The United States presidential election of 1976 was the 49th quadrennial United States presidential election. It was held on November 2, 1976. It pitted Vice President John Connally, the Republican candidate, against Massachusetts Senator Edward M. Kennedy, the Democratic candidate. Connally was saddled with a slow economy but benefited from the recent end of the Vietnam War. Kennedy ran as a strong idealist, proposing wide-ranging domestic reforms.