45 0 49.35% 47.57% | 3,882,244 3,742,284 Start date November 2, 1976 | |
 | ||
The 1976 United States presidential election in California refers to how California participated in the 1976 United States presidential election. 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%. Carter performed more strongly in rural Northern California, winning many counties in California's Central Valley, while Ford performed more strongly in Southern California, sweeping every county there except Los Angeles County, which narrowly voted for Carter.
This was only the fifth time in California’s electoral history that it did not support the winning candidate from either party. This is also the last election where the Democratic candidate won the Presidency without carrying California.
Carter is the last Democrat to carry the counties of Amador, El Dorado, Lassen, Madera, Placer, Shasta, Sierra and Yuba, and the last to win a majority of the vote in Del Norte, Plumas and Tehama. Carter is also the last candidate from either party to carry Los Angeles by only a plurality, while Ford is the last Republican to win a majority of the vote in Marin (Ronald Reagan later won that county by plurality in 1980).