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The1976 United States presidential election in Vermont took place on November 2, 1976, as part of the1976 United States presidential election which was held throughout all 50 states and theDistrict of Columbia. Voters chose three representatives, or electors to theElectoral College, who voted forpresident andvice president.
Vermont voted for incumbentRepublicanPresidentGerald Ford ofMichigan and his running mateSenatorBob Dole ofKansas, defeatingDemocraticGovernorJimmy Carter ofGeorgia and his running mateSenatorWalter Mondale ofMinnesota. Vermont was the only state in the nation in 1976 in which everycounty or county-equivalent voted for Ford, despite Vermont only being Ford's 8th strongest state in the nation in terms of percentage of the vote.
Ford took 54.34% of the vote to Carter's 43.14%, a victory margin of 11.20%. Anti-war former Democratic SenatorEugene McCarthy ofMinnesota, running as anIndependent presidential candidate, came in a distant third, with 2.13%.
Presidential primaries were held in the state on March 2, 1976, for the Democratic, Republican and Liberty Union parties.
Jimmy Carter won the state's non-binding primary against three other candidates. Delegates were later pledged at the party's state convention on May 22.[2]
| Candidate | Vote | |
|---|---|---|
| # | % | |
| Jimmy Carter | 16,335 | 46.34% |
| Sargent Shriver | 10,699 | 30.35% |
| Fred R. Harris | 4,893 | 13.88% |
| Ellen McCormack | 3,324 | 9.43% |
| Total valid votes | 35,251 | 100% |
Gerald Ford won the primary by a large margin and earned a majority of the state's delegates.
| Candidate | Vote | Pledged delegates | |
|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | ||
| Gerald Ford(incumbent) | 27,014 | 84.67% | 17 |
| Ronald Reagan | 4,892 | 15.33% | 3 |
| Total valid votes | 31,906 | 100% | 20 |
| Candidate | Vote | |
|---|---|---|
| # | % | |
| Margaret Wright | 965 | 100% |
| Total valid votes | 965 | 100% |
| 1976 United States presidential election in Vermont[6] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | Percentage | Electoral votes | |
| Republican | Gerald Ford (incumbent) | 102,085 | 54.34% | 3 | |
| Democratic/Independent Vermonters | Jimmy Carter | 81,044 | 43.14% | 0 | |
| McCarthy '76 | Eugene McCarthy | 4,001 | 2.13% | 0 | |
| Socialist Workers | Peter Camejo | 430 | 0.23% | 0 | |
| U.S. Labor | Lyndon LaRouche | 196 | 0.10% | 0 | |
| No party | Write-ins | 99 | 0.05% | 0 | |
| Totals | 187,855 | 100.00% | 3 | ||
| Voter Turnout (Voting age/Registered) | 56%/66% | ||||
| County | Gerald Ford[7] Republican | Jimmy Carter[7] Democratic | Eugene McCarthy[7] “McCarthy ‘76” | Peter Camejo[7] Socialist Workers | Various candidates[7] Other parties | Margin | Total votes cast | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | ||
| Addison | 5,726 | 56.52% | 4,164 | 41.10% | 195 | 1.92% | 33 | 0.33% | 13 | 0.13% | 1,562 | 15.42% | 10,131 |
| Bennington | 6,712 | 54.19% | 5,443 | 43.94% | 195 | 1.57% | 16 | 0.13% | 21 | 0.17% | 1,269 | 10.25% | 12,387 |
| Caledonia | 5,488 | 59.63% | 3,511 | 38.15% | 171 | 1.86% | 15 | 0.16% | 18 | 0.20% | 1,977 | 21.48% | 9,203 |
| Chittenden | 22,013 | 53.23% | 17,992 | 43.51% | 1,154 | 2.79% | 144 | 0.35% | 53 | 0.13% | 4,021 | 9.72% | 41,356 |
| Essex | 1,161 | 53.04% | 1,002 | 45.77% | 19 | 0.87% | 4 | 0.18% | 3 | 0.14% | 159 | 7.27% | 2,189 |
| Franklin | 6,190 | 51.64% | 5,610 | 46.80% | 150 | 1.25% | 17 | 0.14% | 19 | 0.16% | 580 | 4.84% | 11,986 |
| Grand Isle | 1,004 | 52.59% | 866 | 45.36% | 34 | 1.78% | 3 | 0.16% | 2 | 0.10% | 138 | 7.23% | 1,909 |
| Lamoille | 3,535 | 61.56% | 2,016 | 35.11% | 173 | 3.01% | 9 | 0.16% | 9 | 0.16% | 1,519 | 26.45% | 5,742 |
| Orange | 4,768 | 58.61% | 3,171 | 38.98% | 168 | 2.07% | 19 | 0.23% | 9 | 0.11% | 1,597 | 19.63% | 8,135 |
| Orleans | 4,075 | 52.30% | 3,561 | 45.71% | 124 | 1.59% | 7 | 0.09% | 24 | 0.31% | 514 | 6.59% | 7,791 |
| Rutland | 11,565 | 53.00% | 9,868 | 45.23% | 324 | 1.48% | 28 | 0.13% | 34 | 0.16% | 1,697 | 7.77% | 21,819 |
| Washington | 10,919 | 53.90% | 8,764 | 43.26% | 460 | 2.27% | 80 | 0.39% | 36 | 0.18% | 2,155 | 10.64% | 20,259 |
| Windham | 7,928 | 52.05% | 6,794 | 44.60% | 456 | 2.99% | 36 | 0.24% | 18 | 0.12% | 1,134 | 7.45% | 15,232 |
| Windsor | 11,001 | 55.80% | 8,282 | 42.01% | 378 | 1.92% | 19 | 0.10% | 36 | 0.18% | 2,719 | 13.79% | 19,716 |
| Totals | 102,085 | 54.34% | 81,044 | 43.14% | 4,001 | 2.13% | 430 | 0.23% | 295 | 0.16% | 21,041 | 11.20% | 187,855 |
Vermont historically was a bastion ofliberalNortheastern Republicanism, and by 1976 it had gone Republican in every presidential election since the founding of the Republican Party, except in the Democratic landslide of1964, when the GOP had nominated staunchconservativeBarry Goldwater. Gerald Ford, a moderate Northern Republican from Michigan, was easily able to continue the Republican tradition in Vermont, carrying the state comfortably and sweeping every county in the state against Southerner Jimmy Carter. This was the first election since1892 whenGrand Isle County had backed a losing candidate.[8] In addition, this was also the most recent presidential election until 2020 when sparsely populatedEssex County did not vote for/back the overall winning candidate.
As the Republican Party would lurch to the right withRonald Reagan four years later in 1980, Vermont would prove to be the only state in the nation where the moderate Ford would outperform theconservative Reagan. Ford won the state by a larger margin and won more counties than Reagan, reflecting the process ofrealignment going on at the time both within the party and within the state.
1976 was the last time that a losing Republican candidate would carry the state of Vermont, and the last time that the state would vote Republican in a close election. It was also the last election in which Vermont was more Republican than the nation as a whole, with Ford winning the state by over 11 points despite losing the national race by 2, making Vermont 13% more Republican than the national average in the 1976 election. Vermont would vote more Democratic than the nation in every election that has followed beginning in1980.
State and district results of the1976 United States presidential election | ||
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