1976: AILING PUBLIC CONFIDENCE

	VS
J. Carter 50.1 %		G.Ford

The public's confidence in the government plunged to an all-time low after Watergate, and two years after Gerald Ford assumed presidential duties, he was still unpopular for granting Richard Nixon a full pardon. This, and high unemployment, helped California Governor Ronald Reagan to wage a tough, however unsuccessful, primary challenge against Ford.

The Democratic challenger in the general election, the little-known governor from Georgia, Jimmy Carter, ran a smart and steady campaign that attacked Ford for increasing unemployment. Carter's campaign gained necessary momentum after the first televised debates since 1960. When Ford stated that the Soviet Union did not dominate Eastern Europe, Carter seized the moment by saying he didn't believe Americans of Polish, Czechs and Hungarian descent would agree. Carter won in a close election that split the vote largely along East-West lines. Carter took a majority of the states east of the Mississippi and Ford took those to the West, with the exception of Texas and Hawaii.

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