Please read the following table in HTML format from a webpage and then answer the question in detail according to the table. Each table cell is defined by a <td> and a </td> tag. Each table row starts with a <tr> and ends with a </tr> tag. 'rowspan=m' and 'colspan=n' represents a cell spaning over 'm' rows and 'n' columns.

Webpage title:
1976 United States presidential election in Rhode Island
Table title:
Results
Table:
<table id='hittask' contenteditable='False'>
<tr> <th colspan=2 rowspan=1 > Party </th><th colspan=1 rowspan=1 > Candidate </th><th colspan=1 rowspan=1 > Votes </th><th colspan=1 rowspan=1 > % </th></tr>
<tr> <td colspan=1 rowspan=1 >  </td><td colspan=1 rowspan=1 > Democratic </td><td class="highlighted"  colspan=1 rowspan=1 > Jimmy Carter </td><td colspan=1 rowspan=1 > 227,636 </td><td colspan=1 rowspan=1 > 55.36% </td></tr>
<tr> <td colspan=1 rowspan=1 >  </td><td class="highlighted"  colspan=1 rowspan=1 > Republican </td><td class="highlighted"  colspan=1 rowspan=1 > Gerald Ford (inc.) </td><td colspan=1 rowspan=1 > 181,249 </td><td class="highlighted"  colspan=1 rowspan=1 > 44.08% </td></tr>
<tr> <td colspan=1 rowspan=1 >  </td><td colspan=1 rowspan=1 > Write-In </td><td colspan=1 rowspan=1 >  </td><td colspan=1 rowspan=1 > 2,285 </td><td colspan=1 rowspan=1 > 0.56% </td></tr>
<tr> <th colspan=3 rowspan=1 > Total votes </th><td colspan=1 rowspan=1 > 411,170 </td><td colspan=1 rowspan=1 > 100% </td></tr>
</table>
Question:
Who did Carter defeat to become president and what percentage did the loser have?
Answer:
Carter defeated incumbent President Gerald Ford (R), who finished with 44.08% of the vote.