Presidency of Jimmy Carter taken on the eve of the election showed a close race, Reagan won a decisive victory. In polls of historians and political scientists, Carter is usually ranked as a below-average president. Carter was elected as the Governor of Georgia in 1970, and during his four years in office he earned a reputation as a progressive, racially moderate Southern governor. Observing George McGovern's success in the 1972 Democratic primaries, Carter came to believe that he could win the 1976 Democratic presidential nomination by running as an outsider unconnected to establishment politicians in Washington, D.C. Despite scant backing from party leaders, McGovern
1976 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania 1976 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania The 1976 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania took place on November 2, 1976, and was part of the 1976 United States presidential election. Voters chose 27 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president. Pennsylvania voted for the Democratic nominee, former Governor Jimmy Carter, over the Republican nominee, President Gerald Ford. Carter won Pennsylvania by a margin of 2.67 percentage points. While President Ford won more counties by running up victories in the central region of the state and the Philadelphia suburbs, Governor Carter swept Southwestern