1976 United States presidential election

The 1976 United States presidential election happened on November 2, 1976. Jimmy Carter, the Democratic candidate and former Governor of Georgia, won the election. He defeated the incumbent president, Gerald Ford, who was a Republican.

1976 United States presidential election

November 2, 1976
538 members of the Electoral College 270 electoral votes needed to win
Turnout	53.5%[1] 1.7 pp
Nominee Jimmy Carter Gerald Ford Party Democratic Republican Home state Georgia Michigan Running mate Walter Mondale Bob Dole Electoral vote 297 240[2] States carried 23 + DC 27 Popular vote 40,831,881 39,148,634 Percentage 50.1% 48.0%
Presidential election results map. Blue denotes states won by Carter/Mondale and red denotes those won by Ford/Dole. Pink is the electoral vote for Ronald Reagan by a Washington faithless elector. Numbers indicate the number of electoral votes cast by each state and the District of Columbia.
President before election Gerald Ford Republican Elected President Jimmy Carter Democratic

Wikimedia Commons has media related to United States presidential election, 1976.

Jimmy Carter won the election by 297 electoral votes, compared to incumbent president Gerald Ford, who received 240 electoral votes. A faithless elector from Washington voted for Ronald Reagan, who would win the 1980 election.

This election followed the resignation of President Richard Nixon in 1974 due to the Watergate scandal. It is the last election to have a Democratic candidate to receive a preferable vote in the American South, which is typically known to be Republican; however, Florida is considered a swing state.

This is the last election where one of the two major candidates is still alive. Jimmy Carter is currently 99 years old, and has been the oldest living former president since George H.W. Bush's death in 2018.