Daniel Patrick Moynihan won with 51.3% of the vote (3,422,594 votes), ahead of James L. Buckley with 42.5% (2,836,633 votes).
The margin between the first two candidates was 8.8 percentage points (585,961 votes). The party margin (Republican share minus Democratic share) was a Democratic lead of 8.8 points.
6,666,875 votes were counted in this race, for 6 candidates or options.
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