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 County Results
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| Elections in New Mexico |
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The1976 United States presidential election in New Mexico took place on November 2, 1976. All fifty states andThe District of Columbia were part of the1976 United States presidential election. State voters chose four electors to represent them in theElectoral College, who voted forpresident andvice president.
New Mexico was won byPresidentGerald Ford by a 2-point lead. A very partisan election in New Mexico, only one percent of the electorate voted forthird-party candidates.[1] While Ford took the State of New Mexico, and much of theAmerican Southwest andMidwest,Georgia GovernorJimmy Carter won the electoral college with 297 votes, and was elected president.
A reliablebellwether state in presidential elections up to this point, this was the first election since gaining statehood that New Mexico did not back the winning presidential candidate, and the only time New Mexico did not back the national popular-vote winner until2024 (in2000 and2016, it voted for the candidate who won the popular vote but not the electoral vote).
This is the last time New Mexico voted for a Republican who lost the presidential election, and the last time a Democrat was elected president without winning New Mexico. The state has voted for the Democratic candidate in every election since2008 and voted for a Democrat who lost the popular vote in 2024, suggesting that its streak as a bellwether has ended.
As of the2024 presidential election[update], this is the last election in whichTorrance County andQuay County voted for a Democratic presidential candidate.[2]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican |
| 211,419 | 50.75% | −10.30 | |
| Democratic | 201,148 | 48.28% | +11.72 | ||
| Socialist Workers | 2,462 | 0.59% | +0.47 | ||
| Libertarian | 1,110 | 0.27% | N/A | ||
| Socialist | 240 | 0.06% | N/A | ||
| Prohibition | 211 | 0.05% | N/A | ||
| Total votes | 416,590 | 100.00% | |||
| Republicanwin | |||||
| County | Gerald Ford Republican | Jimmy Carter Democratic | Various candidates Other parties | Margin | Total votes cast | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | ||
| Bernalillo | 76,614 | 53.98% | 63,949 | 45.06% | 1,363 | 0.96% | 12,665 | 8.92% | 141,926 |
| Catron | 602 | 53.18% | 517 | 45.67% | 13 | 1.15% | 85 | 7.51% | 1,132 |
| Chaves | 10,631 | 59.26% | 7,139 | 39.79% | 170 | 0.95% | 3,492 | 19.47% | 17,940 |
| Colfax | 2,259 | 45.13% | 2,718 | 54.29% | 29 | 0.58% | -459 | -9.16% | 5,006 |
| Curry | 6,232 | 54.87% | 5,004 | 44.06% | 122 | 1.07% | 1,228 | 10.81% | 11,358 |
| De Baca | 556 | 47.93% | 597 | 51.47% | 7 | 0.60% | -41 | -3.54% | 1,160 |
| Dona Ana | 13,888 | 53.09% | 12,036 | 46.01% | 233 | 0.90% | 1,852 | 7.08% | 26,157 |
| Eddy | 7,698 | 45.59% | 9,073 | 53.73% | 115 | 0.68% | -1,375 | -8.14% | 16,886 |
| Grant | 4,095 | 43.90% | 5,176 | 55.49% | 57 | 0.61% | -1,081 | -11.59% | 9,328 |
| Guadalupe | 1,047 | 42.68% | 1,379 | 56.22% | 27 | 1.10% | -332 | -13.54% | 2,453 |
| Harding | 387 | 57.08% | 285 | 42.04% | 6 | 0.88% | 102 | 15.04% | 678 |
| Hidalgo | 891 | 48.56% | 938 | 51.12% | 6 | 0.32% | -47 | -2.56% | 1,835 |
| Lea | 8,773 | 56.82% | 6,533 | 42.31% | 135 | 0.87% | 2,240 | 14.51% | 15,441 |
| Lincoln | 2,320 | 61.64% | 1,415 | 37.59% | 29 | 0.77% | 905 | 24.05% | 3,764 |
| Los Alamos | 5,383 | 64.43% | 2,890 | 34.59% | 82 | 0.98% | 2,493 | 29.84% | 8,355 |
| Luna | 2,966 | 50.25% | 2,872 | 48.65% | 65 | 1.10% | 94 | 1.60% | 5,903 |
| McKinley | 4,617 | 39.83% | 6,856 | 59.14% | 120 | 1.03% | -2,239 | -19.31% | 11,593 |
| Mora | 904 | 38.29% | 1,438 | 60.91% | 19 | 0.80% | -534 | -22.62% | 2,361 |
| Otero | 5,914 | 52.10% | 5,333 | 46.98% | 105 | 0.92% | 581 | 5.12% | 11,352 |
| Quay | 2,059 | 49.08% | 2,095 | 49.94% | 41 | 0.98% | -36 | -0.86% | 4,195 |
| Rio Arriba | 3,213 | 30.75% | 7,125 | 68.19% | 111 | 1.06% | -3,912 | -37.44% | 10,449 |
| Roosevelt | 3,269 | 50.85% | 3,111 | 48.39% | 49 | 0.76% | 158 | 2.46% | 6,429 |
| San Juan | 10,852 | 55.13% | 8,615 | 43.77% | 216 | 1.10% | 2,237 | 11.36% | 19,683 |
| San Miguel | 3,162 | 37.17% | 5,204 | 61.17% | 141 | 1.66% | -2,042 | -24.00% | 8,507 |
| Sandoval | 4,110 | 44.34% | 5,072 | 54.72% | 87 | 0.94% | -962 | -10.38% | 9,269 |
| Santa Fe | 11,576 | 44.53% | 14,127 | 54.34% | 294 | 1.13% | -2,551 | -9.81% | 25,997 |
| Sierra | 1,665 | 51.04% | 1,564 | 47.95% | 33 | 1.01% | 101 | 3.09% | 3,262 |
| Socorro | 2,265 | 45.86% | 2,606 | 52.76% | 68 | 1.38% | -341 | -6.90% | 4,939 |
| Taos | 3,012 | 40.07% | 4,414 | 58.72% | 91 | 1.21% | -1,402 | -18.65% | 7,517 |
| Torrance | 1,462 | 48.54% | 1,526 | 50.66% | 24 | 0.80% | -64 | -2.12% | 3,012 |
| Union | 1,146 | 53.30% | 975 | 45.35% | 29 | 1.35% | 171 | 7.95% | 2,150 |
| Valencia | 7,851 | 47.43% | 8,566 | 51.75% | 136 | 0.82% | -715 | -4.32% | 16,553 |
| Totals | 211,419 | 50.75% | 201,148 | 48.28% | 4,023 | 0.97% | 10,271 | 2.47% | 416,590 |
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