In September, President Ford announced he would devote $20,000 to campaigning in Wisconsin. The state was one of ten he considered critical to defeating Carter, but Ford devoted less money to it than any of the others.[2] During his campaign, Ford focused chiefly on the Catholic working-class electorate in South Milwaukee, whose hierarchy had been disappointed Carter was not committed – following Roe v. Wade – to a constitutional amendment banning abortion.[3]
Carter himself responded by visiting white ethnic communities in the state during September.[4] His campaign amongst the Polish-Americans and Greek-Americans in the southeast of the state was strongly aimed at Ford's policy towards the totalitarian regimes of Eastern Europe and their human rights violations.[5]
In early October, polls showed Wisconsin as a tossup.[6] Aided by a return of traditionally Democratic Catholic voters and a gain amongst nonpartisans, Carter established a lead in mid-October polls.[7] The Georgia Governor would retain this lead to election day, and carry Wisconsin by 1.68 points. This result nonetheless made Wisconsin 0.43% more Republican than the nation at large. Wisconsin was the tipping-point state of the election.[citation needed]
Ronald Reagan would flip Wisconsin back into the Republican column in 1980 and 1984, but Carter's victory was a sign of things to come for the state, as it would transition into a Democratic-leaning swing state in 1988, and would vote Republican only once since then. This is the third most recent election in which Wisconsin voted for a different candidate than neighboring Iowa, a phenomenon that has only been repeated twice since, in 2004, and 2020.
Primaries
Democratic primaries
Despite the fact that at the time of this election Wisconsin had been dominated for a decade by very liberal Democrats like SenatorsGaylord Nelson and William Proxmire, and had been the fifth-best state for George McGovern in his landslide 1972 presidential defeat, Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter won the state on a "nonideological" campaign in the April primaries,[8] despite claiming that price floors for dairy farmers in the nation's leading dairy state would need to be lowered.[9]
Gerald Ford won the GOP primary against the insurgent conservative challenge of Ronald Reagan, saying that his win was largely due to the endorsement of Henry Kissinger.[10]
^Naughton, James M. (September 23, 1976). "Ford to Aim at New York, Jersey And 8 Other Key Industrial States: Ford Will Aim His Election Effort at 10 Major States". p. 85.
^"Ford Banks on Catholic". The Irish Times. September 10, 1976. p. 6.
^Naughton, James M. (October 10, 1976). "Remark by Ford Is Aid to Carter At Rally in Ohio: Carter, in Midwest, reaps an Ethnic Gain". The New York Times. p. 1.
^"Carter hits Ford about East Europe". The Irish Times. October 12, 1976. p. 7.
^"Poll Shows Carter Is Ahead in States Needed for Victory: But His Lead for Electoral Votes Is Found Small and Slipping Close Election Foreseen Poll Shows Carter Ahead in States With Majority in Electoral College". ]The New York Times. October 3, 1976. p. 1.
^Apple, R.W. (October 15, 1976). "Carter, Focusing on Ford Record, Gains Among Independents in Poll". The New York Times. p. 1.
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