1976 United States presidential election in South Carolina

The 1976 United States presidential election in South Carolina took place on November 2, 1976. All 50 states and the District of Columbia were part of the 1976 United States presidential election. South Carolina voters chose 8 electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

1976 United States presidential election in South Carolina

November 2, 1976

Nominee Jimmy Carter Gerald Ford Party Democratic Republican Home state Georgia Michigan Running mate Walter Mondale Robert Dole Electoral vote 8 0 Popular vote 450,825 346,140 Percentage 56.17% 43.13%

County Results Carter   40-50%   50-60%   60-70%   70-80% Ford   50-60%

President before election Gerald Ford Republican Elected President Jimmy Carter Democratic

South Carolina voted for the Democratic nominee, former Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter, and his running mate Walter Mondale over the Republican nominee, President Gerald Ford and his running mate Senator Bob Dole. Carter won South Carolina by a margin of 13.04% above Ford.[1]

Ford managed to carry just three of South Carolina's counties, while Nixon managed to carry all 46 counties four years earlier. As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last time that the Democratic nominee carried South Carolina, the last time a Democrat won Horry County, Spartanburg County, Berkeley County, Beaufort County, Dorchester County, Florence County, Pickens County, Kershaw County, and Newberry County,[2] and the last time a Democrat swept every congressional district in the state.

Results

1976 United States presidential election in South Carolina[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Democratic	Jimmy Carter	450,825	56.17%	8
	Republican	Gerald Ford	346,140	43.13%	0
	Independent	Thomas Anderson	2,997	0.37%	0
	American	Lester Maddox	1,951	0.24%	0
	Write-ins	Write-ins	681[lower-alpha 1]	0.08%	0
Totals			802,594	99.99%	8
Voter turnout					-

Results by county

County	James Earl Carter[3] Democratic		Gerald Rudolph Ford[3] Republican		Thomas Jefferson Anderson[3] Independent		Lester Garfield Maddox[3] American		Margin		Total votes cast
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Abbeville	4,700	72.06%	1,791	27.46%	19	0.29%	12	0.18%	2,909	44.60%	6,522
Aiken	14,927	47.88%	16,011	51.36%	80	0.26%	155	0.50%	-1,084	-3.48%	31,173
Allendale	2,634	71.02%	1,064	28.69%	4	0.11%	7	0.19%	1,570	42.33%	3,709
Anderson	19,002	66.32%	9,496	33.14%	96	0.34%	60	0.21%	9,506	33.18%	28,654
Bamberg	3,330	63.84%	1,849	35.45%	19	0.36%	18	0.35%	1,481	28.39%	5,216
Barnwell	4,083	61.38%	2,569	38.62%	0	0.00%	0	0.00%	1,514	22.76%	6,652
Beaufort	6,049	50.29%	5,935	49.34%	25	0.21%	20	0.17%	114	0.95%	12,029
Berkeley	9,741	58.05%	6,981	41.60%	27	0.16%	32	0.19%	2,760	16.45%	16,781
Calhoun	2,055	59.29%	1,382	39.87%	22	0.63%	7	0.20%	673	19.42%	3,466
Charleston	34,328	49.64%	34,010	49.18%	445	0.64%	372	0.54%	318	0.46%	69,155
Cherokee	7,765	66.19%	3,931	33.51%	17	0.14%	19	0.16%	3,834	32.68%	11,732
Chester	5,200	63.32%	2,982	36.31%	18	0.22%	12	0.15%	2,218	27.01%	8,212
Chesterfield	7,687	75.04%	2,537	24.77%	11	0.11%	9	0.09%	5,150	50.27%	10,244
Clarendon	5,489	64.13%	3,040	35.52%	14	0.16%	16	0.19%	2,449	28.61%	8,559
Colleton	5,134	60.24%	3,324	39.00%	34	0.40%	30	0.35%	1,810	21.24%	8,522
Darlington	10,165	60.16%	6,678	39.52%	26	0.15%	28	0.17%	3,487	20.64%	16,897
Dillon	5,089	66.62%	2,527	33.08%	10	0.13%	13	0.17%	2,562	33.54%	7,639
Dorchester	8,046	54.44%	6,695	45.30%	19	0.13%	19	0.13%	1,351	9.14%	14,779
Edgefield	3,216	62.60%	1,879	36.58%	17	0.33%	25	0.49%	1,337	26.03%	5,137
Fairfield	4,153	69.36%	1,817	30.34%	11	0.18%	7	0.12%	2,336	39.01%	5,988
Florence	16,294	54.49%	13,539	45.27%	27	0.09%	44	0.15%	2,755	9.21%	29,904
Georgetown	7,169	63.54%	4,058	35.97%	34	0.30%	22	0.19%	3,111	27.57%	11,283
Greenville	35,943	47.31%	39,099	51.46%	796	1.05%	143	0.19%	-3,156	-4.15%	75,981
Greenwood	9,976	62.39%	5,974	37.36%	17	0.11%	24	0.15%	4,002	25.03%	15,991
Hampton	3,923	68.56%	1,773	30.99%	11	0.19%	15	0.26%	2,150	37.57%	5,722
Horry	15,720	62.59%	9,339	37.18%	15	0.06%	43	0.17%	6,381	25.41%	25,117
Jasper	2,903	70.12%	1,221	29.49%	6	0.14%	10	0.24%	1,682	40.63%	4,140
Kershaw	6,211	50.08%	6,126	49.40%	36	0.29%	29	0.23%	85	0.69%	12,402
Lancaster	8,324	62.19%	4,997	37.33%	37	0.28%	27	0.20%	3,327	24.86%	13,385
Laurens	7,440	57.98%	5,300	41.31%	54	0.42%	37	0.29%	2,140	16.68%	12,831
Lee	3,869	61.86%	2,357	37.69%	12	0.19%	16	0.26%	1,512	24.18%	6,254
Lexington	14,339	39.75%	21,442	59.43%	183	0.51%	113	0.31%	-7,103	-19.69%	36,077
Marion	5,927	65.74%	3,076	34.12%	7	0.08%	6	0.07%	2,851	31.62%	9,016
Marlboro	5,409	73.32%	1,961	26.58%	2	0.03%	5	0.07%	3,448	46.74%	7,377
McCormick	1,774	73.09%	640	26.37%	5	0.21%	8	0.33%	1,134	46.72%	2,427
Newberry	5,034	50.26%	4,931	49.23%	24	0.24%	27	0.27%	103	1.03%	10,016
Oconee	8,447	68.61%	3,805	30.90%	41	0.33%	19	0.15%	4,642	37.70%	12,312
Orangeburg	13,652	60.40%	8,794	38.90%	108	0.48%	50	0.22%	4,858	21.49%	22,604
Pickens	8,505	51.07%	8,029	48.21%	95	0.57%	26	0.16%	476	2.86%	16,655
Richland	36,855	52.68%	32,727	46.78%	211	0.30%	169	0.24%	4,128	5.90%	69,962
Saluda	2,715	56.11%	2,085	43.09%	25	0.52%	14	0.29%	630	13.02%	4,839
Spartanburg	27,925	57.32%	20,456	41.99%	223	0.46%	113	0.23%	7,469	15.33%	48,717
Sumter	10,471	52.59%	9,332	46.87%	56	0.28%	53	0.27%	1,139	5.72%	19,912
Union	6,363	64.51%	3,463	35.11%	13	0.13%	24	0.24%	2,900	29.40%	9,863
Williamsburg	8,745	62.22%	5,275	37.53%	10	0.07%	25	0.18%	3,470	24.69%	14,055
York	14,099	58.73%	9,843	41.00%	35	0.15%	28	0.12%	4,256	17.73%	24,005
Totals	450,825	56.17%	346,140	43.13%	2,997	0.37%	1,951	0.24%	104,685	13.04%	802,594

Notes

1. These write-in votes were not separated by county, but given only as a state-wide total.[3]

References

1. "1976 Presidential General Election Results - South Carolina". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved 2016-08-24.
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. "SC US President Race, November 02, 1976". Our Campaigns.