See main article: 1976 United States presidential election.
| Election Name: | 1976 United States presidential election in Utah |
| Country: | Utah |
| Flag Year: | 1922 |
| Type: | presidential |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 1972 United States presidential election in Utah |
| Previous Year: | 1972 |
| Next Election: | 1980 United States presidential election in Utah |
| 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: | 4 |
| Popular Vote1: | 337,908 |
| Percentage1: | 62.44% |
| Nominee2: | Jimmy Carter |
| Party2: | Democratic Party (United States) |
| Home State2: | Georgia |
| Running Mate2: | Walter Mondale |
| Electoral Vote2: | 0 |
| Popular Vote2: | 182,110 |
| Percentage2: | 33.65% |
| Map Size: | 250px |
| President | |
| Before Party: | Republican Party (United States) |
| Before Election: | Gerald Ford |
| After Party: | Democratic Party (United States) |
| After Election: | Jimmy Carter |
The 1976 United States presidential election in Utah took place on November 2, 1976. All 50 states and the District of Columbia, were part of the 1976 United States presidential election. State voters chose four electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president of the United States.
Utah was won by incumbent Republican President Gerald Ford over the Democratic nominee, Jimmy Carter. Ford took 62.44% of the vote in the state, while Carter took 33.65%, making Utah around 31% more Republican than the nation in the 1976 election.[1]
Utah was Ford's strongest state in the nation in terms of percentage of the vote, although unlike in Vermont, Ford didn't win every county in Utah. For a presidential candidate who lost the election nationwide, Ford won a record 27 states, a record which stands to this day, but Utah was the only state where Ford broke 60% of the vote statewide. Carter won the election nationwide, and despite the election solidifying Utah's place within the core of the Republican heartland (which it retains to this day), 1976 stands as the last occasion where a Democrat has carried Emery County,[2] where Carter obtained a fifty-four vote plurality win. After Nixon's clean sweep of all twenty-nine counties in 1972, Carter would also win Carbon County with 59.39% of the vote, but Ford won absolute majorities in all twenty-seven remaining Utah counties, with his total vote ranging from 50.34% in Tooele County to 72.50% in Kane County.[3] Ronald Reagan would repeat Nixon's 1972 clean sweep in both his elections, and no county in Utah except Carbon and Tooele would ever vote against a Republican until 2008.
| 1976 United States presidential election in Utah[4] | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | Percentage | Electoral votes | ||||
| Republican | Gerald Ford (incumbent) | 337,908 | 62.44% | 4 | ||||
| Democratic | Jimmy Carter | 182,110 | 33.65% | 0 | ||||
| American Party | Thomas Anderson | 13,284 | 2.45% | 0 | ||||
| Independent | Eugene McCarthy | 3,907 | 0.72% | 0 | ||||
| Libertarian | Roger MacBride | 2,438 | 0.45% | 0 | ||||
| Citizen's Party | Lester Maddox | 1,162 | 0.21% | 0 | ||||
| Socialist Workers Party | Peter Camejo | 268 | 0.05% | 0 | ||||
| Communist Party | Gus Hall | 121 | 0.02% | 0 | ||||
| Totals | 541,198 | 100.0% | 4 | |||||
| County[5] | Gerald Ford Republican | Jimmy Carter Democratic | Thomas Anderson American | Eugene McCarthy Independent | Roger MacBride Libertarian | Various candidates Other parties | Margin | Total votes cast | |||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | % | % | % | % | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Beaver | 1,088 | 52.41% | 963 | 46.39% | 10 | 0.48% | 6 | 0.29% | 4 | 0.19% | 5 | 0.24% | 125 | 6.02% | 2,076 | ||||||||||||||||
| Box Elder | 9,319 | 69.02% | 3,353 | 24.84% | 729 | 5.40% | 45 | 0.33% | 34 | 0.25% | 21 | 0.16% | 5,966 | 44.18% | 13,501 | ||||||||||||||||
| Cache | 16,636 | 71.73% | 5,430 | 23.41% | 752 | 3.24% | 246 | 1.06% | 67 | 0.29% | 63 | 0.27% | 11,206 | 48.32% | 23,194 | ||||||||||||||||
| Carbon | 3,360 | 38.70% | 5,157 | 59.39% | 86 | 0.99% | 34 | 0.39% | 33 | 0.38% | 13 | 0.15% | -1,797 | -20.69% | 8,683 | ||||||||||||||||
| Daggett | 217 | 59.45% | 131 | 35.89% | 14 | 3.84% | 3 | 0.82% | 0 | 0.00% | 0 | 0.00% | 86 | 23.56% | 365 | ||||||||||||||||
| Davis | 31,216 | 66.28% | 14,084 | 29.90% | 1,052 | 2.23% | 374 | 0.79% | 226 | 0.48% | 145 | 0.31% | 17,132 | 36.38% | 47,097 | ||||||||||||||||
| Duchesne | 2,619 | 65.77% | 1,110 | 27.88% | 242 | 6.08% | 8 | 0.20% | 1 | 0.03% | 2 | 0.05% | 1,509 | 37.89% | 3,982 | ||||||||||||||||
| Emery | 1,717 | 47.13% | 1,771 | 48.61% | 106 | 2.91% | 27 | 0.74% | 13 | 0.36% | 9 | 0.25% | -54 | -1.48% | 3,643 | ||||||||||||||||
| Garfield | 1,163 | 65.48% | 539 | 30.35% | 51 | 2.87% | 11 | 0.62% | 6 | 0.34% | 6 | 0.34% | 624 | 35.13% | 1,776 | ||||||||||||||||
| Grand | 1,781 | 62.38% | 931 | 32.61% | 62 | 2.17% | 42 | 1.47% | 26 | 0.91% | 13 | 0.46% | 850 | 29.77% | 2,855 | ||||||||||||||||
| Iron | 4,757 | 69.62% | 1,700 | 24.88% | 270 | 3.95% | 55 | 0.80% | 36 | 0.53% | 15 | 0.22% | 3,057 | 44.74% | 6,833 | ||||||||||||||||
| Juab | 1,290 | 51.58% | 1,091 | 43.62% | 92 | 3.68% | 15 | 0.60% | 9 | 0.36% | 4 | 0.16% | 199 | 7.96% | 2,501 | ||||||||||||||||
| Kane | 1,094 | 72.50% | 330 | 21.87% | 73 | 4.84% | 8 | 0.53% | 4 | 0.27% | 0 | 0.00% | 764 | 50.63% | 1,509 | ||||||||||||||||
| Millard | 2,484 | 62.68% | 1,224 | 30.89% | 218 | 5.50% | 17 | 0.43% | 9 | 0.23% | 11 | 0.28% | 1,260 | 31.79% | 3,963 | ||||||||||||||||
| Morgan | 1,356 | 62.95% | 701 | 32.54% | 78 | 3.62% | 9 | 0.42% | 3 | 0.14% | 7 | 0.32% | 655 | 30.41% | 2,154 | ||||||||||||||||
| Piute | 377 | 55.85% | 265 | 39.26% | 24 | 3.56% | 3 | 0.44% | 5 | 0.74% | 1 | 0.15% | 112 | 16.59% | 675 | ||||||||||||||||
| Rich | 541 | 67.12% | 248 | 30.77% | 13 | 1.61% | 2 | 0.25% | 2 | 0.25% | 0 | 0.00% | 293 | 36.35% | 806 | ||||||||||||||||
| Salt Lake | 144,100 | 60.35% | 86,659 | 36.29% | 3,796 | 1.59% | 2,122 | 0.89% | 1,321 | 0.55% | 780 | 0.33% | 57,441 | 24.06% | 238,777 | ||||||||||||||||
| San Juan | 1,856 | 57.60% | 1,182 | 36.69% | 143 | 4.44% | 23 | 0.71% | 11 | 0.34% | 7 | 0.22% | 674 | 20.91% | 3,222 | ||||||||||||||||
| Sanpete | 3,683 | 62.06% | 1,925 | 32.43% | 275 | 4.63% | 31 | 0.52% | 13 | 0.22% | 8 | 0.13% | 1,758 | 29.63% | 5,935 | ||||||||||||||||
| Sevier | 3,686 | 65.24% | 1,564 | 27.68% | 357 | 6.32% | 15 | 0.27% | 20 | 0.35% | 8 | 0.14% | 2,122 | 37.56% | 5,650 | ||||||||||||||||
| Summit | 2,316 | 61.55% | 1,282 | 34.07% | 77 | 2.05% | 61 | 1.62% | 23 | 0.61% | 4 | 0.11% | 1,034 | 27.48% | 3,763 | ||||||||||||||||
| Tooele | 4,657 | 50.34% | 4,371 | 47.25% | 127 | 1.37% | 47 | 0.51% | 27 | 0.29% | 22 | 0.24% | 286 | 3.09% | 9,251 | ||||||||||||||||
| Uintah | 4,017 | 69.18% | 1,342 | 23.11% | 404 | 6.95% | 31 | 0.53% | 16 | 0.28% | 7 | 0.12% | 2,675 | 46.07% | 5,807 | ||||||||||||||||
| Utah | 49,328 | 69.48% | 18,327 | 25.82% | 2,604 | 3.67% | 266 | 0.37% | 239 | 0.34% | 207 | 0.29% | 31,001 | 43.66% | 70,993 | ||||||||||||||||
| Wasatch | 1,940 | 61.59% | 1,092 | 34.67% | 73 | 2.32% | 26 | 0.83% | 14 | 0.44% | 5 | 0.16% | 848 | 26.92% | 3,150 | ||||||||||||||||
| Washington | 5,944 | 70.64% | 1,893 | 22.50% | 467 | 5.55% | 40 | 0.48% | 36 | 0.43% | 34 | 0.40% | 4,051 | 48.14% | 8,414 | ||||||||||||||||
| Wayne | 555 | 59.11% | 334 | 35.57% | 34 | 3.62% | 7 | 0.75% | 3 | 0.32% | 6 | 0.64% | 221 | 23.54% | 939 | ||||||||||||||||
| Weber | 34,811 | 58.33% | 23,111 | 38.72% | 1,055 | 1.77% | 329 | 0.55% | 230 | 0.39% | 148 | 0.25% | 11,700 | 19.61% | 59,684 | ||||||||||||||||
| Totals | 337,908 | 62.44% | 182,110 | 33.65% | 13,284 | 2.45% | 3,907 | 0.72% | 2,438 | 0.45% | 1,551 | 0.29% | 155,798 | 28.79% | 541,198 | ||||||||||||||||