United States presidential election in California, 1976
The 1976 United States presidential election in California refers to how California participated in the 1976 United States presidential election. 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%. Carter performed more strongly in rural Northern California, winning many counties in California's Central Valley, while Ford performed more strongly in Southern California, sweeping every county there except Los Angeles County, which narrowly voted for Carter.
This was only the fifth time in California’s electoral history that it did not support the winning candidate from either party. This is also the last election where the Democrat candidate won the Presidency without carrying California.
Carter is the last Democrat to carry the counties of Amador, El Dorado, Lassen, Madera, Placer, Shasta, Sierra and Yuba, 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).
Results
United States presidential election in California, 1976[1] |
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 |
Ford |
Votes |
Carter |
Votes |
Others |
Votes |
Orange |
62.16% |
408,632 |
35.33% |
232,246 |
2.52% |
16,555 |
Mono |
58.80% |
1,600 |
37.67% |
1,025 |
3.53% |
96 |
Inyo |
58.23% |
3,905 |
39.29% |
2,635 |
2.48% |
166 |
San Diego |
55.74% |
353,302 |
41.60% |
263,654 |
2.66% |
16,839 |
Tulare |
54.52% |
31,864 |
43.72% |
25,551 |
1.76% |
1,027 |
Sutter |
54.21% |
8,745 |
43.18% |
6,966 |
2.60% |
420 |
Ventura |
53.20% |
82,670 |
44.10% |
68,529 |
2.70% |
4,201 |
Colusa |
52.74% |
2,733 |
45.16% |
2,340 |
2.10% |
109 |
Glenn |
52.67% |
4,094 |
45.04% |
3,501 |
2.29% |
178 |
Marin |
52.52% |
53,425 |
42.86% |
43,590 |
4.62% |
4,700 |
Kern |
52.29% |
58,023 |
45.57% |
50,567 |
2.14% |
2,371 |
Napa |
51.83% |
20,839 |
44.89% |
18,048 |
3.28% |
1,318 |
Butte |
51.77% |
28,400 |
44.12% |
24,203 |
4.10% |
2,251 |
Modoc |
51.20% |
1,917 |
46.29% |
1,733 |
2.51% |
94 |
San Luis Obispo |
51.17% |
27,785 |
45.91% |
24,926 |
2.92% |
1,587 |
Monterey |
51.02% |
40,896 |
45.97% |
36,849 |
3.00% |
2,408 |
San Benito |
50.87% |
3,398 |
46.74% |
3,122 |
2.40% |
160 |
Santa Barbara |
50.83% |
60,922 |
45.91% |
55,018 |
3.26% |
3,904 |
San Mateo |
50.63% |
117,338 |
44.40% |
102,896 |
4.97% |
11,507 |
Alpine |
50.34% |
225 |
42.28% |
189 |
7.38% |
33 |
Imperial |
49.94% |
10,618 |
48.18% |
10,244 |
1.88% |
400 |
Kings |
49.65% |
8,263 |
48.44% |
8,061 |
1.91% |
318 |
San Joaquin |
49.60% |
50,277 |
48.08% |
48,733 |
2.32% |
2,351 |
San Bernardino |
49.49% |
113,265 |
47.90% |
109,636 |
2.61% |
5,984 |
Santa Clara |
49.46% |
219,188 |
46.94% |
208,023 |
3.59% |
15,927 |
Contra Costa |
49.35% |
126,598 |
48.24% |
123,742 |
2.41% |
6,194 |
Riverside |
49.24% |
97,774 |
48.46% |
96,228 |
2.29% |
4,556 |
Calaveras |
49.08% |
3,695 |
47.91% |
3,607 |
3.00% |
226 |
Nevada |
48.40% |
8,170 |
46.95% |
7,926 |
4.65% |
785 |
Siskiyou |
48.37% |
7,070 |
48.31% |
7,060 |
3.32% |
485 |
Fresno |
48.10% |
72,533 |
49.71% |
74,958 |
2.20% |
3,314 |
Los Angeles |
47.78% |
1,174,926 |
49.69% |
1,221,893 |
2.53% |
62,258 |
Sonoma |
47.72% |
50,555 |
47.52% |
50,353 |
4.76% |
5,044 |
El Dorado |
47.69% |
12,472 |
48.80% |
12,763 |
3.51% |
919 |
Tuolumne |
46.94% |
6,104 |
49.93% |
6,492 |
3.13% |
407 |
Mariposa |
46.61% |
2,012 |
48.48% |
2,093 |
4.91% |
212 |
Amador |
46.13% |
3,699 |
50.35% |
4,037 |
3.52% |
282 |
Merced |
46.08% |
14,842 |
51.65% |
16,637 |
2.26% |
729 |
Madera |
45.96% |
6,844 |
51.20% |
7,625 |
2.84% |
423 |
Trinity |
45.66% |
1,989 |
49.86% |
2,172 |
4.48% |
195 |
Shasta |
45.63% |
17,273 |
50.72% |
19,200 |
3.65% |
1,381 |
Mendocino |
45.49% |
9,784 |
49.53% |
10,653 |
4.98% |
1,072 |
Del Norte |
45.29% |
2,481 |
50.91% |
2,789 |
3.80% |
208 |
Placer |
45.03% |
18,154 |
52.16% |
21,026 |
2.81% |
1,131 |
Stanislaus |
44.83% |
32,937 |
52.34% |
38,448 |
2.83% |
2,080 |
Tehama |
44.81% |
6,110 |
51.27% |
6,990 |
3.92% |
535 |
Yuba |
44.74% |
5,496 |
52.51% |
6,451 |
2.75% |
338 |
Sacramento |
44.63% |
123,110 |
52.27% |
144,203 |
3.10% |
8,563 |
Lake |
44.46% |
5,462 |
51.88% |
6,374 |
3.65% |
449 |
Plumas |
43.94% |
2,884 |
52.25% |
3,429 |
3.81% |
250 |
Sierra |
43.15% |
680 |
53.36% |
841 |
3.49% |
55 |
Santa Cruz |
43.09% |
31,872 |
51.06% |
37,772 |
5.85% |
4,325 |
Lassen |
42.97% |
3,007 |
54.32% |
3,801 |
2.72% |
190 |
Yolo |
42.42% |
18,376 |
54.33% |
23,533 |
3.25% |
1,408 |
Solano |
42.40% |
26,136 |
54.64% |
33,682 |
2.96% |
1,826 |
Humboldt |
41.58% |
18,034 |
54.18% |
23,500 |
4.24% |
1,838 |
San Francisco |
40.31% |
103,561 |
52.06% |
133,733 |
7.63% |
19,594 |
Alameda |
38.09% |
155,280 |
57.89% |
235,988 |
4.03% |
16,413 |
References
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| Candidates | | |
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| General articles | |
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| Local results | |
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| Other 1976 elections | |
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