Presidential Election Debates: Ford vs. Carter 1976
Debates between Presidential candidates are a relatively new phenomenon. Although a series of debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas occurred in 1858, these were actually held as a lead up to a contest for the Illinois Senate between the two men, a contest that Lincoln lost. (Technically, the senate position was appointed by the Illinois Legislature.) Invitations to debate were later issued by Wendell Willkie to Franklin Roosevelt, but FDR did not take the bait. Dwight Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson also chose not to debate one another in 1956, and it wasn't until the debates between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon that debates became an expected part of presidential campaigns.
In the 1976 presidential election, three debates were held between Republican candidate, incumbent president Gerald Ford and Democratic governor Jimmy Carter, the major candidates. One debate was held with their vice presidential running mates, Bob Dole and Walter Mondale (both of whom would later participate in presidential election debates as the unsuccessful candidate for President). The vice presidential debate was held on October 15 at the Alley Theatre in Houston, Texas.
The three presidential debates were held on September 23 at the Walnut Street Theater in Philadelphia, on October 6 at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, and on October 22 at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. November 7th was Election Day. All of the debates were sponsored by the League of Women Voters. In each of the debates, the candidates received questioned in turn with three minutes to answer and a 60-second rebuttal. No third party candidates were invited to any of the debates.
Edwin Newman of NBC News moderated the first debate, Pauline Frederick of NPR moderated the second, and Barbara Walters of ABC News moderated the third. James Hoge of the Chicago Sun Times was moderator for the Vice-Presidential candidates debate. An estimated 69.7 million viewers tuned in to watch the first debate, an estimated 63.9 million viewers tuned into for the second debate and 62.7 million watched the third presidential debate. An estimated 43.2 million viewers watched the debate between Dole and Mondale.
After the Democratic National Convention, Carter held a 33-point lead over Ford in the polls, but as the campaign continued, Carter saw his huge lead diminish. During the campaign Playboy magazine published a controversial interview with Carter in which Carter admitted to having "lusted in my heart" for women other than his wife. This tarnished his Ned Flanders-like image, as well as his use of the word "screw," controversial for its time. This cut into his support among women and evangelical Christians.
On September 23, Ford performed well in what the first televised presidential debate. This was the first time a debate had been televised since the Kennedy Nixon debates of 1960. Polls taken after the debate showed that most viewers felt that Ford was the winner. Carter lost points in the polls as the result of Ford's charges that he lacked the necessary experience to be an effective national leader, and that Carter was vague on many issues.
But Ford stumbled in the second debate. He committed a costly error when during the second presidential debate on October 6, in a response to a question posed by Max Frankel, Ford said that "there is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe and there never will be under a Ford administration". He added that he did not "believe that the Poles consider themselves dominated by the Soviet Union" and made the same claim with regard to Yugoslavia and Romania. Many viewed this statement as contrary to the reality that existed at the time and it made Ford appear out of touch with the real world situation. Ford refused to retract his statement for almost a week after the debate. This coincided with a halt to his surge in the polls and Carter was able to maintain a slight lead in the polls.
The vice-presidential debate held that year was the first ever formal one of its kind. In that debate between Bob Dole and Walter Mondale, Dole hurt the Republican ticket when he made the statement that military unpreparedness on the part of Democratic presidents was responsible for all of the wars the U.S. had fought in the 20th century. Dole, a World War II veteran, noted that in every 20th-century war from World War I to the Vietnam War, a Democrat had been president. Dole then pointed out that the number of U.S. casualties in "Democrat wars" was roughly equal to the population of Detroit. Many voters saw Dole's criticism as disingenuous and unfair and that his dispassionate delivery made him seem cold. Many years later, Dole said that he regretted the comment, and agreed that it probably hurt the Republican ticket.
Ford could not recover his lost momentum in the final debate, seen by many as a draw. Despite his campaign's blunders, polls showed Ford and Carter running neck and neck by election day. It was not until 3:30 am (EST), that the NBC television network was able to declare that Carter had carried Mississippi, putting him over the top with more than the 270 electoral votes needed to win (seconds later, ABC News also declared Carter the winner based on projections for Carter in Wisconsin and Hawaii. CBS News announced Carter's victory at 3:45 am). Carter defeated Ford by two percentage points in the national popular vote.
The electoral vote was the closest since 1916. Carter carried 23 states with 297 electoral votes, while Ford won 27 states with 240 electoral votes. (One elector from Washington state, pledged to Ford, voted for Ronald Reagan instead). Carters wept most of the South (he lost only Virginia and Oklahoma) and his narrow victories in large Northern states, such as New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Ford did well in the West, carrying every state in that region except for Hawaii. The most tightly contested state in the election was Oregon; Ford won that state by under 2,000 votes.
In the 1976 presidential election, three debates were held between Republican candidate, incumbent president Gerald Ford and Democratic governor Jimmy Carter, the major candidates. One debate was held with their vice presidential running mates, Bob Dole and Walter Mondale (both of whom would later participate in presidential election debates as the unsuccessful candidate for President). The vice presidential debate was held on October 15 at the Alley Theatre in Houston, Texas.
The three presidential debates were held on September 23 at the Walnut Street Theater in Philadelphia, on October 6 at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, and on October 22 at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. November 7th was Election Day. All of the debates were sponsored by the League of Women Voters. In each of the debates, the candidates received questioned in turn with three minutes to answer and a 60-second rebuttal. No third party candidates were invited to any of the debates.
Edwin Newman of NBC News moderated the first debate, Pauline Frederick of NPR moderated the second, and Barbara Walters of ABC News moderated the third. James Hoge of the Chicago Sun Times was moderator for the Vice-Presidential candidates debate. An estimated 69.7 million viewers tuned in to watch the first debate, an estimated 63.9 million viewers tuned into for the second debate and 62.7 million watched the third presidential debate. An estimated 43.2 million viewers watched the debate between Dole and Mondale.
After the Democratic National Convention, Carter held a 33-point lead over Ford in the polls, but as the campaign continued, Carter saw his huge lead diminish. During the campaign Playboy magazine published a controversial interview with Carter in which Carter admitted to having "lusted in my heart" for women other than his wife. This tarnished his Ned Flanders-like image, as well as his use of the word "screw," controversial for its time. This cut into his support among women and evangelical Christians.
On September 23, Ford performed well in what the first televised presidential debate. This was the first time a debate had been televised since the Kennedy Nixon debates of 1960. Polls taken after the debate showed that most viewers felt that Ford was the winner. Carter lost points in the polls as the result of Ford's charges that he lacked the necessary experience to be an effective national leader, and that Carter was vague on many issues.
But Ford stumbled in the second debate. He committed a costly error when during the second presidential debate on October 6, in a response to a question posed by Max Frankel, Ford said that "there is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe and there never will be under a Ford administration". He added that he did not "believe that the Poles consider themselves dominated by the Soviet Union" and made the same claim with regard to Yugoslavia and Romania. Many viewed this statement as contrary to the reality that existed at the time and it made Ford appear out of touch with the real world situation. Ford refused to retract his statement for almost a week after the debate. This coincided with a halt to his surge in the polls and Carter was able to maintain a slight lead in the polls.
The vice-presidential debate held that year was the first ever formal one of its kind. In that debate between Bob Dole and Walter Mondale, Dole hurt the Republican ticket when he made the statement that military unpreparedness on the part of Democratic presidents was responsible for all of the wars the U.S. had fought in the 20th century. Dole, a World War II veteran, noted that in every 20th-century war from World War I to the Vietnam War, a Democrat had been president. Dole then pointed out that the number of U.S. casualties in "Democrat wars" was roughly equal to the population of Detroit. Many voters saw Dole's criticism as disingenuous and unfair and that his dispassionate delivery made him seem cold. Many years later, Dole said that he regretted the comment, and agreed that it probably hurt the Republican ticket.
Ford could not recover his lost momentum in the final debate, seen by many as a draw. Despite his campaign's blunders, polls showed Ford and Carter running neck and neck by election day. It was not until 3:30 am (EST), that the NBC television network was able to declare that Carter had carried Mississippi, putting him over the top with more than the 270 electoral votes needed to win (seconds later, ABC News also declared Carter the winner based on projections for Carter in Wisconsin and Hawaii. CBS News announced Carter's victory at 3:45 am). Carter defeated Ford by two percentage points in the national popular vote.
The electoral vote was the closest since 1916. Carter carried 23 states with 297 electoral votes, while Ford won 27 states with 240 electoral votes. (One elector from Washington state, pledged to Ford, voted for Ronald Reagan instead). Carters wept most of the South (he lost only Virginia and Oklahoma) and his narrow victories in large Northern states, such as New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Ford did well in the West, carrying every state in that region except for Hawaii. The most tightly contested state in the election was Oregon; Ford won that state by under 2,000 votes.