1976 United States presidential election in California
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Turnout | 81.53% (of registered voters) ![]() 57.32% (of eligible voters) ![]() | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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![]() County Results
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Elections in California |
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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.
Carter is the last Democrat to carry the counties of Amador, El Dorado, Lassen, Madera, Placer, Shasta, Sierra and Yuba,[2] and the last to win a majority of the vote in Del Norte, Plumas and Tehama. Carter is also the last candidate from either party to carry Los Angeles by only a plurality, while Ford is the last Republican to win a majority of the vote in Marin (Ronald Reagan later won that county by plurality in 1980). 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 California would back a losing Republican candidate and the last time that the state would vote Republican in a close election. As of 2020, this is the last election in which California voted for the Republican while Texas voted for the Democrat.
Results[]
1976 United States presidential election in California[3] | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
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[]
County | Gerald Rudolph Ford Republican |
James Earl Carter Democratic |
Various candidates Other parties |
Margin | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
% | # | % | # | % | # | % | # | |
Orange | 62.16% | 408,632 | 35.33% | 232,246 | 2.52% | 16,555 | 26.83% | 176,386 |
Mono | 58.80% | 1,600 | 37.67% | 1,025 | 3.53% | 96 | 21.13% | 575 |
Inyo | 58.23% | 3,905 | 39.29% | 2,635 | 2.48% | 166 | 18.94% | 1,270 |
San Diego | 55.74% | 353,302 | 41.60% | 263,654 | 2.66% | 16,839 | 14.14% | 89,648 |
Sutter | 54.21% | 8,745 | 43.18% | 6,966 | 2.60% | 420 | 11.03% | 1,779 |
Tulare | 54.52% | 31,864 | 43.72% | 25,551 | 1.76% | 1,027 | 10.80% | 6,313 |
Marin | 52.52% | 53,425 | 42.86% | 43,590 | 4.62% | 4,700 | 9.66% | 9,835 |
Ventura | 53.20% | 82,670 | 44.10% | 68,529 | 2.70% | 4,201 | 9.10% | 14,141 |
Alpine | 50.34% | 225 | 42.28% | 189 | 7.38% | 33 | 8.06% | 36 |
Butte | 51.77% | 28,400 | 44.12% | 24,203 | 4.10% | 2,251 | 7.65% | 4,197 |
Glenn | 52.67% | 4,094 | 45.04% | 3,501 | 2.29% | 178 | 7.63% | 593 |
Colusa | 52.74% | 2,733 | 45.16% | 2,340 | 2.10% | 109 | 7.58% | 393 |
Napa | 51.83% | 20,839 | 44.89% | 18,048 | 3.28% | 1,318 | 6.94% | 2,791 |
Kern | 52.29% | 58,023 | 45.57% | 50,567 | 2.14% | 2,371 | 6.72% | 7,456 |
San Mateo | 50.63% | 117,338 | 44.40% | 102,896 | 4.97% | 11,507 | 6.23% | 14,442 |
San Luis Obispo | 51.17% | 27,785 | 45.91% | 24,926 | 2.92% | 1,587 | 5.26% | 2,859 |
Monterey | 51.02% | 40,896 | 45.97% | 36,849 | 3.00% | 2,408 | 5.05% | 4,047 |
Santa Barbara | 50.83% | 60,922 | 45.91% | 55,018 | 3.26% | 3,904 | 4.92% | 5,904 |
Modoc | 51.20% | 1,917 | 46.29% | 1,733 | 2.51% | 94 | 4.91% | 184 |
San Benito | 50.87% | 3,398 | 46.74% | 3,122 | 2.40% | 160 | 4.13% | 276 |
Santa Clara | 49.46% | 219,188 | 46.94% | 208,023 | 3.59% | 15,927 | 2.52% | 11,165 |
Imperial | 49.94% | 10,618 | 48.18% | 10,244 | 1.88% | 400 | 1.76% | 374 |
San Bernardino | 49.49% | 113,265 | 47.90% | 109,636 | 2.61% | 5,984 | 1.59% | 3,629 |
San Joaquin | 49.60% | 50,277 | 48.08% | 48,733 | 2.32% | 2,351 | 1.52% | 1,544 |
Nevada | 48.40% | 8,170 | 46.95% | 7,926 | 4.65% | 785 | 1.45% | 244 |
Kings | 49.65% | 8,263 | 48.44% | 8,061 | 1.91% | 318 | 1.21% | 202 |
Calaveras | 49.08% | 3,695 | 47.91% | 3,607 | 3.00% | 226 | 1.17% | 88 |
Contra Costa | 49.35% | 126,598 | 48.24% | 123,742 | 2.41% | 6,194 | 1.11% | 2,856 |
Riverside | 49.24% | 97,774 | 48.46% | 96,228 | 2.29% | 4,556 | 0.78% | 1,546 |
Sonoma | 47.72% | 50,555 | 47.52% | 50,353 | 4.76% | 5,044 | 0.20% | 202 |
Siskiyou | 48.37% | 7,070 | 48.31% | 7,060 | 3.32% | 485 | 0.06% | 10 |
El Dorado | 47.69% | 12,472 | 48.80% | 12,763 | 3.51% | 919 | -1.11% | -291 |
Fresno | 48.10% | 72,533 | 49.71% | 74,958 | 2.20% | 3,314 | -1.61% | -2,425 |
Mariposa | 46.61% | 2,012 | 48.48% | 2,093 | 4.91% | 212 | -1.87% | -81 |
Los Angeles | 47.78% | 1,174,926 | 49.69% | 1,221,893 | 2.53% | 62,258 | -1.91% | -46,967 |
Tuolumne | 46.94% | 6,104 | 49.93% | 6,492 | 3.13% | 407 | -2.99% | -388 |
Mendocino | 45.49% | 9,784 | 49.53% | 10,653 | 4.98% | 1,072 | -4.04% | -869 |
Trinity | 45.66% | 1,989 | 49.86% | 2,172 | 4.48% | 195 | -4.20% | -183 |
Amador | 46.13% | 3,699 | 50.35% | 4,037 | 3.52% | 282 | -4.22% | -338 |
Shasta | 45.63% | 17,273 | 50.72% | 19,200 | 3.65% | 1,381 | -5.09% | -1,927 |
Madera | 45.96% | 6,844 | 51.20% | 7,625 | 2.84% | 423 | -5.24% | -781 |
Merced | 46.08% | 14,842 | 51.65% | 16,637 | 2.26% | 729 | -5.57% | -1,795 |
Del Norte | 45.29% | 2,481 | 50.91% | 2,789 | 3.80% | 208 | -5.62% | -308 |
Tehama | 44.81% | 6,110 | 51.27% | 6,990 | 3.92% | 535 | -6.46% | -880 |
Placer | 45.03% | 18,154 | 52.16% | 21,026 | 2.81% | 1,131 | -7.13% | -2,872 |
Lake | 44.46% | 5,462 | 51.88% | 6,374 | 3.65% | 449 | -7.42% | -912 |
Stanislaus | 44.83% | 32,937 | 52.34% | 38,448 | 2.83% | 2,080 | -7.51% | -5,511 |
Sacramento | 44.63% | 123,110 | 52.27% | 144,203 | 3.10% | 8,563 | -7.64% | -21,093 |
Yuba | 44.74% | 5,496 | 52.51% | 6,451 | 2.75% | 338 | -7.77% | -955 |
Santa Cruz | 43.09% | 31,872 | 51.06% | 37,772 | 5.85% | 4,325 | -7.97% | -5,900 |
Plumas | 43.94% | 2,884 | 52.25% | 3,429 | 3.81% | 250 | -8.31% | -545 |
Sierra | 43.15% | 680 | 53.36% | 841 | 3.49% | 55 | -10.21% | -161 |
Lassen | 42.97% | 3,007 | 54.32% | 3,801 | 2.72% | 190 | -11.35% | -794 |
San Francisco | 40.31% | 103,561 | 52.06% | 133,733 | 7.63% | 19,594 | -11.75% | -30,172 |
Yolo | 42.42% | 18,376 | 54.33% | 23,533 | 3.25% | 1,408 | -11.91% | -5,157 |
Solano | 42.40% | 26,136 | 54.64% | 33,682 | 2.96% | 1,826 | -12.24% | -7,546 |
Humboldt | 41.58% | 18,034 | 54.18% | 23,500 | 4.24% | 1,838 | -12.60% | -5,466 |
Alameda | 38.09% | 155,280 | 57.89% | 235,988 | 4.03% | 16,413 | -19.80% | -80,708 |
References[]
- ^ https://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/sov/2018-general/sov/04-historical-voter-reg-participation.pdf
- ^ Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016
- ^ "1976 Presidential General Election Results - California". Dave Leip's U.S. Election Atlas. Retrieved 2008-08-25.
- 1976 United States presidential election by state
- United States presidential elections in California
- 1976 California elections