1976 United States presidential election in Colorado

Summary

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

1976 United States presidential election in Colorado

← 1972 November 2, 1976 1980 →
 
Nominee Gerald Ford Jimmy Carter
Party Republican Democratic
Home state Michigan Georgia
Running mate Bob Dole Walter Mondale
Electoral vote 7 0
Popular vote 584,367 460,353
Percentage 54.05% 42.58%

County Results

President before election

Gerald Ford
Republican

Elected President

Jimmy Carter
Democratic

Colorado was won by incumbent President Gerald Ford (RMichigan) with 54.05% of the popular vote, against Jimmy Carter (DGeorgia), with 42.58% of the popular vote. Like most of the Mountain West, Colorado was comfortably in Ford's column; Colorado was Ford's ninth-best state overall (and one of only nine which he won by double digits). Ford held Carter's margin in the city of Denver to 2.8%, and rolled up large margins in the reliably Republican suburban Denver-area counties of Jefferson and Arapahoe. He also ran well in Boulder County, at the time a traditionally Republican county; he would be the last Republican apart from Reagan in his 1984 landslide to win a majority in the county. Despite the large national swing in favor of the Democrats, Ford even took back Pitkin County, which had supported McGovern in 1972.

Nevertheless, Carter showed some strength in some rural parts of Colorado that later Democrats would fail to replicate. As of the 2020 presidential election, this was the last occasion on which Dolores County, Prowers County, Phillips County, and Cheyenne County voted for a Democratic presidential candidate.[1][2]

None of the third-party candidates amounted to a significant portion of the vote, but Eugene McCarthy (IMinnesota) won 2.41% of the popular vote, proportionally significantly ahead of his national 0.91%. This was the first presidential election in which Colorado recorded one million votes.

Despite losing in Colorado, Carter went on to win the national election and became the 39th president of the United States. Colorado had previously voted Republican fifteen times, Democratic nine times, and Populist once (for James B. Weaver in 1892).[3]

Lucretia Potts, Jeanne Meyer, Kay Johnson, Sheldon Sheperd, Fern Wolaver, Martyn Butler, and Clyde Kissinger served as Republican presidential electors.[4]

Results edit

1976 United States presidential election in Colorado
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Gerald Ford (inc.) 584,367 54.05%
Democratic Jimmy Carter 460,353 42.58%
Independent Eugene McCarthy 26,107 2.41%
Libertarian Roger MacBride 5,330 0.49%
Colorado Prohibition Benjamin Bubar 2,882 0.27%
Socialist Labor Peter Camejo 1,126 0.10%
U.S. Labor Lyndon LaRouche 567 0.05%
Communist Gus Hall 403 0.04%
Total votes 1,081,135 100%

Results by county edit

County Gerald Rudolph Ford[5]
Republican
James Earl Carter[5]
Democratic
Eugene Joseph McCarthy[5]
Independent
Roger Lea MacBride[5]
Libertarian
Various candidates[5]
Other parties
Margin
% # % # % # % # % # % #
Rio Blanco 67.24% 1,439 29.30% 627 2.66% 57 0.61% 13 0.19% 4 37.94% 812
Hinsdale 66.55% 189 29.23% 83 3.87% 11 0.35% 1 0.00% 0 37.32% 106
Douglas 65.54% 5,078 31.74% 2,459 2.09% 162 0.49% 38 0.14% 11 33.80% 2,619
Mesa 65.44% 17,924 32.15% 8,807 1.98% 541 0.27% 74 0.16% 44 33.29% 9,117
Gunnison 61.88% 2,568 30.12% 1,250 6.27% 260 0.72% 30 1.01% 42 31.76% 1,318
Eagle 64.18% 2,963 32.53% 1,502 2.40% 111 0.74% 34 0.15% 7 31.64% 1,461
Ouray 62.50% 645 32.27% 333 4.75% 49 0.39% 4 0.10% 1 30.23% 312
Arapahoe 63.45% 63,154 33.85% 33,685 1.76% 1,748 0.45% 449 0.49% 490 29.61% 29,469
Custer 62.39% 491 32.91% 259 3.43% 27 0.89% 7 0.38% 3 29.48% 232
Grand 61.77% 1,703 33.01% 910 4.10% 113 0.80% 22 0.33% 9 28.76% 793
Rio Grande 62.37% 2,627 35.02% 1,475 2.09% 88 0.33% 14 0.19% 8 27.35% 1,152
Larimer 60.72% 32,169 35.87% 19,005 2.56% 1,356 0.56% 297 0.29% 156 24.85% 13,164
Jefferson 60.44% 87,080 36.64% 52,782 2.18% 3,141 0.53% 770 0.21% 300 23.81% 34,298
Summit 58.15% 1,826 34.62% 1,087 5.29% 166 1.15% 36 0.80% 25 23.54% 739
Jackson 60.83% 455 37.30% 279 1.87% 14 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 23.53% 176
Garfield 59.74% 4,699 36.26% 2,852 2.83% 223 0.52% 41 0.65% 51 23.48% 1,847
La Plata 59.05% 6,228 36.44% 3,843 2.96% 312 0.62% 65 0.94% 99 22.61% 2,385
El Paso 59.13% 50,929 38.21% 32,911 1.83% 1,574 0.62% 530 0.22% 186 20.92% 18,018
Delta 58.82% 4,980 38.17% 3,232 2.29% 194 0.41% 35 0.31% 26 20.64% 1,748
Montrose 58.42% 4,838 38.20% 3,164 2.66% 220 0.23% 19 0.50% 41 20.21% 1,674
Montezuma 57.99% 3,002 38.50% 1,993 2.94% 152 0.39% 20 0.19% 10 19.49% 1,009
Moffat 55.68% 2,099 38.49% 1,451 3.18% 120 0.80% 30 1.86% 70 17.19% 648
Teller 55.93% 1,410 39.11% 986 3.73% 94 0.95% 24 0.28% 7 16.82% 424
Chaffee 56.66% 2,925 39.98% 2,064 2.29% 118 0.35% 18 0.72% 37 16.68% 861
Mineral 55.56% 235 39.48% 167 4.73% 20 0.24% 1 0.00% 0 16.08% 68
Park 55.24% 1,034 39.58% 741 3.58% 67 0.69% 13 0.91% 17 15.65% 293
Clear Creek 55.36% 1,477 40.07% 1,069 3.00% 80 0.34% 9 1.24% 33 15.29% 408
Pitkin 53.61% 2,955 39.80% 2,194 5.52% 304 0.83% 46 0.24% 13 13.81% 761
Weld 55.35% 21,976 41.56% 16,501 2.32% 922 0.39% 153 0.38% 150 13.79% 5,475
Routt 54.13% 2,822 40.86% 2,130 4.09% 213 0.75% 39 0.17% 9 13.27% 692
San Juan 53.77% 221 40.63% 167 5.11% 21 0.24% 1 0.24% 1 13.14% 54
Boulder 52.71% 42,830 40.96% 33,284 5.23% 4,252 0.69% 558 0.40% 329 11.75% 9,546
Alamosa 53.51% 2,599 42.25% 2,052 3.69% 179 0.31% 15 0.25% 12 11.26% 547
Crowley 54.90% 834 43.91% 667 0.92% 14 0.13% 2 0.13% 2 10.99% 167
Archuleta 53.63% 768 44.13% 632 2.03% 29 0.07% 1 0.14% 2 9.50% 136
Morgan 53.34% 4,603 44.01% 3,798 1.58% 136 0.23% 20 0.83% 72 9.33% 805
Lincoln 53.46% 1,276 44.37% 1,059 1.97% 47 0.17% 4 0.04% 1 9.09% 217
Logan 53.32% 4,256 44.39% 3,543 1.75% 140 0.28% 22 0.26% 21 8.93% 713
Elbert 52.72% 1,279 44.02% 1,068 2.64% 64 0.54% 13 0.08% 2 8.70% 211
Washington 52.63% 1,440 44.26% 1,211 2.23% 61 0.58% 16 0.29% 8 8.37% 229
Sedgwick 53.06% 902 45.47% 773 1.24% 21 0.18% 3 0.06% 1 7.59% 129
Yuma 52.20% 2,350 44.98% 2,025 2.11% 95 0.51% 23 0.20% 9 7.22% 325
Fremont 52.44% 5,647 45.38% 4,886 1.62% 174 0.27% 29 0.30% 32 7.07% 761
Kit Carson 52.28% 1,888 45.61% 1,647 1.63% 59 0.28% 10 0.19% 7 6.67% 241
Kiowa 52.59% 598 46.53% 529 0.70% 8 0.09% 1 0.09% 1 6.07% 69
Baca 51.97% 1,303 46.43% 1,164 1.12% 28 0.40% 10 0.08% 2 5.54% 139
Otero 51.54% 4,597 46.17% 4,118 0.81% 72 0.21% 19 1.28% 114 5.37% 479
Saguache 49.50% 1,094 47.92% 1,059 2.31% 51 0.05% 1 0.23% 5 1.58% 35
Lake 48.03% 1,575 47.24% 1,549 2.71% 89 0.79% 26 1.22% 40 0.79% 26
Cheyenne 48.15% 610 49.33% 625 1.74% 22 0.63% 8 0.16% 2 -1.18% -15
Phillips 48.12% 1,142 49.43% 1,173 2.02% 48 0.29% 7 0.13% 3 -1.31% -31
Denver 46.73% 105,960 49.50% 112,229 2.38% 5,386 0.49% 1,105 0.91% 2,058 -2.76% -6,269
San Miguel 43.83% 622 47.50% 674 7.47% 106 0.99% 14 0.21% 3 -3.66% -52
Dolores 45.61% 343 49.73% 374 3.46% 26 0.80% 6 0.40% 3 -4.12% -31
Bent 46.61% 1,156 51.13% 1,268 1.57% 39 0.16% 4 0.52% 13 -4.52% -112
Prowers 46.13% 2,578 51.20% 2,861 1.02% 57 0.16% 9 1.49% 83 -5.06% -283
Adams 45.30% 35,392 51.90% 40,551 2.07% 1,618 0.53% 416 0.19% 150 -6.60% -5,159
Conejos 44.65% 1,426 53.16% 1,698 1.41% 45 0.22% 7 0.56% 18 -8.52% -272
Gilpin 41.19% 451 51.42% 563 5.39% 59 1.28% 14 0.73% 8 -10.23% -112
Pueblo 41.06% 18,518 57.29% 25,841 1.26% 568 0.27% 120 0.12% 56 -16.24% -7,323
Huerfano 37.35% 1,182 61.04% 1,932 1.20% 38 0.22% 7 0.19% 6 -23.70% -750
Las Animas 36.45% 2,615 62.15% 4,459 1.14% 82 0.11% 8 0.15% 11 -25.70% -1,844
Costilla 26.96% 392 71.05% 1,033 1.10% 16 0.14% 2 0.76% 11 -44.09% -641

References edit

  1. ^ Menendez, Albert J.; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004, pp. 159-161 ISBN 0786422173
  2. ^ Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016
  3. ^ Leip, David. "1976 Presidential General Election Results – Colorado". Dave Leip’s U.S. Election Atlas.
  4. ^ "Springs Woman Voting For Defeated President". The Gazette. December 13, 1976. p. 1A. Archived from the original on February 6, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ a b c d e Our Campaigns; CO US President, November 02, 1976