1976 United States presidential election in California

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.

1976 United States presidential election in California

← 1972 November 2, 1976 1980 →
Turnout	81.53% (of registered voters) 0.60 pp 57.32% (of eligible voters) 7.20 pp
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 Ford   40–50%   50–60%   60–70% Carter   40–50%   50–60%
President before election Gerald Ford Republican Elected President Jimmy Carter Democratic

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.

As of the 2024 presidential election, this is the last time that a Democrat has won the counties of Amador, El Dorado, Lassen, Madera, Placer, Shasta, Sierra and Yuba, Carter is also the last candidate from either party to carry Los Angeles by only a plurality. 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 a Democrat has won the presidency without California and the last time that the state would vote Republican in a close election. The state would not vote for a losing candidate again until 2000, and for the loser of the popular vote until 2004.

Campaign

A presidential debate was held in San Francisco at the Palace of Fine Arts with President Ford and Jimmy Carter in attendance. The debate was sponsored by the League of Women Voters with Pauline Frederick from NPR being the moderator of the debate. 63.9 million people watched the debate.

Results

1976 United States presidential election in California
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 Ford Republican		Jimmy Carter Democratic		Various candidates Other parties		Margin		Total votes cast
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Alameda	155,280	38.09%	235,988	57.89%	16,413	4.02%	-80,708	-19.80%	407,681
Alpine	225	50.34%	189	42.28%	33	7.38%	36	8.06%	447
Amador	3,699	46.13%	4,037	50.35%	282	3.52%	-338	-4.22%	8,018
Butte	28,400	51.77%	24,203	44.12%	2,251	4.11%	4,197	7.65%	54,854
Calaveras	3,695	49.08%	3,607	47.91%	226	3.01%	88	1.17%	7,528
Colusa	2,733	52.74%	2,340	45.16%	109	2.10%	393	7.58%	5,182
Contra Costa	126,598	49.35%	123,742	48.24%	6,194	2.41%	2,856	1.11%	256,534
Del Norte	2,481	45.29%	2,789	50.91%	208	3.80%	-308	-5.62%	5,478
El Dorado	12,472	47.69%	12,763	48.80%	919	3.51%	-291	-1.11%	26,154
Fresno	72,533	48.10%	74,958	49.71%	3,314	2.19%	-2,425	-1.61%	150,805
Glenn	4,094	52.67%	3,501	45.04%	178	2.29%	593	7.63%	7,773
Humboldt	18,034	41.58%	23,500	54.18%	1,838	4.24%	-5,466	-12.60%	43,372
Imperial	10,618	49.94%	10,244	48.18%	400	1.88%	374	1.76%	21,262
Inyo	3,905	58.23%	2,635	39.29%	166	2.48%	1,270	18.94%	6,706
Kern	58,023	52.29%	50,567	45.57%	2,371	2.14%	7,456	6.72%	110,961
Kings	8,263	49.65%	8,061	48.44%	318	1.91%	202	1.21%	16,642
Lake	5,462	44.46%	6,374	51.88%	449	3.64%	-912	-7.42%	12,285
Lassen	3,007	42.97%	3,801	54.32%	190	2.71%	-794	-11.35%	6,998
Los Angeles	1,174,926	47.78%	1,221,893	49.69%	62,258	2.53%	-46,967	-1.91%	2,459,077
Madera	6,844	45.96%	7,625	51.20%	423	2.84%	-781	-5.24%	14,892
Marin	53,425	52.52%	43,590	42.86%	4,700	4.62%	9,835	9.66%	101,715
Mariposa	2,012	46.61%	2,093	48.48%	212	4.91%	-81	-1.87%	4,317
Mendocino	9,784	45.49%	10,653	49.53%	1,072	4.98%	-869	-4.04%	21,509
Merced	14,842	46.08%	16,637	51.65%	729	2.27%	-1,795	-5.57%	32,208
Modoc	1,917	51.20%	1,733	46.29%	94	2.51%	184	4.91%	3,744
Mono	1,600	58.80%	1,025	37.67%	96	3.53%	575	21.13%	2,721
Monterey	40,896	51.02%	36,849	45.97%	2,408	3.01%	4,047	5.05%	80,153
Napa	20,839	51.83%	18,048	44.89%	1,318	3.28%	2,791	6.94%	40,205
Nevada	8,170	48.40%	7,926	46.95%	785	4.65%	244	1.45%	16,881
Orange	408,632	62.16%	232,246	35.33%	16,555	2.51%	176,386	26.83%	657,433
Placer	18,154	45.03%	21,026	52.16%	1,131	2.81%	-2,872	-7.13%	40,311
Plumas	2,884	43.94%	3,429	52.25%	250	3.81%	-545	-8.31%	6,563
Riverside	97,774	49.24%	96,228	48.46%	4,556	2.30%	1,546	0.78%	198,558
Sacramento	123,110	44.63%	144,203	52.27%	8,563	3.10%	-21,093	-7.64%	275,876
San Benito	3,398	50.87%	3,122	46.74%	160	2.40%	276	4.13%	6,680
San Bernardino	113,265	49.49%	109,636	47.90%	5,984	2.61%	3,629	1.59%	228,885
San Diego	353,302	55.74%	263,654	41.60%	16,839	2.66%	89,648	14.14%	633,795
San Francisco	103,561	40.31%	133,733	52.06%	19,594	7.63%	-30,172	-11.75%	256,888
San Joaquin	50,277	49.60%	48,733	48.08%	2,351	2.32%	1,544	1.52%	101,361
San Luis Obispo	27,785	51.17%	24,926	45.91%	1,587	2.92%	2,859	5.26%	54,298
San Mateo	117,338	50.63%	102,896	44.40%	11,507	4.97%	14,442	6.23%	231,741
Santa Barbara	60,922	50.83%	55,018	45.91%	3,904	3.26%	5,904	4.92%	119,844
Santa Clara	219,188	49.46%	208,023	46.94%	15,927	3.60%	11,165	2.52%	443,138
Santa Cruz	31,872	43.09%	37,772	51.06%	4,325	5.85%	-5,900	-7.97%	73,969
Shasta	17,273	45.63%	19,200	50.72%	1,381	3.65%	-1,927	-5.09%	37,854
Sierra	680	43.15%	841	53.36%	55	3.49%	-161	-10.21%	1,576
Siskiyou	7,070	48.37%	7,060	48.31%	485	3.32%	10	0.06%	14,615
Solano	26,136	42.40%	33,682	54.64%	1,826	2.96%	-7,546	-12.24%	61,644
Sonoma	50,555	47.72%	50,353	47.52%	5,044	4.76%	202	0.20%	105,952
Stanislaus	32,937	44.83%	38,448	52.34%	2,080	2.83%	-5,511	-7.51%	73,465
Sutter	8,745	54.21%	6,966	43.18%	420	2.61%	1,779	11.03%	16,131
Tehama	6,110	44.81%	6,990	51.27%	535	3.92%	-880	-6.46%	13,635
Trinity	1,989	45.66%	2,172	49.86%	195	4.48%	-183	-4.20%	4,356
Tulare	31,864	54.52%	25,551	43.72%	1,027	1.76%	6,313	10.80%	58,442
Tuolumne	6,104	46.94%	6,492	49.93%	407	3.13%	-388	-2.99%	13,003
Ventura	82,670	53.20%	68,529	44.10%	4,201	2.70%	14,141	9.10%	155,400
Yolo	18,376	42.42%	23,533	54.33%	1,408	3.25%	-5,157	-11.91%	43,317
Yuba	5,496	44.74%	6,451	52.51%	338	2.75%	-955	-7.77%	12,285
Total	3,882,244	49.35%	3,742,284	47.57%	242,589	3.08%	139,960	1.78%	7,867,117

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

• El Dorado
• Fresno
• Mariposa
• Los Angeles
• Tuolumne
• Mendocino
• Trinity
• Amador
• Shasta
• Madera
• Merced
• Del Norte
• Tehama
• Placer
• Plumas
• Shasta
• Sierra
• Lake
• Stanislaus
• Sacramento
• Yuba
• Santa Cruz
• Plumas
• Sierra
• Lassen
• Solano
• Humboldt

References

1. "Historical Voter Registration and Participation in Statewide General Elections 1910-2018" (PDF). California Secretary of State. Retrieved May 5, 2022.
2. Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016
3. "1976 Debates". The Commission on Presidential Debates. Retrieved October 3, 2024.
4. "1976 Presidential General Election Results - California". Dave Leip's U.S. Election Atlas. Retrieved August 25, 2008.