1976 United States presidential election in Colorado explained

See main article: 1976 United States presidential election.

Election Name:	1976 United States presidential election in Colorado
Country:	Colorado
Type:	presidential
Ongoing:	no
Previous Election:	1972 United States presidential election in Colorado
Previous Year:	1972
Next Election:	1980 United States presidential election in Colorado
Next Year:	1980
Election Date:	November 2, 1976
Image1:	Gerald Ford presidential portrait (cropped 2).jpg
Nominee1:	Gerald Ford
Party1:	Republican Party (United States)
Home State1:	Michigan
Running Mate1:	Bob Dole
Electoral Vote1:	7
Popular Vote1:	584,367
Percentage1:	54.05%
Nominee2:	Jimmy Carter
Party2:	Democratic Party (United States)
Home State2:	Georgia
Running Mate2:	Walter Mondale
Electoral Vote2:	0
Popular Vote2:	460,353
Percentage2:	42.58%
President
Map Size:	280px
Before Election:	Gerald Ford
Before Party:	Republican Party (United States)
After Election:	Jimmy Carter
After Party:	Democratic Party (United States)

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. Colorado was won by incumbent President Gerald Ford (R–Michigan) with 54.05% of the popular vote, against Jimmy Carter (D–Georgia), 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 (I–Minnesota) 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

Results by county

County^[5]	Gerald Ford Republican		Jimmy Carter Democratic		Eugene McCarthy Independent		Roger MacBride Libertarian		Various candidates Other parties		Margin		Total votes cast
		%		%		%		%		%		%
	Adams		35,392		45.30%		40,551		51.90%		1,618		2.07%		416		0.53%		150		0.19%		-5,159		-6.60%		78,127
	Alamosa		2,599		53.51%		2,052		42.25%		179		3.69%		15		0.31%		12		0.25%		547		11.26%		4,857
	Arapahoe		63,154		63.45%		33,685		33.85%		1,748		1.76%		449		0.45%		490		0.49%		29,469		29.60%		99,526
	Archuleta		768		53.63%		632		44.13%		29		2.03%		1		0.07%		2		0.14%		136		9.50%		1,432
	Baca		1,303		51.97%		1,164		46.43%		28		1.12%		10		0.40%		2		0.08%		139		5.54%		2,507
	Bent		1,156		46.61%		1,268		51.13%		39		1.57%		4		0.16%		13		0.52%		-112		-4.52%		2,480
	Boulder		42,830		52.71%		33,284		40.96%		4,252		5.23%		558		0.69%		329		0.40%		9,546		11.75%		81,253
	Chaffee		2,925		56.66%		2,064		39.98%		118		2.29%		18		0.35%		37		0.72%		861		16.68%		5,162
	Cheyenne		610		48.15%		625		49.33%		22		1.74%		8		0.63%		2		0.16%		-15		-1.18%		1,267
	Clear Creek		1,477		55.36%		1,069		40.07%		80		3.00%		9		0.34%		33		1.24%		408		15.29%		2,668
	Conejos		1,426		44.65%		1,698		53.16%		45		1.41%		7		0.22%		18		0.56%		-272		-8.51%		3,194
	Costilla		392		26.96%		1,033		71.05%		16		1.10%		2		0.14%		11		0.76%		-641		-44.09%		1,454
	Crowley		834		54.90%		667		43.91%		14		0.92%		2		0.13%		2		0.13%		167		10.99%		1,519
	Custer		491		62.39%		259		32.91%		27		3.43%		7		0.89%		3		0.38%		232		29.48%		787
	Delta		4,980		58.82%		3,232		38.17%		194		2.29%		35		0.41%		26		0.31%		1,748		20.65%		8,467
	Denver		105,960		46.73%		112,229		49.50%		5,386		2.38%		1,105		0.49%		2,058		0.91%		-6,269		-2.77%		226,738
	Dolores		343		45.61%		374		49.73%		26		3.46%		6		0.80%		3		0.40%		-31		-4.12%		752
	Douglas		5,078		65.54%		2,459		31.74%		162		2.09%		38		0.49%		11		0.14%		2,619		33.80%		7,748
	Eagle		2,963		64.18%		1,502		32.53%		111		2.40%		34		0.74%		7		0.15%		1,461		31.65%		4,617
	El Paso		50,929		59.13%		32,911		38.21%		1,574		1.83%		530		0.62%		186		0.22%		18,018		20.92%		86,130
	Elbert		1,279		52.72%		1,068		44.02%		64		2.64%		13		0.54%		2		0.08%		211		8.70%		2,426
	Fremont		5,647		52.44%		4,886		45.38%		174		1.62%		29		0.27%		32		0.30%		761		7.06%		10,768
	Garfield		4,699		59.74%		2,852		36.26%		223		2.83%		41		0.52%		51		0.65%		1,847		23.48%		7,866
	Gilpin		451		41.19%		563		51.42%		59		5.39%		14		1.28%		8		0.73%		-112		-10.23%		1,095
	Grand		1,703		61.77%		910		33.01%		113		4.10%		22		0.80%		9		0.33%		793		28.76%		2,757
	Gunnison		2,568		61.88%		1,250		30.12%		260		6.27%		30		0.72%		42		1.01%		1,318		31.76%		4,150
	Hinsdale		189		66.55%		83		29.23%		11		3.87%		1		0.35%		0		0.00%		106		37.32%		284
	Huerfano		1,182		37.35%		1,932		61.04%		38		1.20%		7		0.22%		6		0.19%		-750		-23.69%		3,165
	Jackson		455		60.83%		279		37.30%		14		1.87%		0		0.00%		0		0.00%		176		23.53%		748
	Jefferson		87,080		60.44%		52,782		36.64%		3,141		2.18%		770		0.53%		300		0.21%		34,298		23.80%		144,073
	Kiowa		598		52.59%		529		46.53%		8		0.70%		1		0.09%		1		0.09%		69		6.06%		1,137
	Kit Carson		1,888		52.28%		1,647		45.61%		59		1.63%		10		0.28%		7		0.19%		241		6.67%		3,611
	La Plata		6,228		59.05%		3,843		36.44%		312		2.96%		65		0.62%		99		0.94%		2,385		22.61%		10,547
	Lake		1,575		48.03%		1,549		47.24%		89		2.71%		26		0.79%		40		1.22%		26		0.79%		3,279
	Larimer		32,169		60.72%		19,005		35.87%		1,356		2.56%		297		0.56%		156		0.29%		13,164		24.85%		52,983
	Las Animas		2,615		36.45%		4,459		62.15%		82		1.14%		8		0.11%		11		0.15%		-1,844		-25.70%		7,175
	Lincoln		1,276		53.46%		1,059		44.37%		47		1.97%		4		0.17%		1		0.04%		217		9.09%		2,387
	Logan		4,256		53.32%		3,543		44.39%		140		1.75%		22		0.28%		21		0.26%		713		8.93%		7,982
	Mesa		17,924		65.44%		8,807		32.15%		541		1.98%		74		0.27%		44		0.16%		9,117		33.29%		27,390
	Mineral		235		55.56%		167		39.48%		20		4.73%		1		0.24%		0		0.00%		68		16.08%		423
	Moffat		2,099		55.68%		1,451		38.49%		120		3.18%		30		0.80%		70		1.86%		648		17.19%		3,770
	Montezuma		3,002		57.99%		1,993		38.50%		152		2.94%		20		0.39%		10		0.19%		1,009		19.49%		5,177
	Montrose		4,838		58.42%		3,164		38.20%		220		2.66%		19		0.23%		41		0.50%		1,674		20.22%		8,282
	Morgan		4,603		53.34%		3,798		44.01%		136		1.58%		20		0.23%		72		0.83%		805		9.33%		8,629
	Otero		4,597		51.54%		4,118		46.17%		72		0.81%		19		0.21%		114		1.28%		479		5.37%		8,920
	Ouray		645		62.50%		333		32.27%		49		4.75%		4		0.39%		1		0.10%		312		30.23%		1,032
	Park		1,034		55.24%		741		39.58%		67		3.58%		13		0.69%		17		0.91%		293		15.66%		1,872
	Phillips		1,142		48.12%		1,173		49.43%		48		2.02%		7		0.29%		3		0.13%		-31		-1.31%		2,373
	Pitkin		2,955		53.61%		2,194		39.80%		304		5.52%		46		0.83%		13		0.24%		761		13.81%		5,512
	Prowers		2,578		46.13%		2,861		51.20%		57		1.02%		9		0.16%		83		1.49%		-283		-5.07%		5,588
	Pueblo		18,518		41.06%		25,841		57.29%		568		1.26%		120		0.27%		56		0.12%		-7,323		-16.23%		45,103
	Rio Blanco		1,439		67.24%		627		29.30%		57		2.66%		13		0.61%		4		0.19%		812		37.94%		2,140
	Rio Grande		2,627		62.37%		1,475		35.02%		88		2.09%		14		0.33%		8		0.19%		1,152		27.35%		4,212
	Routt		2,822		54.13%		2,130		40.86%		213		4.09%		39		0.75%		9		0.17%		692		13.27%		5,213
	Saguache		1,094		49.50%		1,059		47.92%		51		2.31%		1		0.05%		5		0.23%		35		1.58%		2,210
	San Juan		221		53.77%		167		40.63%		21		5.11%		1		0.24%		1		0.24%		54		13.14%		411
	San Miguel		622		43.83%		674		47.50%		106		7.47%		14		0.99%		3		0.21%		-52		-3.67%		1,419
	Sedgwick		902		53.06%		773		45.47%		21		1.24%		3		0.18%		1		0.06%		129		7.59%		1,700
	Summit		1,826		58.15%		1,087		34.62%		166		5.29%		36		1.15%		25		0.80%		739		23.53%		3,140
	Teller		1,410		55.93%		986		39.11%		94		3.73%		24		0.95%		7		0.28%		424		16.82%		2,521
	Washington		1,440		52.63%		1,211		44.26%		61		2.23%		16		0.58%		8		0.29%		229		8.37%		2,736
	Weld		21,976		55.35%		16,501		41.56%		922		2.32%		153		0.39%		150		0.38%		5,475		13.79%		39,702
	Yuma		2,350		52.20%		2,025		44.98%		95		2.11%		23		0.51%		9		0.20%		325		7.22%		4,502
Total	584,367	54.05%	460,353	42.58%	26,107	2.41%	5,330	0.49%	4,978	0.46%	124,014	11.47%	1,081,135

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

• Gilpin
• Heurfano
• Las Animas
• Pueblo
• Conejos
• Adams
• Prowers
• Bent
• Dolores
• San Miguel
• Phillips
• Cheyenne
• Denver

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

• Pitkin

Notes and References

1. Menendez, Albert J.; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004, pp. 159-161
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. Web site: 1976 Presidential General Election Results – Colorado. Leip. David. Dave Leip’s U.S. Election Atlas.
4. News: December 13, 1976 . Springs Woman Voting For Defeated President . 1A . . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20240206025049/https://www.newspapers.com/article/colorado-springs-gazette-telegraph/140355547/ . February 6, 2024 . Newspapers.com.
5. Our Campaigns; CO US President, November 02, 1976