Skip to content
The American Political Almanac
RECONSTRUCTION & THE GILDED AGETHE SYSTEM OF 1896THE NEW DEAL ORDERTHE LONG REALIGNMENTPOLARIZED ERA1868RRRRD1888RDRRR1908RDDRR1928RDDDD1948DRRDDRR1976DRR1988RDDRR2008DDRD2024R

The Nation Decides

Electoral votes, the popular vote, and how every state moved
✓ Won
Jimmy Carter
Democrat
Jimmy Carter
297
Electoral votes
50.1% · 40,825,839
President · The Long Realignment

1976

Carter def. Ford, 297–240
pledged 297–241 · 1 faithless elector

Also running: Eugene McCarthy (0.9%)

Gerald Ford
Republican
Gerald Ford
240
Electoral votes
48.0% · 39,145,771
Electoral college — 270 to win (538 electors)297 D · 240 R · 1 other
Popular vote50.1% · 48.0% · other 1.9% · margin D+2.1

81,601,344 votes counted

Electoral map — one tile per state
R+40D+40third party won
The swing from last time
Change in each state’s margin since 1972 · ← toward Republicans · toward Democrats →

The Map Beneath the Map

Three thousand counties, and the demography of the divide

Every county that cast a ballot, shaded by its margin. Hover any county to read it; click to open its 156-year profile. Scrub the timeline above and the map redraws in place. Vote counts exist for all forty elections; the demographic lenses begin in 2000.

County margin

Drawing three thousand counties…

R+40D+40no returns

Who Voted for Whom

The American electorate by income, education, faith and more

How each slice of the electorate split between the parties — by their own account. Weighted ANES self-reports from a national sample: they tilt slightly toward the winner and carry no county detail.

Loading the survey…

Notes on this election

  • One Washington elector pledged to Ford voted for Reagan.