. At the Democratic Party convention he received the party's
nomination on the first ballot.
Centrist Ford succeeded in putting down challenge from the party's right wing backing Reagan.
Jimmy Carter ran as an honest outsider reformer, which many voters found attractive in the wake of the Watergate scandal. President Ford, although personally unconnected with
Watergate, was seen by many as too close to the discredited Richard Nixon
administration, especially after Ford granted Nixon a presidential pardon.
While Ford began the campaign with polls indicating he would be reelected Carter soon began to gain on him. During the debate
Ford made an important blunder when he repeatedly insisted that Eastern
Europe was not occupied by the communists.
Independent Eugene J. McCarthy received 756,691 popular
votes.
Libertarian Party candidate
Roger MacBride received 173,011 votes.
Segregationist Lester Maddox of the American
Independent Party received 170,531 votes.
Thomas J. Anderson of the American Party
received 160,773 votes.
A rogue Republican elector from Washington State gave Ronald Reagan one electoral vote.
The election was held on November 2, 1976.
See also: President of the United
States, U.S. presidential election,
1976, History of the United States (1964-1980)
|