1976 United States presidential election in New Mexico

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

The 1976 United States presidential election in New Mexico took place on November 2, 1976. All fifty states and The District of Columbia were part of the 1976 United States presidential election. State voters chose four electors to represent them in the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

New Mexico was won by President Gerald Ford by a 2-point lead. A very partisan election in New Mexico, only one percent of the electorate voted for third-party candidates.^[1] While Ford took the State of New Mexico, and much of the American Southwest and Midwest, Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter won the electoral college with 297 votes, and was elected president.

A reliable bellwether state in presidential elections up to this point, this was the first election since gaining statehood that New Mexico did not back the winning presidential candidate, and the first time New Mexico did not back the national popular-vote winner until 2024 (in 2000 and 2016, it voted for the candidate who won the popular vote but not the electoral vote). As of the 2020 presidential election^[update], this is the last election in which Torrance County and Quay County voted for a Democratic presidential candidate.^[2]

Results

1976 United States presidential election in New Mexico
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Gerald Ford (incumbent) Bob Dole	211,419	50.75%	−10.30
	Democratic	Jimmy Carter Walter Mondale	201,148	48.28%	+11.72
	Socialist Workers	Peter Camejo Willie Mae Reid	2,462	0.59%	+0.47
	Libertarian	Roger MacBride David Bergland	1,110	0.27%	N/A
	Socialist	Frank Zeidler J. Quinn Brisben	240	0.06%	N/A
	Prohibition	Benjamin Bubar Jr. Earl Dodge	211	0.05%	N/A
Total votes			416,590	100.00%
	Republican win

Results by county

County	Gerald Ford Republican		Jimmy Carter Democratic		Various candidates Other parties		Margin		Total votes cast
County	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	Total votes cast
Bernalillo	76,614	53.98%	63,949	45.06%	1,363	0.96%	12,665	8.92%	141,926
Catron	602	53.18%	517	45.67%	13	1.15%	85	7.51%	1,132
Chaves	10,631	59.26%	7,139	39.79%	170	0.95%	3,492	19.47%	17,940
Colfax	2,259	45.13%	2,718	54.29%	29	0.58%	-459	-9.16%	5,006
Curry	6,232	54.87%	5,004	44.06%	122	1.07%	1,228	10.81%	11,358
De Baca	556	47.93%	597	51.47%	7	0.60%	-41	-3.54%	1,160
Dona Ana	13,888	53.09%	12,036	46.01%	233	0.90%	1,852	7.08%	26,157
Eddy	7,698	45.59%	9,073	53.73%	115	0.68%	-1,375	-8.14%	16,886
Grant	4,095	43.90%	5,176	55.49%	57	0.61%	-1,081	-11.59%	9,328
Guadalupe	1,047	42.68%	1,379	56.22%	27	1.10%	-332	-13.54%	2,453
Harding	387	57.08%	285	42.04%	6	0.88%	102	15.04%	678
Hidalgo	891	48.56%	938	51.12%	6	0.32%	-47	-2.56%	1,835
Lea	8,773	56.82%	6,533	42.31%	135	0.87%	2,240	14.51%	15,441
Lincoln	2,320	61.64%	1,415	37.59%	29	0.77%	905	24.05%	3,764
Los Alamos	5,383	64.43%	2,890	34.59%	82	0.98%	2,493	29.84%	8,355
Luna	2,966	50.25%	2,872	48.65%	65	1.10%	94	1.60%	5,903
McKinley	4,617	39.83%	6,856	59.14%	120	1.03%	-2,239	-19.31%	11,593
Mora	904	38.29%	1,438	60.91%	19	0.80%	-534	-22.62%	2,361
Otero	5,914	52.10%	5,333	46.98%	105	0.92%	581	5.12%	11,352
Quay	2,059	49.08%	2,095	49.94%	41	0.98%	-36	-0.86%	4,195
Rio Arriba	3,213	30.75%	7,125	68.19%	111	1.06%	-3,912	-37.44%	10,449
Roosevelt	3,269	50.85%	3,111	48.39%	49	0.76%	158	2.46%	6,429
San Juan	10,852	55.13%	8,615	43.77%	216	1.10%	2,237	11.36%	19,683
San Miguel	3,162	37.17%	5,204	61.17%	141	1.66%	-2,042	-24.00%	8,507
Sandoval	4,110	44.34%	5,072	54.72%	87	0.94%	-962	-10.38%	9,269
Santa Fe	11,576	44.53%	14,127	54.34%	294	1.13%	-2,551	-9.81%	25,997
Sierra	1,665	51.04%	1,564	47.95%	33	1.01%	101	3.09%	3,262
Socorro	2,265	45.86%	2,606	52.76%	68	1.38%	-341	-6.90%	4,939
Taos	3,012	40.07%	4,414	58.72%	91	1.21%	-1,402	-18.65%	7,517
Torrance	1,462	48.54%	1,526	50.66%	24	0.80%	-64	-2.12%	3,012
Union	1,146	53.30%	975	45.35%	29	1.35%	171	7.95%	2,150
Valencia	7,851	47.43%	8,566	51.75%	136	0.82%	-715	-4.32%	16,553
Totals	211,419	50.75%	201,148	48.28%	4,023	0.97%	10,271	2.47%	416,590

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

References

^ "1976 Presidential General Election Results – New Mexico". Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved February 11, 2018.
^ Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016

[1] "1976 Presidential General Election Results – New Mexico". Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved February 11, 2018.

[how-2] Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016

[1]

[2]