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1976 United States presidential election in Nevada
Ford 40-50% 50-60% 60-70%	Carter 40-50% 50-60%
President before election; Gerald Ford; Republican	Elected President ; Jimmy Carter; Democratic

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

Nevada was coming off a landslide win by incumbent Mike O'Callaghan in the 1974 gubernatorial election over a severely divided opposition^[1] and anger over the Watergate scandal.^[2]^[3] However, veteran Democratic Senator Alan Bible, who had survived Richard Nixon’s 1968 victory, retired and was replaced by Republican Paul Laxalt who won a narrow victory at the same time the GOP were suffering landslide losses in other races.

This presidential election saw Nevada hold its first ever presidential primary, won by California Governor Jerry Brown,^[4] who had only entered the primaries two weeks beforehand after most were already conducted.^[5]

Senator Paul Laxalt, who had supported Ford's rival Ronald Reagan in the Republican primaries earlier in 1976, nonetheless campaigned vigorously for Ford once he won the GOP nomination.^[6] Consequently, despite the state having not voted against a winning Democratic nominee since 1892 and not for a losing Republican nominee since James G. Blaine in 1884, early October polls gave the state provisionally to Ford, with the lack of familiarity with Southern Evangelical Carter being viewed as a critical factor.^[7] Two days before Nevada's voters were to enter the polls Ford remained a slight favorite.^[6]

Nevada was won by incumbent President Gerald Ford (R–Michigan), with 50.17% of the popular vote, against Jimmy Carter (D–Georgia), with 45.81% of the popular vote. None of the third-party candidates amounted to a significant portion of the vote, as 2.53% of the voters either wrote-in another candidate or selected "None of These Candidates", the latter of which appeared on Nevada's ballot for the first time in 1976.

Nevada has generally been a bellwether state since the early 20th century, and this election marked the first time since 1908 whereby Nevada was carried by the losing presidential candidate. It was the only time between 1912 and 2012. Nevada would vote for the winning candidate in each election afterward except 2016. As of the 2024 presidential election^[update], this is the last time in which a Democrat has won the White House without carrying Nevada, as well as the last time that Nye County, Storey County,^[a] and Esmeralda County voted for a Democratic presidential candidate.^[8] This also marks the last time that Nevada voted for a candidate that lost both the electoral college and the popular vote. For the first time, Clark County, home to Las Vegas, cast over 50% of the statewide vote, which it would do in every presidential election since.

Results

1976 United States presidential election in Nevada^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Gerald Ford (inc.)	101,273	50.17%
	Democratic	Jimmy Carter	92,479	45.81%
		None of These Candidates	5,108	2.53%
	Libertarian	Roger MacBride	1,519	0.75%
	American Independent	Lester Maddox	1,497	0.74%
Total votes			201,876	100%

Results by county

County	Gerald Ford Republican		Jimmy Carter Democratic		None of These Candidates		Roger MacBride Libertarian		Lester Maddox American Independent		Margin		Total votes cast^[9]
County	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	Total votes cast^[9]
Carson City	5,282	54.11%	3,874	39.69%	367	3.76%	155	1.59%	83	0.85%	1,408	14.42%	9,761
Churchill	2,358	53.04%	1,800	40.49%	178	4.00%	33	0.74%	77	1.73%	558	12.55%	4,446
Clark	48,236	46.92%	51,178	49.78%	2,015	1.96%	731	0.71%	652	0.63%	-2,942	-2.86%	102,812
Douglas	3,095	58.60%	1,934	36.61%	162	3.07%	46	0.87%	45	0.85%	1,161	21.99%	5,282
Elko	3,293	60.32%	1,955	35.81%	103	1.89%	40	0.73%	68	1.25%	1,338	24.51%	5,459
Esmeralda	181	43.51%	214	51.44%	9	2.16%	3	0.72%	9	2.16%	-33	-7.93%	416
Eureka	272	58.24%	163	34.90%	21	4.50%	5	1.07%	6	1.28%	109	23.34%	467
Humboldt	1,380	53.38%	1,074	41.55%	88	3.40%	14	0.54%	29	1.12%	306	11.83%	2,585
Lander	561	49.96%	518	46.13%	21	1.87%	8	0.71%	15	1.34%	43	3.83%	1,123
Lincoln	700	50.04%	642	45.89%	34	2.43%	10	0.71%	13	0.93%	58	4.15%	1,399
Lyon	2,068	49.69%	1,866	44.83%	155	3.72%	27	0.65%	46	1.11%	202	4.86%	4,162
Mineral	1,104	42.56%	1,361	52.47%	92	3.55%	8	0.31%	29	1.12%	-257	-9.91%	2,594
Nye	1,027	42.53%	1,261	52.22%	84	3.48%	18	0.75%	25	1.04%	-234	-9.69%	2,415
Pershing	635	46.93%	633	46.78%	59	4.36%	13	0.96%	13	0.96%	2	0.15%	1,353
Storey	274	43.08%	310	48.74%	30	4.72%	17	2.67%	5	0.79%	-36	-5.66%	636
Washoe	29,264	54.98%	21,687	40.74%	1,599	3.00%	374	0.70%	303	0.57%	7,577	14.24%	53,227
White Pine	1,543	41.27%	2,009	53.73%	91	2.43%	17	0.45%	79	2.11%	-466	-12.46%	3,739
Totals	101,273	50.17%	92,479	45.81%	5,108	2.53%	1,519	0.75%	1,497	0.74%	8,794	4.36%	201,876

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

Notes

^ Storey County did give a plurality to Independent Ross Perot in 1992.

References

^ Malcolm, Andrew H.; ‘Woman, 39, Wins the Republican Primary for Governor in Nevada: G. O. P. House Winner’; The New York Times, September 5, 1974, p. 27
^ Broder, David S.; ‘Nationwide Sweep Nets 6 Governors, Over 30 in House: Democrats Solidify Control Of Congress, State Capitols’; The Washington Post, November 6, 1974, p. A1
^ Broder, David; ‘Democrats savor nationwide gains: Albert calls vote a mandate’; The Boston Globe, November 7, 1974, p. 1
^ Winchester, Simon; ‘Jimmy Carter takes a tumble on his trip to Wild West’; The Guardian, 27 May 1976, p. 2
^ ‘Jerry-Come-Lately’, The New York Times, May 11, 1976, p. 32
^ ^a ^b ‘The West’; The Boston Globe, October 31, 1976, p. 48
^ ‘State by State:: A Nationwide Survey’; The Washington Post, October 3, 1976, p. 36
^ Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016
^ ^a ^b "1976 Primary and General Election Results". Nevada Secretary of State. Retrieved July 9, 2024.