1976 United States presidential election in Florida

In the 1976 United States presidential election, Florida was won by the Democratic candidate, former Governor of Georgia Jimmy Carter, over the Republican candidate, incumbent President Gerald Ford. Carter won by a margin of 5.29%, giving him 17 electoral votes. Carter did particularly well in the South, with Arkansas and his home state of Georgia giving him particularly large margins.[1] Florida, together with other growing Southern states such as Virginia (which he narrowly lost) and Texas, however, were more competitive, as Ford did well in many growing counties in the South, in many cases largely inhabited by transplants. In Florida, Ford did well in coastal southwestern Florida, most of which had turned Republican as early as the late 1940s and had stuck with Goldwater in 1964. He also carried the large, then-typically Republican counties of Orange, Palm Beach, and Pinellas, although by narrow margins in the latter two cases. Carter carried the home counties of Miami (Dade), Tampa (Hillsborough), and Jacksonville (Duval) by healthy margins, and dominated rural Florida. He also became the first Democrat to win Broward County since 1944.

1976 United States presidential election in Florida

November 2, 1976
Turnout	77%
Nominee Jimmy Carter Gerald Ford Party Democratic Republican Home state Georgia Michigan Running mate Walter Mondale Bob Dole Electoral vote 17 0 Popular vote 1,636,000 1,469,531 Percentage 51.93% 46.64%
County Results Carter   50-60%   60-70%   70-80% Ford   40-50%   50-60%   60-70%
President before election Gerald Ford Republican Elected President Jimmy Carter Democratic

One region which Carter was unable to reclaim for the Democrats was the far western part of the Panhandle; he became the second Democrat (after Johnson in 1964) to win the White House without Okaloosa County since its founding in 1915; the second (after Johnson) since 1856 to win without Santa Rosa County; and the second ever (after Johnson) to win without Escambia County.[2]

A bellwether state today, Florida has voted for the winner in every election since 1928, except for three elections (1960, 1992, and 2020). As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election in which Polk County, Brevard County, Marion County, Bay County, Holmes County, Washington County, DeSoto County, Hardee County, Nassau County, St. Johns County, and Walton County voted for a Democratic presidential candidate. [3] As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last time Florida voted more Democratic than the national average. It was also the last election in which Duval County voted for the Democratic candidate until Joe Biden won it in 2020.

Results

Electoral results

Presidential candidate	Party	Home state	Popular vote		Electoral vote	Running mate
			Count	Percentage		Vice-presidential candidate	Home state	Electoral vote
Jimmy Carter	Democratic	Georgia	1,636,000	51.93%	17	Walter Mondale	Minnesota	17
Gerald Ford	Republican	Michigan	1,469,531	46.64%	0	Bob Dole	Kansas	0
Eugene McCarthy	Independent	Minnesota	23,643	0.75%	0	Sharon Stone Kilpatrick	Virginia	0
Thomas J. Anderson	American	Tennessee	21,325	0.68%	0	Rufus Shackelford	Florida	0
Roger MacBride	Libertarian	Virginia	103	0.00%	0	David Bergland	California	0
Julius Levin	Socialist Labor	New Jersey	19	0.00%	0	Constance Blomen	Massachusetts	0
Frank Zeidler	Socialist	Wisconsin	8	0.00%	0	J. Quinn Brisben	Illinois	0
Ernest Miller	Write-in	—	2	0.00%	0	—	—	0
Total			3,150,631	100%	17			17
Needed to win					270			270

Results by county

	James Earl Carter Democratic		Gerald Rudolph Ford Republican		Various candidates Other parties		Margin		Total votes cast
County	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#
Alachua	27,895	62.58%	15,546	34.87%	1,137	2.55%	12,349	27.70%	44,578
Baker	2,985	71.16%	1,058	25.22%	152	3.62%	1,927	45.94%	4,195
Bay	14,858	50.39%	14,208	48.19%	418	1.42%	650	2.20%	29,484
Bradford	3,868	68.86%	1,680	29.91%	69	1.23%	2,188	38.95%	5,617
Brevard	46,421	50.26%	44,470	48.15%	1,473	1.59%	1,951	2.11%	92,364
Broward	176,491	51.55%	161,411	47.15%	4,441	1.30%	15,080	4.40%	342,343
Calhoun	2,487	67.42%	1,153	31.26%	49	1.33%	1,334	36.16%	3,689
Charlotte	10,300	44.14%	12,703	54.44%	330	1.41%	-2,403	-10.30%	23,333
Citrus	9,438	53.30%	7,973	45.03%	296	1.67%	1,465	8.27%	17,707
Clay	8,410	49.04%	8,468	49.38%	270	1.57%	-58	-0.34%	17,148
Collier	8,764	36.96%	14,643	61.76%	303	1.28%	-5,879	-24.80%	23,710
Columbia	6,683	62.08%	3,947	36.66%	136	1.26%	2,736	25.41%	10,766
Dade	303,047	58.06%	211,148	40.45%	7,747	1.48%	91,899	17.61%	521,942
Desoto	2,715	56.30%	2,000	41.48%	107	2.22%	715	14.83%	4,822
Dixie	2,169	78.82%	558	20.28%	25	0.91%	1,611	58.54%	2,752
Duval	105,912	58.01%	74,997	41.08%	1,652	0.90%	30,915	16.93%	182,561
Escambia	38,279	47.42%	41,471	51.38%	965	1.20%	-3,192	-3.95%	80,715
Flagler	2,086	61.84%	1,262	37.41%	25	0.74%	824	24.43%	3,373
Franklin	1,859	62.53%	1,054	35.45%	60	2.02%	805	27.08%	2,973
Gadsden	6,798	65.17%	3,531	33.85%	102	0.98%	3,267	31.32%	10,431
Gilchrist	1,807	76.76%	528	22.43%	19	0.81%	1,279	54.33%	2,354
Glades	1,311	66.72%	624	31.76%	30	1.53%	687	34.96%	1,965
Gulf	2,641	61.69%	1,584	37.00%	56	1.31%	1,057	24.69%	4,281
Hamilton	2,053	69.57%	794	26.91%	104	3.52%	1,259	42.66%	2,951
Hardee	2,670	52.28%	2,189	42.86%	248	4.86%	481	9.42%	5,107
Hendry	2,337	54.94%	1,843	43.32%	74	1.74%	494	11.61%	4,254
Hernando	7,717	56.20%	5,793	42.19%	222	1.62%	1,924	14.01%	13,732
Highlands	7,218	45.88%	8,317	52.86%	198	1.26%	-1,099	-6.99%	15,733
Hillsborough	94,589	54.01%	78,504	44.82%	2,052	1.17%	16,085	9.18%	175,145
Holmes	3,256	62.86%	1,850	35.71%	74	1.43%	1,406	27.14%	5,180
Indian River	8,512	45.63%	9,818	52.63%	324	1.74%	-1,306	-7.00%	18,654
Jackson	7,687	60.76%	4,795	37.90%	170	1.34%	2,892	22.86%	12,652
Jefferson	2,310	61.62%	1,361	36.30%	78	2.08%	949	25.31%	3,749
Lafayette	1,126	67.63%	523	31.41%	16	0.96%	603	36.22%	1,665
Lake	14,369	41.31%	19,976	57.42%	442	1.27%	-5,607	-16.12%	34,787
Lee	30,567	43.80%	38,038	54.50%	1,184	1.70%	-7,471	-10.71%	69,789
Leon	28,729	53.76%	23,739	44.42%	975	1.82%	4,990	9.34%	53,443
Levy	4,025	65.28%	1,965	31.87%	176	2.85%	2,060	33.41%	6,166
Liberty	1,137	64.02%	620	34.91%	19	1.07%	517	29.11%	1,776
Madison	3,218	63.85%	1,761	34.94%	61	1.21%	1,457	28.91%	5,040
Manatee	24,342	44.78%	29,300	53.90%	718	1.32%	-4,958	-9.12%	54,360
Marion	16,963	50.37%	16,163	47.99%	553	1.64%	800	2.38%	33,679
Martin	8,785	42.33%	11,682	56.28%	289	1.39%	-2,897	-13.96%	20,756
Monroe	11,079	56.08%	8,232	41.67%	446	2.26%	2,847	14.41%	19,757
Nassau	5,896	64.51%	3,136	34.31%	108	1.18%	2,760	30.20%	9,140
Okaloosa	14,210	42.68%	18,598	55.86%	487	1.46%	-4,388	-13.18%	33,295
Okeechobee	3,184	65.99%	1,598	33.12%	43	0.89%	1,586	32.87%	4,825
Orange	58,442	44.80%	70,451	54.01%	1,544	1.18%	-12,009	-9.21%	130,437
Osceola	6,893	48.63%	7,062	49.82%	220	1.55%	-169	-1.19%	14,175
Palm Beach	96,705	48.68%	98,236	49.45%	3,716	1.87%	-1,531	-0.77%	198,657
Pasco	33,710	53.72%	28,306	45.11%	731	1.16%	5,404	8.61%	62,747
Pinellas	141,879	48.00%	150,003	50.75%	3,687	1.25%	-8,124	-2.75%	295,569
Polk	47,286	51.01%	44,238	47.72%	1,182	1.27%	3,048	3.29%	92,706
Putnam	9,597	64.81%	5,040	34.03%	172	1.16%	4,557	30.77%	14,809
St. Johns	7,412	51.58%	6,660	46.34%	299	2.08%	752	5.23%	14,371
St. Lucie	12,386	51.16%	11,502	47.51%	321	1.33%	884	3.65%	24,209
Santa Rosa	8,020	46.06%	9,122	52.39%	270	1.55%	-1,102	-6.33%	17,412
Sarasota	26,293	36.78%	44,157	61.78%	1,028	1.44%	-17,864	-24.99%	71,478
Seminole	19,609	41.89%	26,655	56.94%	549	1.17%	-7,046	-15.05%	46,813
Sumter	4,721	66.59%	2,212	31.20%	157	2.21%	2,509	35.39%	7,090
Suwannee	4,718	63.74%	2,405	32.49%	279	3.77%	2,313	31.25%	7,402
Taylor	3,370	62.34%	1,983	36.68%	53	0.98%	1,387	25.66%	5,406
Union	1,480	72.55%	544	26.67%	16	0.78%	936	45.88%	2,040
Volusia	49,161	55.72%	37,523	42.53%	1,541	1.75%	11,638	13.19%	88,225
Wakulla	2,353	57.78%	1,580	38.80%	139	3.41%	773	18.98%	4,072
Walton	5,196	62.76%	2,927	35.35%	156	1.88%	2,269	27.41%	8,279
Washington	3,566	59.47%	2,313	38.58%	117	1.95%	1,253	20.90%	5,996
Totals	1,636,000	51.93%	1,469,531	46.64%	45,100	1.43%	166,469	5.28%	3,150,631

References

1. Dave Leip's U.S. Election Atlas; 1976 Presidential General Election Results – Florida
2. "County winners, 1836-2016". Google Docs. Retrieved 2021-01-22.
3. Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016