1976 United States presidential election in California

The 1976 United States presidential election in California took place on November 2, 1976, as part of the 1976 United States presidential election. State voters chose 45 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

California narrowly voted for the Republican incumbent, Gerald Ford, over the Democratic challenger, Jimmy Carter.

Ford won the state with a plurality of 49.35% of the vote to Carter's 47.57%, a victory margin of 1.78%, which made California almost 4% more Republican than the nation-at-large.

As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last time that a Democrat has won the counties of Amador, El Dorado, Lassen, Madera, Placer, Shasta, Sierra and Yuba, Carter is also the last candidate from either party to carry Los Angeles by only a plurality. This also remains the last election in which a Republican presidential candidate won at least 40% of the vote in San Francisco, and the last time that county was not the most Democratic in the state. This is also the last time when a Democrat has won the presidency without winning California and the last time that the state would vote Republican in a close election. The state would not vote for a losing candidate again until 2000, and for the loser of the popular vote until 2004.

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

 * El Dorado
 * Fresno
 * Mariposa
 * Los Angeles
 * Tuolumne
 * Mendocino
 * Trinity
 * Amador
 * Shasta
 * Madera
 * Merced
 * Del Norte
 * Tehama
 * Placer
 * Plumas
 * Shasta
 * Sierra
 * Lake
 * Stanislaus
 * Sacramento
 * Yuba
 * Santa Cruz
 * Plumas
 * Sierra
 * Lassen
 * Solano
 * Humboldt