The 1976 United States presidential election in California took place on November 2, 1976, as part of the 1976 United States presidential election. State voters chose 45 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

California narrowly voted for the Republican incumbent, Gerald Ford, over the Democratic challenger, Jimmy Carter.

Ford won the state with a plurality of 49.35% of the vote to Carter's 47.57%, a victory margin of 1.78%, which made California almost 4% more Republican than the nation-at-large.

As of the 2024 presidential election, this is the last time that a Democrat has won the counties of Amador, El Dorado, Lassen, Madera, Placer, Shasta, Sierra and Yuba,Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016 Carter is also the last candidate from either party to carry Los Angeles by only a plurality. This also remains the last election in which a Republican presidential candidate won at least 40% of the vote in San Francisco, and the last time that county was not the most Democratic in the state. This is also the last time when a Democrat has won the presidency without California and the last time that the state would vote Republican in a close election. The state would not vote for a losing candidate again until 2000, and for the loser of the popular vote until 2004.

Campaign A presidential debate was held in San Francisco at the Palace of Fine Arts with President Ford and Jimmy Carter in attendance. The debate was sponsored by the League of Women Voters with Pauline Frederick from NPR being the moderator of the debate. 63.9 million people watched the debate.

Results

1976 United States presidential election in CaliforniaPartyCandidateVotesPercentageElectoral votes Republican Gerald Ford (incumbent) 3,882,244 49.35% 45 Democratic Jimmy Carter 3,742,284 47.57% 0 No party Eugene McCarthy (write-in) 58,412 0.74% 0 Independent Roger MacBride 56,388 0.72% 0 American Independent Lester Maddox 51,098 0.65% 0 Peace and Freedom Margaret Wright 41,731 0.53% 0 Independent Peter Camejo 17,259 0.22% 0 Independent Gus Hall 12,766 0.16% 0 No party Thomas J. Anderson (write-in) 4,565 0.06% 0 No party Jules Levin (write-in) 222 0.00% 0 No party Write-ins 74 0.00% 0 No party Ben Bubar (write-in) 34 0.00% 0 No party Ernest Miller (write-in) 26 0.00% 0 No party Frank Taylor (write-in) 14 0.00% 0 Invalid or blank votes — Totals 7,867,117 100.00% 45 Voter turnout —

Results by county County Gerald FordRepublican Jimmy CarterDemocratic Various candidatesOther parties Margin Total votes cast # % # % # % # % Alameda 155,280 38.09% 235,988 57.89% 16,413 4.02% -80,708 -19.80% 407,681 Alpine 225 50.34% 189 42.28% 33 7.38% 36 8.06% 447 Amador 3,699 46.13% 4,037 50.35% 282 3.52% -338 -4.22% 8,018 Butte 28,400 51.77% 24,203 44.12% 2,251 4.11% 4,197 7.65% 54,854 Calaveras 3,695 49.08% 3,607 47.91% 226 3.01% 88 1.17% 7,528 Colusa 2,733 52.74% 2,340 45.16% 109 2.10% 393 7.58% 5,182 Contra Costa 126,598 49.35% 123,742 48.24% 6,194 2.41% 2,856 1.11% 256,534 Del Norte 2,481 45.29% 2,789 50.91% 208 3.80% -308 -5.62% 5,478 El Dorado 12,472 47.69% 12,763 48.80% 919 3.51% -291 -1.11% 26,154 Fresno 72,533 48.10% 74,958 49.71% 3,314 2.19% -2,425 -1.61% 150,805 Glenn 4,094 52.67% 3,501 45.04% 178 2.29% 593 7.63% 7,773 Humboldt 18,034 41.58% 23,500 54.18% 1,838 4.24% -5,466 -12.60% 43,372 Imperial 10,618 49.94% 10,244 48.18% 400 1.88% 374 1.76% 21,262 Inyo 3,905 58.23% 2,635 39.29% 166 2.48% 1,270 18.94% 6,706 Kern 58,023 52.29% 50,567 45.57% 2,371 2.14% 7,456 6.72% 110,961 Kings 8,263 49.65% 8,061 48.44% 318 1.91% 202 1.21% 16,642 Lake 5,462 44.46% 6,374 51.88% 449 3.64% -912 -7.42% 12,285 Lassen 3,007 42.97% 3,801 54.32% 190 2.71% -794 -11.35% 6,998 Los Angeles 1,174,926 47.78% 1,221,893 49.69% 62,258 2.53% -46,967 -1.91% 2,459,077 Madera 6,844 45.96% 7,625 51.20% 423 2.84% -781 -5.24% 14,892 Marin 53,425 52.52% 43,590 42.86% 4,700 4.62% 9,835 9.66% 101,715 Mariposa 2,012 46.61% 2,093 48.48% 212 4.91% -81 -1.87% 4,317 Mendocino 9,784 45.49% 10,653 49.53% 1,072 4.98% -869 -4.04% 21,509 Merced 14,842 46.08% 16,637 51.65% 729 2.27% -1,795 -5.57% 32,208 Modoc 1,917 51.20% 1,733 46.29% 94 2.51% 184 4.91% 3,744 Mono 1,600 58.80% 1,025 37.67% 96 3.53% 575 21.13% 2,721 Monterey 40,896 51.02% 36,849 45.97% 2,408 3.01% 4,047 5.05% 80,153 Napa 20,839 51.83% 18,048 44.89% 1,318 3.28% 2,791 6.94% 40,205 Nevada 8,170 48.40% 7,926 46.95% 785 4.65% 244 1.45% 16,881 Orange 408,632 62.16% 232,246 35.33% 16,555 2.51% 176,386 26.83% 657,433 Placer 18,154 45.03% 21,026 52.16% 1,131 2.81% -2,872 -7.13% 40,311 Plumas 2,884 43.94% 3,429 52.25% 250 3.81% -545 -8.31% 6,563 Riverside 97,774 49.24% 96,228 48.46% 4,556 2.30% 1,546 0.78% 198,558 Sacramento 123,110 44.63% 144,203 52.27% 8,563 3.10% -21,093 -7.64% 275,876 San Benito 3,398 50.87% 3,122 46.74% 160 2.40% 276 4.13% 6,680 San Bernardino 113,265 49.49% 109,636 47.90% 5,984 2.61% 3,629 1.59% 228,885 San Diego 353,302 55.74% 263,654 41.60% 16,839 2.66% 89,648 14.14% 633,795 San Francisco 103,561 40.31% 133,733 52.06% 19,594 7.63% -30,172 -11.75% 256,888 San Joaquin 50,277 49.60% 48,733 48.08% 2,351 2.32% 1,544 1.52% 101,361 San Luis Obispo 27,785 51.17% 24,926 45.91% 1,587 2.92% 2,859 5.26% 54,298 San Mateo 117,338 50.63% 102,896 44.40% 11,507 4.97% 14,442 6.23% 231,741 Santa Barbara 60,922 50.83% 55,018 45.91% 3,904 3.26% 5,904 4.92% 119,844 Santa Clara 219,188 49.46% 208,023 46.94% 15,927 3.60% 11,165 2.52% 443,138 Santa Cruz 31,872 43.09% 37,772 51.06% 4,325 5.85% -5,900 -7.97% 73,969 Shasta 17,273 45.63% 19,200 50.72% 1,381 3.65% -1,927 -5.09% 37,854 Sierra 680 43.15% 841 53.36% 55 3.49% -161 -10.21% 1,576 Siskiyou 7,070 48.37% 7,060 48.31% 485 3.32% 10 0.06% 14,615 Solano 26,136 42.40% 33,682 54.64% 1,826 2.96% -7,546 -12.24% 61,644 Sonoma 50,555 47.72% 50,353 47.52% 5,044 4.76% 202 0.20% 105,952 Stanislaus 32,937 44.83% 38,448 52.34% 2,080 2.83% -5,511 -7.51% 73,465 Sutter 8,745 54.21% 6,966 43.18% 420 2.61% 1,779 11.03% 16,131 Tehama 6,110 44.81% 6,990 51.27% 535 3.92% -880 -6.46% 13,635 Trinity 1,989 45.66% 2,172 49.86% 195 4.48% -183 -4.20% 4,356 Tulare 31,864 54.52% 25,551 43.72% 1,027 1.76% 6,313 10.80% 58,442 Tuolumne 6,104 46.94% 6,492 49.93% 407 3.13% -388 -2.99% 13,003 Ventura 82,670 53.20% 68,529 44.10% 4,201 2.70% 14,141 9.10% 155,400 Yolo 18,376 42.42% 23,533 54.33% 1,408 3.25% -5,157 -11.91% 43,317 Yuba 5,496 44.74% 6,451 52.51% 338 2.75% -955 -7.77% 12,285Total3,882,24449.35%3,742,28447.57%242,5893.08%139,9601.78%7,867,117

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

El Dorado Fresno Mariposa Los Angeles Tuolumne Mendocino Trinity Amador Shasta Madera Merced Del Norte Tehama Placer Plumas Shasta Sierra Lake Stanislaus Sacramento Yuba Santa Cruz Plumas Sierra Lassen Solano Humboldt

Results by city +Official outcome by city and unincorporated areas of counties, of which Ford won 233 and Carter won 236. City County Gerald FordRepublican Jimmy CarterDemocratic Various candidatesOther parties Margin Total Votes 1972 to 1976