1976 United States presidential election in Washington (state)

The 1976 United States presidential election in Washington was held on November 2, 1976 as part of the 1976 United States presidential election. Incumbent President Gerald Ford won the state of Washington with 50% of the vote,[1] but received only eight of the state's nine electoral votes. Former California Governor Ronald Reagan lost the Republican nomination to Gerald Ford in 1976 and was not on the ballot in any state. However, he was given one electoral vote by Washington faithless elector Mike Padden. This also the most recent presidential election where Washington would vote Republican in a close nationwide contest, while backing the Republican who did not win the overall election too. In addition, this was also the last time until Donald Trump lost two Texas electoral votes in 2016, when a Republican presidential candidate would lose an electoral vote to a faithless elector.

1976 United States presidential election in Washington (state)

November 2, 1976

Nominee Gerald Ford Jimmy Carter Party Republican Democratic Home state Michigan Georgia Running mate Bob Dole Walter Mondale Electoral vote 8 (Ford)[lower-alpha 1] 9 (Dole) 0 Popular vote 777,732 717,323 Percentage 50.00% 46.11%

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

Results

1976 United States presidential election in Washington[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Republican	Gerald Ford (incumbent)	777,732	50.00%	8
	Democratic	Jimmy Carter	717,323	46.11%	0
	Independent	Eugene McCarthy	36,986	2.38%	0
	Right Government	Lester Maddox	8,585	0.55%	0
	American Constitution	Thomas J. Anderson	5,046	0.32%	0
	Libertarian	Roger MacBride	5,042	0.32%	0
	Bicentennial Reality	Margaret Wright	1,124	0.07%	0
	Socialist Workers	Peter Camejo	905	0.06%	0
	U.S. Labor	Lyndon LaRouche	903	0.06%	0
	Communist	Gus Hall	817	0.05%	0
	Socialist Labor	Julius Levin	713	0.05%	0
	Socialist	Frank Zeidler	358	0.02%	0
	Republican	Ronald Reagan	0	0.00%	1
Totals			1,555,534	100.00%	9
Voter turnout (Voting age/Registered voters)					60%/75%

Results by county

County	Gerald Rudolph Ford Republican		James Earl Carter Democratic		Eugene Joseph McCarthy[2] Independent		Various candidates Other parties		Margin		Total votes cast
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Adams	2,795	58.56%	1,790	37.50%	68	1.43%	115	2.41%	1,005	21.08%	4,773
Asotin	2,752	47.22%	2,898	49.73%	80	1.38%	87	1.50%	-146	-2.51%	5,828
Benton	22,135	63.95%	11,306	32.67%	677	1.96%	441	1.28%	10,829	31.33%	34,611
Chelan	10,492	56.13%	7,623	40.78%	322	1.73%	219	1.17%	2,869	15.38%	18,692
Clallam	9,132	49.67%	8,268	44.97%	475	2.60%	418	2.29%	864	4.72%	18,386
Clark	27,938	45.65%	31,080	50.78%	1,469	2.40%	597	0.98%	-3,142	-5.14%	61,201
Columbia	1,153	56.69%	829	40.76%	29	1.43%	23	1.13%	324	15.93%	2,034
Cowlitz	12,531	44.11%	14,958	52.66%	562	1.98%	293	1.03%	-2,427	-8.56%	28,406
Douglas	4,547	53.09%	3,809	44.48%	111	1.30%	83	0.97%	738	8.63%	8,564
Ferry	776	45.86%	814	48.11%	45	2.66%	55	3.25%	-38	-2.25%	1,692
Franklin	5,671	54.51%	4,369	42.00%	192	1.85%	151	1.45%	1,302	12.54%	10,403
Garfield	892	57.18%	616	39.49%	26	1.67%	23	1.48%	276	17.73%	1,560
Grant	9,192	51.87%	7,777	43.89%	400	2.26%	305	1.73%	1,415	8.01%	17,721
Grays Harbor	9,464	39.61%	13,478	56.41%	534	2.24%	331	1.39%	-4,014	-16.86%	23,893
Island	7,804	55.33%	5,859	41.54%	280	1.99%	134	0.95%	1,945	13.82%	14,104
Jefferson	2,794	45.86%	2,913	47.82%	199	3.29%	136	2.25%	-119	-1.97%	6,092
King	279,382	50.79%	248,743	45.22%	14,234	2.60%	5,483	1.00%	30,609	5.59%	550,119
Kitsap	23,124	45.56%	25,701	50.64%	1,179	2.33%	642	1.27%	-2,577	-5.09%	50,750
Kittitas	4,765	47.57%	4,858	48.50%	267	2.67%	99	0.99%	-93	-0.93%	10,017
Klickitat	2,573	44.99%	2,890	50.53%	126	2.21%	119	2.08%	-317	-5.55%	5,719
Lewis	10,933	51.65%	9,026	42.64%	557	2.64%	601	2.85%	1,907	9.03%	21,167
Lincoln	2,925	57.57%	1,978	38.93%	98	1.93%	71	1.40%	947	18.67%	5,081
Mason	4,758	42.14%	6,060	53.67%	268	2.38%	178	1.58%	-1,302	-11.56%	11,291
Okanogan	5,455	47.05%	5,543	47.81%	338	2.92%	233	2.01%	-88	-0.76%	11,595
Pacific	2,781	37.84%	4,278	58.20%	192	2.62%	77	1.05%	-1,497	-20.43%	7,350
Pend Oreille	1,516	47.82%	1,533	48.36%	62	1.96%	51	1.61%	-17	-0.54%	3,170
Pierce	74,668	46.92%	78,238	49.16%	4,316	2.72%	1,502	0.95%	-3,570	-2.25%	159,148
San Juan	1,998	53.68%	1,467	39.41%	152	4.12%	76	2.06%	531	14.38%	3,722
Skagit	13,060	48.66%	12,718	47.39%	575	2.15%	412	1.54%	342	1.28%	26,837
Skamania	1,102	41.55%	1,436	54.15%	82	3.09%	30	1.13%	-334	-12.60%	2,652
Snohomish	55,375	47.95%	55,623	48.16%	2,470	2.14%	1,731	1.50%	-248	-0.22%	115,488
Spokane	68,290	53.37%	55,660	43.50%	2,033	1.59%	1,683	1.32%	12,630	9.89%	127,954
Stevens	4,719	51.81%	3,824	41.98%	181	1.99%	357	3.93%	895	9.86%	9,109
Thurston	21,000	47.67%	21,247	48.23%	1,120	2.55%	494	1.13%	-247	-0.56%	44,056
Wahkiakum	704	41.17%	942	55.09%	32	1.87%	30	1.76%	-238	-13.93%	1,710
Walla Walla	10,883	59.15%	7,012	38.11%	328	1.78%	153	0.83%	3,871	21.07%	18,400
Whatcom	20,007	48.00%	19,739	47.36%	1,393	3.36%	373	0.90%	268	0.65%	41,679
Whitman	8,168	54.21%	6,197	41.13%	428	2.85%	215	1.43%	1,971	13.13%	15,068
Yakima	29,478	53.12%	24,223	43.65%	1,086	1.96%	624	1.13%	5,255	9.48%	55,492
Totals	777,732	50.00%	717,323	46.11%	36,986	2.38%	23,493	1.51%	60,409	3.88%	1,555,534

Notes

1. One elector voted for Ronald Reagan for president

References

1. "1976 Presidential General Election Results – Washington". Retrieved May 9, 2016.
2. Our Campaigns; WA US President 1976