1976 United States presidential election in New York

1976 United States presidential election in New York
Carter 50–60% 60–70% 70–80%	Ford 50–60% 60–70%
President before election; Gerald Ford ; Republican	Elected President; Jimmy Carter ; Democratic

Last updated November 25, 2024

The 1976 United States presidential election in New York took place on November 2, 1976. All 50 states and the District of Columbia, were part of the 1976 United States presidential election. Voters chose 41 electors to the Electoral College, which voted for President and Vice President. New York was won by Democratic Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter, in a narrow victory against incumbent Republican President Gerald Ford, who failed to gain the presidency through formal election that year. Carter was running with Minnesota Senator Walter Mondale, and President Ford had selected Kansas Senator Bob Dole. The presidential election of 1976 was a very partisan election in New York, with more than 99% of the electorate voting for either Carter or Ford.^[1]

Carter took 51.95% of the popular vote to Ford's 47.52%, a victory margin of 4.43%. New York weighed in as being slightly more Democratic than the national average, by about 2%. The vast majority of counties in New York state were won by the Republican Ford, but the highly populated regions of New York City, Buffalo and Albany were able to tip the scales for the Democratic Carter.

Despite Ford being a Northern moderate, the Southerner Carter won commanding victories over Ford in four of the five boroughs of New York City. Carter broke 70% of the vote in Manhattan and the Bronx, and received over 60% of the vote in Brooklyn and Queens. Overall Carter took a citywide vote total of 66.37%, up to that point the third highest vote share ever received by a Democratic presidential candidate in New York City, surpassed only by the nationwide landslide victories of Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964 and Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1936, despite the fact that Carter was only winning a narrow 2-point victory nationwide. The massive raw vote margin in New York City was the vital key to Carter's narrow margin of victory in New York state. One reason for Ford's unusually weak performance in the city was likely his initial refusal to grant the nearly bankrupt city a federal bailout during the city's 1975 fiscal crisis, sparking the infamous New York Daily News headline "Ford to City: Drop Dead."^[2] While Ford ultimately would extend federal loans to the city to prevent it from falling into bankruptcy, the damage to Ford's reputation in New York City likely contributed to his poor performance among voters there, and to his narrow loss in both New York state and in the nation overall, as Ford would have won the 1976 election and retained the presidency had he carried New York state.

Results

1976 United States presidential election in New York
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Democratic	Jimmy Carter	3,244,165	49.65%
	Liberal	Jimmy Carter	145,393	2.23%
	Total	Jimmy Carter	3,389,558	51.87%	41
	Republican	Gerald Ford	2,825,913	43.24%
	Conservative	Gerald Ford	274,878	4.21%
	Total	Gerald Ford (incumbent)	3,100,791	47.45%	0
	Free Libertarian	Roger MacBride	12,197	0.19%	0
	Communist	Gus Hall	10,270	0.16%	0
	Socialist Workers	Peter Camejo	6,996	0.11%	0
	U.S. Labor	Lyndon LaRouche	5,413	0.08%	0
	Write-ins	Various candidates	4,342^[a]	0.07%	0
	Write-ins	Eugene McCarthy	4,303^[a]	0.07%	0
	Write-ins	Thomas J. Anderson	451^[a]	0.01%	0
	Write-ins	Lester Maddox	99^[a]	0.00%	0
Totals			6,534,170	100.0%	41

New York City results

1976 presidential election in New York City			Manhattan	The Bronx	Brooklyn	Queens	Staten Island	Total
	Democratic- Liberal	Jimmy Carter	337,438	238,786	419,382	379,907	47,867	1,423,380	66.37%
	Democratic- Liberal	Jimmy Carter	73.22%	70.77%	68.34%	60.54%	45.45%	1,423,380	66.37%
	Republican- Conservative	Gerald Ford	117,702	96,842	190,728	244,396	56,995	706,663	32.95%
	Republican- Conservative	Gerald Ford	25.54%	28.70%	31.08%	38.95%	54.11%	706,663	32.95%
	Communist	Gus Hall	2,075	701	1,432	1,034	90	5,332	0.25%
	Communist	Gus Hall	0.45%	0.21%	0.23%	0.16%	0.09%	5,332	0.25%
	Socialist Workers	Peter Camejo	1,468	453	870	767	102	3,660	0.17%
	Socialist Workers	Peter Camejo	0.32%	0.13%	0.14%	0.12%	0.10%	3,660	0.17%
	Free Libertarian	Roger MacBride	683	276	551	577	115	2,202	0.10%
	Free Libertarian	Roger MacBride	0.15%	0.08%	0.09%	0.09%	0.11%	2,202	0.10%
	U.S. Labor	Lyndon LaRouche	592	261	548	615	101	2,117	0.10%
	U.S. Labor	Lyndon LaRouche	0.13%	0.08%	0.09%	0.10%	0.10%	2,117	0.10%
	Write-ins	Write-ins
	Write-ins	Write-ins	880	72	132	207	56	1,347	0.06%
TOTAL			460,838	337,391	613,643	627,503	105,326	2,144,701	100.00%

Results by county

County	Jimmy Carter Democratic/Liberal		Gerald Ford Republican/Conservative		Roger MacBride^[3] Free Libertarian		Gus Hall^[3] Communist		Peter Camejo^[3] Socialist Workers		Lyndon LaRouche^[3] U.S. Labor		Margin		Total votes cast
County	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	Total votes cast
Albany	71,616	50.29%	69,592	48.87%	519	0.36%	148	0.10%	195	0.14%	138	0.10%	2,024	1.42%	142,409
Allegany	6,134	34.06%	11,769	65.35%	36	0.20%	14	0.08%	16	0.09%	9	0.05%	−5,635	−31.29%	18,010
Bronx	238,786	70.77%	96,842	28.70%	276	0.08%	701	0.21%	453	0.13%	261	0.08%	141,944	42.07%	337,391
Broome	39,827	43.93%	50,340	55.53%	174	0.19%	79	0.09%	85	0.09%	44	0.05%	−10,513	−11.60%	90,658
Cattaraugus	13,768	41.19%	19,469	58.25%	71	0.21%	23	0.07%	21	0.06%	41	0.12%	−5,701	−17.06%	33,422
Cayuga	13,348	40.03%	19,775	59.31%	44	0.13%	30	0.09%	16	0.05%	42	0.13%	−6,427	−19.28%	33,343
Chautauqua	27,447	44.68%	33,730	54.90%	137	0.22%	40	0.07%	42	0.07%	40	0.07%	−6,283	−10.22%	61,436
Chemung	17,207	45.25%	20,640	54.28%	55	0.14%	28	0.07%	22	0.06%	45	0.12%	−3,433	−9.03%	38,026
Chenango	7,356	37.08%	12,384	62.43%	47	0.24%	16	0.08%	8	0.04%	19	0.10%	−5,028	−25.35%	19,837
Clinton	11,555	42.63%	15,433	56.94%	44	0.16%	20	0.07%	25	0.09%	22	0.08%	−3,878	−14.31%	27,103
Columbia	10,514	39.56%	15,871	59.72%	82	0.31%	38	0.14%	27	0.10%	42	0.16%	−5,357	−20.16%	26,574
Cortland	6,947	37.96%	11,222	61.32%	67	0.37%	12	0.07%	16	0.09%	13	0.07%	−4,275	−23.36%	18,300
Delaware	7,254	36.59%	12,443	62.76%	40	0.20%	17	0.09%	11	0.06%	14	0.07%	−5,189	−26.17%	19,827
Dutchess	37,531	41.65%	51,312	56.94%	264	0.30%	76	0.09%	88	0.10%	62	0.07%	−13,781	−15.29%	90,111
Erie	229,397	50.66%	220,310	48.65%	1,346	0.30%	540	0.12%	252	0.06%	508	0.11%	9,087	2.01%	452,843
Essex	6,556	38.97%	10,194	60.59%	34	0.20%	23	0.14%	8	0.05%	9	0.05%	−3,638	−21.62%	16,824
Franklin	7,248	44.87%	8,846	54.77%	23	0.14%	9	0.06%	6	0.04%	9	0.06%	−1,598	−9.90%	16,152
Fulton	9,323	43.10%	12,161	56.23%	71	0.33%	15	0.07%	5	0.02%	17	0.08%	−2,838	−13.13%	21,629
Genesee	10,803	42.30%	14,567	57.04%	61	0.24%	26	0.10%	8	0.03%	22	0.09%	−3,764	−14.74%	25,536
Greene	7,740	40.18%	11,370	59.02%	56	0.29%	16	0.08%	26	0.14%	26	0.14%	−3,630	−18.84%	19,264
Hamilton	1,052	31.22%	2,306	68.43%	8	0.24%	3	0.09%	1	0.03%	0	0.00%	−1,254	−37.21%	3,370
Herkimer	12,875	45.37%	15,362	54.14%	58	0.20%	24	0.08%	19	0.07%	23	0.08%	−2,487	−8.77%	28,377
Jefferson	13,503	39.68%	20,401	59.95%	32	0.09%	29	0.09%	14	0.04%	27	0.08%	−6,898	−20.27%	34,028
Kings	419,382	68.34%	190,728	31.08%	551	0.09%	1,432	0.23%	870	0.14%	548	0.09%	228,654	37.26%	613,643
Lewis	3,764	39.07%	5,840	60.62%	15	0.16%	6	0.06%	4	0.04%	4	0.04%	−2,076	−21.55%	9,633
Livingston	9,629	40.43%	14,044	58.96%	78	0.33%	28	0.12%	10	0.04%	21	0.09%	−4,415	−18.53%	23,819
Madison	8,822	35.87%	15,674	63.74%	39	0.16%	15	0.06%	16	0.07%	25	0.10%	−6,852	−27.87%	24,591
Monroe	134,739	44.40%	167,303	55.14%	781	0.26%	243	0.08%	177	0.06%	191	0.06%	−32,564	−10.74%	303,434
Montgomery	11,271	45.57%	13,281	53.70%	59	0.24%	27	0.11%	17	0.07%	30	0.12%	−2,010	−8.13%	24,734
Nassau	302,869	47.64%	329,176	51.78%	955	0.15%	734	0.12%	515	0.08%	334	0.05%	−26,307	−4.14%	635,756
New York	337,438	73.22%	117,702	25.54%	683	0.15%	2,075	0.45%	1,468	0.32%	592	0.13%	219,736	47.68%	460,838
Niagara	43,667	48.39%	46,101	51.09%	232	0.26%	52	0.06%	46	0.05%	79	0.09%	−2,434	−2.70%	90,239
Oneida	47,779	45.08%	57,655	54.40%	251	0.24%	85	0.08%	47	0.04%	89	0.08%	−9,876	−9.32%	105,988
Onondaga	76,097	39.51%	115,474	59.96%	312	0.16%	214	0.11%	103	0.05%	126	0.07%	−39,377	−20.45%	192,578
Ontario	14,044	39.63%	21,118	59.59%	100	0.28%	35	0.10%	13	0.04%	31	0.09%	−7,074	−19.96%	35,441
Orange	40,362	44.51%	49,685	54.80%	183	0.20%	113	0.12%	61	0.07%	60	0.07%	−9,323	−10.29%	90,673
Orleans	5,927	39.45%	8,994	59.87%	48	0.32%	11	0.07%	10	0.07%	7	0.05%	−3,067	−20.42%	15,023
Oswego	16,332	40.36%	23,949	59.19%	83	0.21%	42	0.10%	18	0.04%	27	0.07%	−7,617	−18.83%	40,463
Otsego	9,787	39.54%	14,796	59.77%	51	0.21%	25	0.10%	10	0.04%	29	0.12%	−5,009	−20.23%	24,754
Putnam	11,963	38.95%	18,523	60.31%	65	0.21%	38	0.12%	34	0.11%	25	0.08%	−6,560	−21.36%	30,711
Queens	379,907	60.54%	244,396	38.95%	577	0.09%	1,034	0.16%	767	0.12%	615	0.10%	135,511	21.59%	627,503
Rensselaer	28,979	41.60%	40,229	57.76%	213	0.31%	64	0.09%	42	0.06%	59	0.08%	−11,250	−16.16%	69,653
Richmond	47,867	45.45%	56,995	54.11%	115	0.11%	90	0.09%	102	0.10%	101	0.10%	−9,128	−8.66%	105,326
Rockland	48,673	47.93%	52,087	51.30%	208	0.21%	166	0.16%	110	0.11%	46	0.05%	−3,414	−3.37%	101,540
Saratoga	23,768	38.04%	38,296	61.29%	220	0.35%	76	0.12%	26	0.04%	51	0.08%	−14,528	−23.25%	62,486
Schenectady	31,838	42.60%	40,789	54.58%	242	0.33%	117	0.16%	69	0.09%	88	0.12%	−8,951	−11.98%	74,732
Schoharie	5,250	41.95%	7,154	57.16%	39	0.31%	20	0.16%	16	0.13%	18	0.14%	−1,904	−15.21%	12,515
Schuyler	2,885	40.13%	4,267	59.35%	17	0.24%	6	0.08%	6	0.08%	5	0.07%	−1,382	−19.22%	7,189
Seneca	5,745	42.53%	7,659	56.70%	44	0.33%	10	0.07%	5	0.04%	9	0.07%	−1,914	−14.17%	13,508
St. Lawrence	17,503	43.83%	22,249	55.71%	55	0.14%	43	0.11%	22	0.06%	15	0.04%	−4,746	−11.88%	39,934
Steuben	14,685	38.63%	23,164	60.93%	80	0.21%	40	0.11%	28	0.07%	18	0.05%	−8,479	−22.30%	38,015
Suffolk	208,263	45.27%	248,908	54.10%	1,035	0.23%	486	0.11%	391	0.09%	328	0.07%	−40,645	−8.83%	460,048
Sullivan	14,189	50.50%	13,709	48.79%	70	0.25%	46	0.16%	30	0.11%	34	0.12%	480	1.71%	28,096
Tioga	6,969	36.89%	11,824	62.58%	32	0.17%	17	0.09%	15	0.08%	11	0.06%	−4,855	−25.69%	18,893
Tompkins	12,808	44.67%	15,463	53.93%	58	0.20%	38	0.13%	73	0.26%	19	0.07%	−2,655	−9.26%	28,671
Ulster	30,190	45.64%	35,353	53.44%	207	0.31%	130	0.20%	89	0.13%	57	0.09%	−5,163	−7.80%	66,153
Warren	7,264	33.15%	14,548	66.39%	41	0.19%	17	0.08%	12	0.05%	13	0.06%	−7,284	−33.24%	21,912
Washington	7,262	34.06%	13,946	65.40%	56	0.26%	25	0.12%	13	0.06%	12	0.06%	−6,684	−31.34%	21,324
Wayne	12,061	38.22%	19,324	61.24%	81	0.26%	16	0.05%	7	0.02%	14	0.04%	−7,263	−23.02%	31,557
Westchester	173,153	45.06%	208,527	54.26%	706	0.18%	705	0.18%	383	0.10%	229	0.06%	−35,374	−9.20%	384,296
Wyoming	5,737	36.92%	9,726	62.59%	45	0.29%	15	0.10%	4	0.03%	12	0.08%	−3,989	−25.67%	15,539
Yates	2,903	33.21%	5,796	66.30%	25	0.29%	7	0.08%	4	0.05%	7	0.08%	−2,893	−33.09%	8,742
Totals	3,389,558	51.87%	3,100,791	47.45%	12,197	0.19%	10,270	0.16%	6,996	0.11%	5,413	0.08%	288,767	4.42%	6,534,420

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

Analysis

Even though Ford won in 55 of New York state's 62 counties, Carter's landslide in heavily populated New York City provided Carter with a citywide vote advantage over Ford of 716,717 votes, which was more than twice Carter's statewide victory margin of 288,767 votes. Without Carter winning the New York City boroughs of Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx, Ford would have won New York state by 437,078 votes and a 9.7% margin. There was a significant difference between the results of Upstate New York and Downstate New York in this election. Ford won Upstate by 11% and Carter won Downstate by 16%,^{[ citation needed ]}.

Ford won 50 of the 53 counties in Upstate New York. Carter only won the following three upstate counties: Albany (Albany), Erie (Buffalo), and Sullivan (Monticello). Although Carter won only four of the nine counties in densely populated Downstate New York, he won all four of them by between 21 and 47 percentage points, whereas the five counties in Downstate New York that Ford won all went to him by much smaller margins of between 3 and 9 percentage points.

Carter’s victory in New York was a key to his winning this election. Had Ford carried the state instead, along with all the other states he won, he would have been elected instead with an Electoral College victory of 281 to 256.

The 1976 Democratic National Convention was held at Madison Square Garden in New York City, in August 1976. At the convention, electors and delegates met for 3 days in New York City before formally nominating Carter to run for the presidency.

This is the most recent election where Rockland County would vote for the loser of the national popular vote, the current longest streak of doing so of all counties and county-equivalents nationwide.

Notes

1 2 3 4 Although McCarthy, Anderson and Maddox were separated from other write-in candidates, none of the write-in votes were separated by county; they were given only as a state-wide total.^[3]

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References

↑ "1976 Presidential General Election Results — New York". Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved July 9, 2013.
↑ Van Riper, Frank (October 30, 1975). "Ford to New York: Drop Dead". Daily News . New York. Archived from the original on October 6, 2008. Retrieved March 2, 2014.
1 2 3 4 5 "NY US President Race, November 02, 1976". Our Campaigns.

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[notseparated-4] 1 2 3 4 Although McCarthy, Anderson and Maddox were separated from other write-in candidates, none of the write-in votes were separated by county; they were given only as a state-wide total.^[3]

[1] "1976 Presidential General Election Results — New York". Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved July 9, 2013.

[2] Van Riper, Frank (October 30, 1975). "Ford to New York: Drop Dead". Daily News . New York. Archived from the original on October 6, 2008. Retrieved March 2, 2014.

[Our-3] 1 2 3 4 5 "NY US President Race, November 02, 1976". Our Campaigns.

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