1976 U.S. presidential election

1976

Jimmy Carter, a little-known former Georgia governor, defeated President Gerald Ford in the first election after Watergate.

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The story

On November 2, 1976, Democrat Jimmy Carter, a peanut farmer and former governor of Georgia, defeated President Gerald Ford. Carter won 297 electoral votes and 50.1 percent of the popular vote to Ford's 240 and 48.0 percent. One Washington elector voted for Ronald Reagan. Carter swept nearly the whole South, the last time a Democrat did so.

Ford had become vice president when Spiro Agnew resigned and president when Nixon resigned over Watergate, and his September 1974 pardon of Nixon angered many voters. The economy suffered from stagflation, high inflation together with high unemployment, after the 1973 oil shock. Ford barely survived a primary challenge from Ronald Reagan. Carter ran as an outsider untouched by Washington, promising 'I will never lie to you.' In the first presidential debates since 1960, Ford wrongly said there was 'no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe,' a gaffe that slowed his late comeback.

Why it mattered

Carter's presidency produced the Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel.
Inflation, the energy crisis and the Iran hostage crisis under Carter led to his defeat in 1980.
Reagan's strong 1976 challenge made him the front-runner for the 1980 Republican nomination.

Sources

Presidential Election of 1976 (election statistics) The American Presidency Project, UC Santa Barbara
Gerald Ford: Campaigns and Elections Miller Center, University of Virginia
Faithless Electors The Green Papers

Drafted by AI (Claude) from the sources above and checked against them by AI; no historian has reviewed this page. Spot a mistake? Suggest a correction. How pages are made

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Learn more ranked by votes

BookJules Witcover

Marathon

At a glance

When: November 2, 1976
Where: United States (50 states and Washington, D.C.)
Key people: Jimmy Carter (Democratic, winner)
Gerald Ford (Republican incumbent)
Walter Mondale (vice president-elect)
Bob Dole (Republican vice-presidential nominee)

297 to 240electoral votes, Carter over Ford

50.1%Carter's share of the popular vote

616earlier events it rests on

7later events that depend on it

Couldn't have happened without

1972 U.S. presidential election1972

ImportantNixon's 1972 win led to the scandal that left Ford, never elected, as the incumbent.

Watergate1972

EssentialWatergate and Ford's pardon of Nixon made honesty in government the central issue Carter ran on.

Oil crisis1973

ImportantThe oil shock fed the inflation and recession that weighed on Ford's record.

Led to

1980 U.S. presidential election1980

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