United States presidential election in Minnesota, 1976

Main article: United States presidential election, 1976

United States presidential election in Minnesota, 1976

November 2, 1976

Nominee Jimmy Carter Gerald Ford Party Democratic Republican Home state Georgia Michigan Running mate Walter Mondale Bob Dole Electoral vote 10 0 Popular vote 1,070,440 819,395 Percentage 54.90% 42.02%

200px County Results

President before election Gerald Ford Republican Elected President Jimmy Carter Democratic

The 1976 United States presidential election in Minnesota took place on November 2, 1976 in Minnesota as part of the 1976 United States presidential election.

The Democratic Party candidate, former Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter, won the state over incumbent President Gerald Ford by a landslide margin of 251,045 votes, or approximately 12.88%. Carter went on to win the election nationally, as the country's confidence in the Republican Party had been deeply shaken following the Watergate scandal and the subsequent resignation of Richard Nixon.

The effect of Watergate on the political landscape in Minnesota can be clearly seen in the results of this election, as well as the landslide DFL victories in the gubernatorial elections of 1974 and 1978. Previously a state which, having cast its electoral votes for the Republican nominee in 20 of the 29 presidential elections from 1860 to 1972, favored Republicans, Minnesota has not cast a single electoral vote in favor of a Republican since 1972.

Results

United States presidential election in Minnesota, 1976
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Democratic	Jimmy Carter	1,070,440	54.90%	10
	Republican	Gerald Ford (incumbent)	819,395	42.02%	0
	Independent	Eugene McCarthy	35,490	1.82%	0
	American	Thomas J. Anderson	13,592	0.70%	0
	Socialist Workers	Peter Camejo	4,149	0.21%	0
	Libertarian	Roger MacBride	3,529	0.18%	0
	Communist	Gus Hall	1,092	0.06%	0
	People's	Margaret Wright	635	0.03%	0
	U.S. Labor	Lyndon LaRouche	543	0.03%	0
	Socialist Labor	Julius Levin	370	0.02%	0
	Socialist	Frank Zeidler	354	0.02%	0
	Write-ins	Write-ins	342	0.02%	0
Invalid or blank votes					—
Totals			1,978,590	100.00%	10
Voter turnout			77%		—