1976 United States presidential election in Georgia
The 1976 United States presidential election in Georgia was held on November 2, 1976. The Democratic candidate, former Governor of Georgia Jimmy Carter, overwhelmingly won his home state with 66.74% of the vote ahead of the Republican Party candidate, incumbent President Gerald Ford, giving him the state’s 12 electoral votes. Carter carried all of Georgia’s 159 counties and 10 congressional districts by wide margins.[1]
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![]() County Results
Carter 50-60% 60-70% 70-80% 80-90%
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Elections in Georgia |
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This is the only presidential election in Georgia history where the Democratic candidate carried all of Georgia’s counties, despite the state's long Democratic streak, as Republicans never carried the state until 1964, compared to this beginning of just a 2-election streak.[2] This represented a complete flip from four years earlier when President Richard Nixon also carried every county in Georgia. Carter’s percentage total in the popular vote, however, was less than that of previous Democratic victors in the state like Woodrow Wilson, James M. Cox, John W. Davis, and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Nevertheless, none of these candidates carried every county in the state, as Carter remains the solitary Democrat to carry historically pro-Union, East Tennessee-oriented[3] Fannin County since 1912, and indeed the only Democrat to obtain a majority of the vote there since William Jennings Bryan in 1900.[4] The following counties have also never voted for a Democrat since: Dade, Walker, Catoosa, Fayette, Columbia, Lee and Lowndes.[5] The two suburban Atlanta counties of Cobb and Gwinnett would not vote for a Democrat again until Hillary Clinton won them in 2016.
Results
United States presidential election in Georgia, 1976 | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | Percentage | Electoral votes | |
Democrat | James Carter | 979,409 | 66.74% | 12 | |
Republican | Gerald Ford (incumbent) | 483,743 | 32.96% | 0 | |
Write-in | Thomas J. Anderson | 1,168 | 0.08% | 0 | |
Write-in | Lester Maddox | 1,071 | 0.07% | 0 | |
Write-in | Eugene McCarthy | 991 | 0.07% | 0 | |
Write-in | Write-ins (scattered) | 847 | 0.06% | 0 | |
Write-in | Roger MacBride | 175 | 0.01% | 0 | |
Write-in | Peter Camejo | 43 | 0.00% | 0 | |
Write-in | Gus Hall | 3 | 0.00% | 0 | |
Write-in | Ernest Miller | 3 | 0.00% | 0 | |
Write-in | Julius Levin | 2 | 0.00% | 0 | |
Write-in | Frank Zeidler | 2 | 0.00% | 0 | |
Write-in | Lyndon LaRouche | 1 | 0.00% | 0 | |
Totals | 1,467,458 | 100.00% | 12 | ||
Voter turnout | 42% | — |
Results by county
County | James Earl Carter Democratic |
Gerald Rudolph Ford Republican |
Total votes cast[lower-alpha 1] | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
# | % | # | % | ||
Appling | 3,585 | 78.86% | 961 | 21.14% | 4,546 |
Atkinson | 1,560 | 81.80% | 347 | 18.20% | 1,907 |
Bacon | 2,395 | 80.13% | 594 | 19.87% | 2,989 |
Baker | 1,162 | 79.21% | 305 | 20.79% | 1,467 |
Baldwin | 4,674 | 56.41% | 3,612 | 43.59% | 8,286 |
Banks | 2,387 | 87.85% | 330 | 12.15% | 2,717 |
Barrow | 4,756 | 77.71% | 1,364 | 22.29% | 6,120 |
Bartow | 8,166 | 81.32% | 1,876 | 18.68% | 10,042 |
Ben Hill | 2,449 | 75.05% | 814 | 24.95% | 3,263 |
Berrien | 3,394 | 85.95% | 555 | 14.05% | 3,949 |
Bibb | 31,902 | 71.34% | 12,819 | 28.66% | 44,721 |
Bleckley | 2,605 | 72.83% | 972 | 27.17% | 3,577 |
Brantley | 2,294 | 86.50% | 358 | 13.50% | 2,652 |
Brooks | 2,653 | 70.65% | 1,102 | 29.35% | 3,755 |
Bryan | 2,045 | 72.88% | 761 | 27.12% | 2,806 |
Bulloch | 5,199 | 62.23% | 3,156 | 37.77% | 8,355 |
Burke | 3,014 | 65.82% | 1,565 | 34.18% | 4,579 |
Butts | 2,898 | 77.97% | 819 | 22.03% | 3,717 |
Calhoun | 1,394 | 76.17% | 436 | 23.83% | 1,830 |
Camden | 2,962 | 74.85% | 995 | 25.15% | 3,957 |
Candler | 1,388 | 68.24% | 646 | 31.76% | 2,034 |
Carroll | 10,050 | 73.41% | 3,640 | 26.59% | 13,690 |
Catoosa | 6,020 | 61.31% | 3,799 | 38.69% | 9,819 |
Charlton | 1,750 | 79.47% | 452 | 20.53% | 2,202 |
Chatham | 32,075 | 57.04% | 24,160 | 42.96% | 56,235 |
Chattahoochee | 506 | 73.98% | 178 | 26.02% | 684 |
Chattooga | 4,686 | 81.17% | 1,087 | 18.83% | 5,773 |
Cherokee | 6,539 | 71.48% | 2,609 | 28.52% | 9,148 |
Clarke | 11,342 | 63.18% | 6,610 | 36.82% | 17,952 |
Clay | 947 | 76.25% | 295 | 23.75% | 1,242 |
Clayton | 21,432 | 62.42% | 12,905 | 37.58% | 34,337 |
Clinch | 1,414 | 78.69% | 383 | 21.31% | 1,797 |
Cobb | 45,002 | 56.73% | 34,324 | 43.27% | 79,326 |
Coffee | 4,601 | 76.45% | 1,417 | 23.55% | 6,018 |
Colquitt | 6,928 | 76.06% | 2,181 | 23.94% | 9,109 |
Columbia | 4,674 | 57.73% | 3,423 | 42.27% | 8,097 |
Cook | 2,882 | 81.14% | 670 | 18.86% | 3,552 |
Coweta | 6,195 | 67.05% | 3,044 | 32.95% | 9,239 |
Crawford | 1,842 | 82.97% | 378 | 17.03% | 2,220 |
Crisp | 3,747 | 73.83% | 1,328 | 26.17% | 5,075 |
Dade | 2,263 | 61.98% | 1,388 | 38.02% | 3,651 |
Dawson | 1,384 | 78.91% | 370 | 21.09% | 1,754 |
Decatur | 3,736 | 59.91% | 2,500 | 40.09% | 6,236 |
DeKalb | 86,872 | 56.40% | 67,160 | 43.60% | 154,032 |
Dodge | 5,267 | 86.13% | 848 | 13.87% | 6,115 |
Dooly | 2,441 | 78.84% | 655 | 21.16% | 3,096 |
Dougherty | 11,461 | 55.11% | 9,337 | 44.89% | 20,798 |
Douglas | 7,805 | 66.35% | 3,959 | 33.65% | 11,764 |
Early | 2,405 | 67.52% | 1,157 | 32.48% | 3,562 |
Echols | 585 | 84.05% | 111 | 15.95% | 696 |
Effingham | 2,906 | 63.73% | 1,654 | 36.27% | 4,560 |
Elbert | 4,730 | 83.11% | 961 | 16.89% | 5,691 |
Emanuel | 4,603 | 75.51% | 1,493 | 24.49% | 6,096 |
Evans | 1,631 | 68.62% | 746 | 31.38% | 2,377 |
Fannin | 3,402 | 56.25% | 2,646 | 43.75% | 6,048 |
Fayette | 3,718 | 56.72% | 2,837 | 43.28% | 6,555 |
Floyd | 15,151 | 66.27% | 7,713 | 33.73% | 22,864 |
Forsyth | 4,693 | 76.48% | 1,443 | 23.52% | 6,136 |
Franklin | 4,192 | 85.92% | 687 | 14.08% | 4,879 |
Fulton | 129,849 | 67.84% | 61,552 | 32.16% | 191,401 |
Gilmer | 2,499 | 66.46% | 1,261 | 33.54% | 3,760 |
Glascock | 704 | 65.49% | 371 | 34.51% | 1,075 |
Glynn | 9,459 | 63.65% | 5,403 | 36.35% | 14,862 |
Gordon | 6,052 | 78.09% | 1,698 | 21.91% | 7,750 |
Grady | 3,758 | 75.66% | 1,209 | 24.34% | 4,967 |
Greene | 2,534 | 79.54% | 652 | 20.46% | 3,186 |
Gwinnett | 20,838 | 59.97% | 13,912 | 40.03% | 34,750 |
Habersham | 5,120 | 79.56% | 1,315 | 20.44% | 6,435 |
Hall | 12,804 | 71.54% | 5,093 | 28.46% | 17,897 |
Hancock | 2,117 | 76.48% | 651 | 23.52% | 2,768 |
Haralson | 4,550 | 77.76% | 1,301 | 22.24% | 5,851 |
Harris | 2,861 | 64.95% | 1,544 | 35.05% | 4,405 |
Hart | 4,605 | 84.26% | 860 | 15.74% | 5,465 |
Heard | 1,593 | 78.63% | 433 | 21.37% | 2,026 |
Henry | 5,717 | 68.56% | 2,622 | 31.44% | 8,339 |
Houston | 13,164 | 70.90% | 5,404 | 29.10% | 18,568 |
Irwin | 2,012 | 78.20% | 561 | 21.80% | 2,573 |
Jackson | 5,931 | 82.72% | 1,239 | 17.28% | 7,170 |
Jasper | 1,852 | 72.88% | 689 | 27.12% | 2,541 |
Jeff Davis | 2,405 | 79.45% | 622 | 20.55% | 3,027 |
Jefferson | 3,115 | 70.41% | 1,309 | 29.59% | 4,424 |
Jenkins | 1,820 | 76.37% | 563 | 23.63% | 2,383 |
Johnson | 2,210 | 76.00% | 698 | 24.00% | 2,908 |
Jones | 3,471 | 72.49% | 1,317 | 27.51% | 4,788 |
Lamar | 2,785 | 76.68% | 847 | 23.32% | 3,632 |
Lanier | 1,269 | 85.98% | 207 | 14.02% | 1,476 |
Laurens | 8,617 | 72.42% | 3,281 | 27.58% | 11,898 |
Lee | 1,727 | 60.87% | 1,110 | 39.13% | 2,837 |
Liberty | 3,328 | 77.27% | 979 | 22.73% | 4,307 |
Lincoln | 1,583 | 73.32% | 576 | 26.68% | 2,159 |
Long | 1,243 | 84.85% | 222 | 15.15% | 1,465 |
Lowndes | 8,830 | 66.18% | 4,512 | 33.82% | 13,342 |
Lumpkin | 2,301 | 80.79% | 547 | 19.21% | 2,848 |
McDuffie | 3,024 | 64.09% | 1,694 | 35.91% | 4,718 |
McIntosh | 1,978 | 78.71% | 535 | 21.29% | 2,513 |
Macon | 3,013 | 82.53% | 638 | 17.47% | 3,651 |
Madison | 3,367 | 75.12% | 1,115 | 24.88% | 4,482 |
Marion | 1,314 | 81.87% | 291 | 18.13% | 1,605 |
Meriwether | 4,830 | 76.91% | 1,450 | 23.09% | 6,280 |
Miller | 1,536 | 76.34% | 476 | 23.66% | 2,012 |
Mitchell | 4,495 | 74.09% | 1,572 | 25.91% | 6,067 |
Monroe | 2,962 | 73.32% | 1,078 | 26.68% | 4,040 |
Montgomery | 1,610 | 72.00% | 626 | 28.00% | 2,236 |
Morgan | 2,274 | 71.55% | 904 | 28.45% | 3,178 |
Murray | 3,511 | 79.80% | 889 | 20.20% | 4,400 |
Muscogee | 24,092 | 64.09% | 13,496 | 35.91% | 37,588 |
Newton | 6,294 | 74.65% | 2,137 | 25.35% | 8,431 |
Oconee | 2,228 | 65.30% | 1,184 | 34.70% | 3,412 |
Oglethorpe | 1,854 | 69.57% | 811 | 30.43% | 2,665 |
Paulding | 5,420 | 79.10% | 1,432 | 20.90% | 6,852 |
Peach | 3,989 | 77.43% | 1,163 | 22.57% | 5,152 |
Pickens | 2,571 | 72.55% | 973 | 27.45% | 3,544 |
Pierce | 2,628 | 82.85% | 544 | 17.15% | 3,172 |
Pike | 1,903 | 71.03% | 776 | 28.97% | 2,679 |
Polk | 6,115 | 75.88% | 1,944 | 24.12% | 8,059 |
Pulaski | 2,318 | 82.70% | 485 | 17.30% | 2,803 |
Putnam | 2,040 | 70.96% | 835 | 29.04% | 2,875 |
Quitman | 677 | 68.38% | 313 | 31.62% | 990 |
Rabun | 2,398 | 80.23% | 591 | 19.77% | 2,989 |
Randolph | 2,186 | 74.53% | 747 | 25.47% | 2,933 |
Richmond | 24,042 | 57.33% | 17,893 | 42.67% | 41,935 |
Rockdale | 4,640 | 60.94% | 2,974 | 39.06% | 7,614 |
Schley | 783 | 74.50% | 268 | 25.50% | 1,051 |
Screven | 2,168 | 64.83% | 1,176 | 35.17% | 3,344 |
Seminole | 2,074 | 75.28% | 681 | 24.72% | 2,755 |
Spalding | 7,593 | 67.00% | 3,739 | 33.00% | 11,332 |
Stephens | 5,560 | 80.58% | 1,340 | 19.42% | 6,900 |
Stewart | 1,632 | 79.03% | 433 | 20.97% | 2,065 |
Sumter | 5,328 | 72.19% | 2,053 | 27.81% | 7,381 |
Talbot | 1,634 | 78.07% | 459 | 21.93% | 2,093 |
Taliaferro | 748 | 76.02% | 236 | 23.98% | 984 |
Tattnall | 3,556 | 72.84% | 1,326 | 27.16% | 4,882 |
Taylor | 1,962 | 79.56% | 504 | 20.44% | 2,466 |
Telfair | 3,534 | 84.73% | 637 | 15.27% | 4,171 |
Terrell | 2,348 | 66.78% | 1,168 | 33.22% | 3,516 |
Thomas | 6,147 | 65.32% | 3,263 | 34.68% | 9,410 |
Tift | 5,185 | 70.57% | 2,162 | 29.43% | 7,347 |
Toombs | 4,047 | 65.56% | 2,126 | 34.44% | 6,173 |
Towns | 1,786 | 60.32% | 1,175 | 39.68% | 2,961 |
Treutlen | 1,567 | 77.12% | 465 | 22.88% | 2,032 |
Troup | 7,699 | 63.52% | 4,422 | 36.48% | 12,121 |
Turner | 2,265 | 84.48% | 416 | 15.52% | 2,681 |
Twiggs | 2,515 | 83.06% | 513 | 16.94% | 3,028 |
Union | 2,795 | 70.78% | 1,154 | 29.22% | 3,949 |
Upson | 4,219 | 59.29% | 2,897 | 40.71% | 7,116 |
Walker | 8,007 | 62.49% | 4,807 | 37.51% | 12,814 |
Walton | 5,402 | 76.20% | 1,687 | 23.80% | 7,089 |
Ware | 7,719 | 74.36% | 2,661 | 25.64% | 10,380 |
Warren | 1,335 | 64.96% | 720 | 35.04% | 2,055 |
Washington | 3,865 | 69.99% | 1,657 | 30.01% | 5,522 |
Wayne | 4,489 | 74.97% | 1,499 | 25.03% | 5,988 |
Webster | 622 | 79.03% | 165 | 20.97% | 787 |
Wheeler | 1,378 | 80.02% | 344 | 19.98% | 1,722 |
White | 2,125 | 77.27% | 625 | 22.73% | 2,750 |
Whitfield | 10,475 | 69.96% | 4,498 | 30.04% | 14,973 |
Wilcox | 2,153 | 86.15% | 346 | 13.85% | 2,499 |
Wilkes | 2,461 | 69.76% | 1,067 | 30.24% | 3,528 |
Wilkinson | 2,652 | 76.01% | 837 | 23.99% | 3,489 |
Worth | 2,790 | 70.70% | 1,156 | 29.30% | 3,946 |
Totals | 979,409 | 66.94% | 483,743 | 33.06% | 1,463,152 |
References
- "1976 Presidential General Election Results - Georgia". Retrieved April 25, 2016.
- Thomas, G. Scott; The Pursuit of the White House: A Handbook of Presidential Election Statistics and History, p. 425 ISBN 0313257957
- Mosher, John; ‘Weber, Jennifer L.: Copperheads: The Rise and Fall of Lincoln’s Opponents in the North’ (book review); History, 35(3) (2007), pp. 303-304
- Robinson, Edgar Eugene; The Presidential Vote, 1896-1932, p. 165
- Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016
Notes
- County counts exclude a total of 4,306 write-in votes as these were not tabulated by county.