1976 United States presidential election in Wisconsin

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

The 1976 United States presidential election in Wisconsin took place on November 2, 1976 as part of the 1976 United States presidential election. Jimmy Carter won the state of Wisconsin with 49.50 percent of the vote^[1] giving him 11 electoral votes.

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 party

Despite the fact that at the time of this election Wisconsin had been dominated for a decade by very liberal Democrats like Senators Gaylord 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]

Democratic primary results^[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Jimmy Carter	271,220	36.63%
	Democratic	Morris Udall	263,771	35.62%
	Democratic	George Wallace	92,460	12.49%
	Democratic	Henry M. Jackson	47,605	6.43%
	Democratic	Ellen McCormack	26,982	3.64%
	Democratic	Fred Harris	8,185	1.11%
	Democratic	None of These Names Shown	7,154	0.97%
	Democratic	Sargent Shriver	5,097	0.69%
	Democratic	Lloyd Bentsen	1,730	0.23%
	Democratic	Birch Bayh	1,255	0.17%
	Democratic	Milton Shapp	596	0.08%
	Democratic	Scattering	14,473	1.95%
Total votes			740,528	100.00%

Republican party

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.^[11]

Republican primary results^[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Gerald R. Ford (incumbent)	326,869	55.23%
	Republican	Ronald Reagan	262,126	44.29%
	Republican	None of These Names Shown	2,234	0.38%
	Republican	Scattering	583	0.10%
Total votes			591,812	100.00%

Results

1976 United States presidential election in Wisconsin^[13]^[14]^[a]
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Democratic	Jimmy Carter	1,040,232	49.44%	11
	Republican	Gerald Ford (incumbent)	1,004,987	47.76%	0
	Independent	Eugene McCarthy	34,943	1.66%	0
	American	Lester Maddox	8,552	0.41%	0
	Socialist^[b]	Frank Zeidler	4,298	0.20%	0
	Libertarian^[c]	Roger L. MacBride	3,814	0.18%	0
	Socialist Workers	Peter Camejo	1,691	0.08%	0
	People's	Margaret Wright	943	0.04%	0
	Communist^[d]	Gus Hall	749	0.04%	0
	U.S. Labor	Lyndon H. LaRouche	738	0.04%	0
	Socialist Labor	Julius Levin	389	0.02%	0
	Write-in	Scattering^[e]	2,839	0.13%	0
Totals			2,104,175	100.00%	11

Results by county

County^[13]^[14]	Jimmy Carter Democratic		Gerald R. Ford Republican		Eugene McCarthy Independent		Lester Maddox American		All Others Various		Margin		Total votes cast
County^[13]^[14]	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	Total votes cast
Adams	3,089	55.22%	2,377	42.49%	77	1.38%	22	0.39%	29	0.52%	712	12.73%	5,594
Ashland	4,688	58.89%	3,045	38.25%	131	1.65%	43	0.54%	54	0.68%	1,643	20.64%	7,961
Barron	8,678	52.90%	7,393	45.06%	205	1.25%	62	0.38%	68	0.41%	1,285	7.83%	16,406
Bayfield	3,885	57.93%	2,624	39.13%	136	2.03%	18	0.27%	43	0.64%	1,261	18.80%	6,706
Brown	33,572	46.42%	36,571	50.57%	1,480	2.05%	344	0.48%	351	0.49%	-2,999	-4.15%	72,318
Buffalo	3,448	53.53%	2,844	44.15%	83	1.29%	33	0.51%	33	0.51%	604	9.38%	6,441
Burnett	3,720	57.51%	2,573	39.77%	89	1.38%	31	0.48%	56	0.87%	1,147	17.73%	6,469
Calumet	6,241	47.43%	6,589	50.08%	221	1.68%	42	0.32%	64	0.49%	-348	-2.64%	13,157
Chippewa	11,538	57.25%	8,137	40.37%	270	1.34%	93	0.46%	117	0.58%	3,401	16.87%	20,155
Clark	7,238	52.51%	6,095	44.22%	204	1.48%	172	1.25%	75	0.54%	1,143	8.29%	13,784
Columbia	9,457	47.44%	10,075	50.54%	235	1.18%	67	0.34%	99	0.50%	-618	-3.10%	19,933
Crawford	3,629	50.22%	3,393	46.96%	128	1.77%	32	0.44%	44	0.61%	236	3.27%	7,226
Dane	82,321	53.89%	63,466	41.55%	4,629	3.03%	369	0.24%	1,971	1.29%	18,855	12.34%	152,756
Dodge	13,643	43.07%	17,335	54.73%	464	1.46%	104	0.33%	128	0.40%	-3,692	-11.66%	31,674
Door	4,553	39.87%	6,557	57.42%	198	1.73%	46	0.40%	66	0.58%	-2,004	-17.55%	11,420
Douglas	13,478	64.21%	6,999	33.35%	326	1.55%	24	0.11%	162	0.77%	6,479	30.87%	20,989
Dunn	7,882	52.41%	6,751	44.89%	234	1.56%	95	0.63%	78	0.52%	1,131	7.52%	15,040
Eau Claire	18,263	51.61%	16,388	46.31%	491	1.39%	73	0.21%	171	0.48%	1,875	5.30%	35,386
Florence	965	50.13%	922	47.90%	28	1.45%	2	0.10%	8	0.42%	43	2.23%	1,925
Fond du Lac	16,571	41.54%	22,226	55.71%	676	1.69%	224	0.56%	198	0.50%	-5,655	-14.17%	39,895
Forest	2,574	60.64%	1,604	37.79%	43	1.01%	12	0.28%	12	0.28%	970	22.85%	4,245
Grant	9,639	43.38%	12,016	54.08%	416	1.87%	57	0.26%	92	0.41%	-2,377	-10.70%	22,220
Green	5,632	43.07%	7,085	54.18%	169	1.29%	112	0.86%	78	0.60%	-1,453	-11.11%	13,076
Green Lake	3,411	39.61%	5,020	58.29%	111	1.29%	33	0.38%	37	0.43%	-1,609	-18.68%	8,612
Iowa	4,252	48.96%	4,195	48.30%	139	1.60%	62	0.71%	37	0.43%	57	0.66%	8,685
Iron	2,399	63.05%	1,340	35.22%	43	1.13%	4	0.11%	19	0.50%	1,059	27.83%	3,805
Jackson	3,735	51.33%	3,406	46.81%	73	1.00%	22	0.30%	40	0.55%	329	4.52%	7,276
Jefferson	12,577	43.56%	15,528	53.77%	454	1.57%	131	0.45%	186	0.64%	-2,951	-10.22%	28,876
Juneau	4,512	49.65%	4,242	46.68%	96	1.06%	201	2.21%	36	0.40%	270	2.97%	9,087
Kenosha	27,585	53.73%	22,349	43.53%	832	1.62%	248	0.48%	324	0.63%	5,236	10.20%	51,338
Kewaunee	4,607	49.42%	4,447	47.70%	135	1.45%	64	0.69%	69	0.74%	160	1.72%	9,322
La Crosse	16,674	39.98%	24,188	58.00%	564	1.35%	101	0.24%	177	0.42%	-7,514	-18.02%	41,704
Lafayette	3,839	46.85%	4,131	50.41%	121	1.48%	62	0.76%	42	0.51%	-292	-3.56%	8,195
Langlade	4,134	46.26%	4,630	51.81%	122	1.37%	25	0.28%	25	0.28%	-496	-5.55%	8,936
Lincoln	5,800	49.41%	5,672	48.32%	176	1.50%	42	0.36%	48	0.41%	128	1.09%	11,738
Manitowoc	19,819	53.86%	16,039	43.59%	504	1.37%	293	0.80%	143	0.39%	3,780	10.27%	36,798
Marathon	24,934	51.89%	21,898	45.57%	811	1.69%	218	0.45%	193	0.40%	3,036	6.32%	48,054
Marinette	8,482	48.64%	8,591	49.26%	236	1.35%	70	0.40%	60	0.34%	-109	-0.63%	17,439
Marquette	2,516	48.23%	2,607	49.97%	50	0.96%	19	0.36%	25	0.48%	-91	-1.74%	5,217
Menominee	766	68.27%	324	28.88%	24	2.14%	1	0.09%	7	0.62%	442	39.39%	1,122
Milwaukee	249,739	54.70%	192,008	42.06%	7,508	1.64%	1,760	0.39%	5,530	1.21%	57,731	12.65%	456,545
Monroe	6,465	46.19%	7,242	51.74%	177	1.26%	38	0.27%	76	0.54%	-777	-5.55%	13,998
Oconto	6,541	50.13%	6,232	47.76%	140	1.07%	75	0.57%	60	0.46%	309	2.37%	13,048
Oneida	72,16	48.28%	7,347	49.15%	265	1.77%	40	0.27%	79	0.53%	-131	-0.88%	14,947
Outagamie	23,079	43.90%	28,363	53.95%	770	1.46%	155	0.29%	201	0.38%	-5,284	-10.05%	52,568
Ozaukee	11,271	35.26%	19,817	62.00%	488	1.53%	133	0.42%	252	0.79%	-8,546	-26.74%	31,961
Pepin	1,955	58.57%	1,312	39.30%	44	1.32%	19	0.57%	8	0.24%	643	19.26%	3,338
Pierce	8,039	56.97%	5,676	40.22%	267	1.89%	41	0.29%	89	0.63%	2,363	16.74%	14,112
Polk	8,485	56.85%	6,159	41.27%	222	1.49%	23	0.15%	35	0.23%	2,326	15.59%	14,924
Portage	15,912	60.57%	9,520	36.24%	607	2.31%	43	0.16%	187	0.71%	6,392	24.33%	26,269
Price	4,028	54.23%	3,204	43.13%	103	1.39%	20	0.27%	73	0.98%	824	11.09%	7,428
Racine	36,740	48.48%	37,088	48.94%	1,222	1.61%	246	0.43%	308	0.53%	-348	-0.46%	75,787
Richland	3,634	44.01%	4,466	54.08%	96	1.16%	32	0.39%	30	0.36%	-832	-10.08%	8,258
Rock	28,048	48.48%	28,325	48.95%	933	1.61%	246	0.43%	308	0.53%	-277	-0.48%	57,860
Rusk	4,050	57.95%	2,724	38.98%	110	1.57%	32	0.46%	73	1.04%	1,326	18.97%	6,989
Sauk	9,204	47.88%	9,577	49.82%	261	1.36%	92	0.48%	89	0.46%	-373	-1.94%	19,223
Sawyer	3,055	51.49%	2,720	45.85%	91	1.53%	18	0.30%	49	0.83%	335	5.65%	5,933
Shawano	6,751	43.36%	8,505	54.62%	168	1.08%	100	0.64%	46	0.30%	-1,754	-11.27%	15,570
Sheboygan	24,226	51.14%	22,332	47.14%	557	1.18%	110	0.23%	150	0.32%	1,894	4.00%	47,375
St. Croix	10,601	56.54%	7,685	40.99%	305	1.63%	37	0.20%	121	0.65%	2,916	15.55%	18,749
Taylor	4,101	51.77%	3,591	45.34%	136	1.72%	39	0.49%	54	0.68%	510	6.44%	7,921
Trempealeau	6,218	52.96%	5,341	45.49%	117	1.00%	25	0.21%	39	0.33%	877	7.47%	11,740
Vernon	5,534	46.45%	6,132	51.47%	156	1.31%	60	0.50%	32	0.27%	-598	-5.02%	11,914
Vilas	3,209	38.43%	4,929	59.03%	108	1.29%	36	0.43%	68	0.81%	-1,720	-20.60%	8,350
Walworth	12,418	39.59%	18,091	57.68%	540	1.72%	125	0.40%	191	0.61%	-5,673	-18.09%	31,365
Washburn	3,503	54.17%	2,787	43.10%	114	1.76%	28	0.43%	35	0.54%	716	11.07%	6,467
Washington	14,422	42.27%	18,798	55.09%	509	1.49%	168	0.49%	223	0.65%	-4,376	-12.83%	34,120
Waukesha	47,487	39.20%	70,418	58.13%	1,815	1.50%	528	0.44%	885	0.73%	-22,931	-18.93%	121,133
Waupaca	6,857	37.91%	10,849	59.99%	202	1.12%	68	0.38%	110	0.61%	-3,992	-22.07%	18,086
Waushara	3,485	43.04%	4,449	54.94%	96	1.19%	30	0.37%	38	0.47%	-964	-11.90%	8,098
Winnebago	24,485	42.12%	32,149	55.31%	954	1.64%	221	0.38%	318	0.55%	-7,664	-13.18%	58,127
Wood	14,728	47.52%	15,479	49.95%	438	1.41%	209	0.67%	138	0.45%	-751	-2.42%	30,992
Totals	1,040,232	49.44%	1,004,987	47.76%	34,943	1.66%	8,552	0.41%	15,461	0.73%	35,245	1.68%	2,104,175

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

Electors

These were the names of the electors on each ticket. Only the Democratic, Republican, and American parties had full slates of electors.^[13]

Jimmy Carter & Walter Mondale Democratic Party	Gerald R. Ford & Bob Dole Republican Party	Lester Maddox & William Dyke American Party
Patrick J. Lucey Martin Schreiber George Molinaro Jeanne DeRose M. William Gerrard John Plewa Robert Behnke Thomas Kitchen Gloria Schneider James DeLorme Jeanette Swed	Warren P. Knowles Jack Steinhilber William Petrie Betty Smith Adolf Gunderson Peter Neupert Susan Perry Earl McEssy Michael Kelly Harold Froelich Milton Lorman	Donald Hoeft Eugene Zimmerman Robert Morgan Karl Koehler Eugene Williams Linda Marie Johnke Jim Porter Gordon Ponschoch Elmer Frey James Bouche Edward Pupp

Notes

^ The party affiliations for minor candidates are given in the Board of Canvassers' certificate, although the results tables list them as Independent
^ "Democratic Socialist"
^ "Libertarian: Civil Liberties Economic Freedom"
^ "Independent Communist Party USA"
^ Not listed in the 1977 Blue Book, but are shown separately by county in the Board of Canvassers report

References

^ "1976 Presidential General Election Results – Wisconsin". Dave Leip's U.S. Election Atlas.
^ Naughton, James M.; 'Ford to Aim at New York, Jersey And 8 Other Key Industrial States: Ford Will Aim His Election Effort at 10 Major States' Special to The New York Times, September 23, 1976, p. 85
^ 'Ford Banks on Catholic'; The Irish Times, September 10, 1976, p. 6
^ Naughton, James M.; 'Remark by Ford Is Aid to Carter At Rally in Ohio: Carter, in Midwest, reaps an Ethnic Gain'; Special to The New York Times, October 10, 1976, 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'; Special to The New York Times, October 3, 1976, p. 1
^ Apple, R.W.; 'Carter, Focusing on Ford Record, Gains Among Independents in Poll'; The New York Times, October 15, 1976, p. 1
^ Apple, R. W. (April 2, 1976). "Carter Gains Among Wisconsin Liberals and Unions". The New York Times. p. 9. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 17, 2021.
^ King, Seth S. (April 5, 1976). "Carter and Udall Vie in Wisconsin". The New York Times. p. 25. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 17, 2021.
^ Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau. "Democratic Presidential Preference Vote By County". The State of Wisconsin Blue Book 1977. Madison, Wisconsin. pp. 872–873.
^ Naughton, James N. (April 8, 1976). "Ford Sees Wisconsin Vote As Kissinger Endorsement". The New York Times. p. 32. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 17, 2021.
^ Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau. "Republican Presidential Preference Vote By County". The State of Wisconsin Blue Book 1977. Madison, Wisconsin. p. 879.
^ ^a ^b ^c Wisconsin Historical Society, Statement of Board of State Canvassers for President, Vice President and Presidential Electors - General Election - November 2, 1976
^ ^a ^b Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau. "Vote For President And Vice President By County". The State of Wisconsin Blue Book 1977. Madison, Wisconsin. pp. 904–905.

[15] The party affiliations for minor candidates are given in the Board of Canvassers' certificate, although the results tables list them as Independent

[16] "Democratic Socialist"

[17] "Libertarian: Civil Liberties Economic Freedom"

[18] "Independent Communist Party USA"

[19] Not listed in the 1977 Blue Book, but are shown separately by county in the Board of Canvassers report

[Leip-1] "1976 Presidential General Election Results – Wisconsin". Dave Leip's U.S. Election Atlas.

[2] Naughton, James M.; 'Ford to Aim at New York, Jersey And 8 Other Key Industrial States: Ford Will Aim His Election Effort at 10 Major States' Special to The New York Times, September 23, 1976, p. 85

[3] 'Ford Banks on Catholic'; The Irish Times, September 10, 1976, p. 6

[4] Naughton, James M.; 'Remark by Ford Is Aid to Carter At Rally in Ohio: Carter, in Midwest, reaps an Ethnic Gain'; Special to The New York Times, October 10, 1976, p. 1

[5] 'Carter hits Ford about East Europe'; The Irish Times, October 12, 1976, p. 7

[6] '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'; Special to The New York Times, October 3, 1976, p. 1

[7] Apple, R.W.; 'Carter, Focusing on Ford Record, Gains Among Independents in Poll'; The New York Times, October 15, 1976, p. 1

[8] Apple, R. W. (April 2, 1976). "Carter Gains Among Wisconsin Liberals and Unions". The New York Times. p. 9. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 17, 2021.

[9] King, Seth S. (April 5, 1976). "Carter and Udall Vie in Wisconsin". The New York Times. p. 25. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 17, 2021.

[10] Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau. "Democratic Presidential Preference Vote By County". The State of Wisconsin Blue Book 1977. Madison, Wisconsin. pp. 872–873.

[11] Naughton, James N. (April 8, 1976). "Ford Sees Wisconsin Vote As Kissinger Endorsement". The New York Times. p. 32. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 17, 2021.

[12] Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau. "Republican Presidential Preference Vote By County". The State of Wisconsin Blue Book 1977. Madison, Wisconsin. p. 879.

[archives-13] Wisconsin Historical Society, Statement of Board of State Canvassers for President, Vice President and Presidential Electors - General Election - November 2, 1976

[bluebook-14] Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau. "Vote For President And Vice President By County". The State of Wisconsin Blue Book 1977. Madison, Wisconsin. pp. 904–905.

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