1976 United States presidential election in California

Main article: United States presidential election, 1976

United States presidential election in California, 1976

November 2, 1976

Nominee Gerald Ford Jimmy Carter Party Republican Democratic Home state Michigan Georgia Running mate Bob Dole Walter Mondale Electoral vote 45 0 Popular vote 3,882,244 3,742,284 Percentage 49.35% 47.57%

County Results   Carter—50-60%   Carter—<50%   Ford—<50%   Ford—50-60%   Ford—60-70%

President before election Gerald Ford Republican Elected President Jimmy Carter Democratic

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 Democratic 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
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