‹ 1972  1980 › ›
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| United States Presidential Election, 1976 | ||||
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| November 2, 1976 | ||||
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| Nominee | Gerald Ford | Jimmy Carter | ||
| Party | Republican | Democratic | ||
| Home state | Michigan | Georgia | ||
| Running mate | Bob Dole | Walter Mondale | ||
| Electoral vote | 283 | 254 | ||
| States carried | 30 | 20+DC | ||
| Popular vote | 40,516,202 | 39,851,540 | ||
| Percentage | 49.8% | 48.9% | ||
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The 1976 United States Presidential Election was the 48th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 2, 1976. The victor of the election of the incumbent President, Gerald Ford, over the relatively little known Georgian governor, Jimmy Carter.
In the wake of the Watergate Scandal, President Richard Nixon resigned; in doing so, promoted his appointed Vice President Gerald Ford to the presidency via the Twenty-fifth Amendment. Ford thus he became the only sitting President who was never voted into a national office.
Despite a flagging economy and the political price of pardoning Nixon, Ford managed to secure the Republican Party nomination against his opponent, former Governor of California, Ronald Reagan. Carter on the other hand, was a dark horse candidate from the deep south, who overcame the other Democratic hopefuls to become the party's nominee, running as a political reformer. He narrowly lost the election to Gerald Ford, who managed to overcome his challenger running on a program of peace, both nationally and internationally.