1996 United States presidential election

For related races, see 1996 United States elections.

1996 United States presidential election

November 5, 1996
All 538 electoral votes of the Electoral College 270 electoral votes needed to win
Turnout	49.0% 6.2 pp
Nominee Bill Clinton Bob Dole Ross Perot Party Democratic Republican Reform Home state Arkansas Kansas Texas Running mate Al Gore Jack Kemp Pat Choate Electoral vote 379 159 0 States carried 31 + DC 19 0 Popular vote 47,401,185 39,197,469 8,085,294 Percentage 49.2% 40.7% 8.4%
Presidential election results map. Blue denotes those won by Clinton/Gore, red denotes states won by Dole/Kemp. Numbers indicate electoral votes allotted to the winner of each state.
President before election Bill Clinton Democratic Elected President Bill Clinton Democratic

The 1996 United States presidential election was the 53rd quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 5, 1996. Incumbent Democratic President Bill Clinton defeated former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, the Republican nominee, and Ross Perot, the Reform Party nominee.

Clinton and Vice President Al Gore were re-nominated without incident by the Democratic Party. Numerous candidates entered the 1996 Republican primaries, with Dole considered the early front-runner. Dole clinched the nomination after defeating challenges by publisher Steve Forbes and paleoconservative leader Pat Buchanan. Dole's running mate was Jack Kemp, a former Congressman and football player who had served as the Housing Secretary under President George H. W. Bush. Ross Perot, who had won 18.9% of the popular vote as an independent candidate in the 1992 election, ran as the candidate of the Reform Party. Perot received less media attention in 1996 and was excluded from the presidential debates.

Clinton's chances of winning were initially considered slim in the middle of his term as his party had lost both the House of Representatives and the Senate in 1994 for the first time in decades. He was able to regain ground as the economy began to recover from the early 1990s recession with a relatively stable world stage. Clinton tied Dole to Newt Gingrich, the unpopular Republican Speaker of the House. Dole promised an across-the-board 15% reduction in federal income taxes and attacked Clinton as a member of the "spoiled" Baby Boomer generation. Dole's age was a persistent issue in the election, and gaffes by Dole exacerbated the issue for his campaign.

Clinton maintained a consistent polling edge over Dole, and he won re-election with a substantial margin in the popular vote and the Electoral College. Clinton became the first Democrat since Franklin D. Roosevelt to win two straight presidential elections. Dole won 40.7% of the popular vote and 159 electoral votes, while Perot won 8.4% of the popular vote. Despite Dole's defeat, the Republican Party was able to maintain a majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Turnout was registered at 49.0%, the lowest for a presidential election since 1924.

Background

In 1995, the Republican Party was riding high on the significant gains made in the 1994 mid-term elections. In those races, the Republicans, led by whip Newt Gingrich, captured the majority of seats in the House for the first time in forty years and the majority of seats in the Senate for the first time in eight years. Gingrich became Speaker of the House, while Bob Dole elevated to Senate Majority leader.

The Republicans of the 104th Congress pursued an ambitious agenda, highlighted by their Contract with America, but were often forced to compromise with President Clinton, who wielded veto power. A budget impasse between Congress and the Clinton Administration eventually resulted in a government shutdown. Clinton, meanwhile, was praised for signing the GOP's welfare reform and other notable bills, but was forced to abandon his own health care plan.

Democratic Party nomination

Main article: Democratic Party presidential primaries, 1996

Democratic Candidates

• Bill Clinton, President of the United States
• Lyndon LaRouche, Activist from Virginia
• Jimmy Griffin, Former Mayor of Buffalo from New York

Democratic Party Ticket, 1996
Bill Clinton	Al Gore
for President	for Vice President
42nd President of the United States (1993–2001)	45th Vice President of the United States (1993–2001)
Campaign

Candidates gallery

• 
  President
  Bill Clinton
  from Arkansas
• 
  Activist
  Lyndon LaRouche
  from Virginia

With the advantage of incumbency, Bill Clinton's path to renomination by the Democratic Party was uneventful. At the 1996 Democratic National Convention, Clinton and incumbent Vice President Al Gore were renominated with token opposition. Incarcerated fringe candidate Lyndon LaRouche won a few Arkansas delegates who were barred from the convention. Jimmy Griffin, former Mayor of Buffalo, New York, mounted a brief campaign but withdrew after a poor showing in the New Hampshire primary. Former Pennsylvania governor Bob Casey contemplated a challenge to Clinton, but health problems forced Casey to abandon a bid.

Clinton easily won primaries nationwide, with margins consistently higher than 80%.

• Bill Clinton (inc.) – 9,706,802 (88.98%)
• Lyndon LaRouche – 596,422 (5.47%)
• Unpledged – 411,270 (3.77%)

Republican Party nomination

Main article: Republican Party presidential primaries, 1996

Republican Candidates

• Bob Dole, U.S. Senator from Kansas and Republican nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1976
• Pat Buchanan, conservative columnist from Virginia
• Steve Forbes, newspaper and magazine publisher from New York
• Lamar Alexander, former Governor of Tennessee
• Phil Gramm, U.S. Senator from Texas
• Alan Keyes, former U.S. ECOSOC Ambassador from Maryland
• Richard Lugar, U.S. Senator from Indiana
• Bob Dornan, U.S. Representative from California
• Arlen Specter, U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania
• Pete Wilson, Governor of California
• Morry Taylor, CEO from Michigan

Republican Party Ticket, 1996
Bob Dole	Jack Kemp
for President	for Vice President
U.S. Senator from Kansas (1969–1996)	9th U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (1989–1993)
Campaign

Candidates gallery

• 
  Senator
  Bob Dole
  from Kansas
• 
  Conservative columnist
  Pat Buchanan
  from Virginia
• 
  Newspaper and magazine publisher
  Steve Forbes
  from New York
• 
  Former Governor
  Lamar Alexander
  of Tennessee
• 
  Former U.S. ECOSOC Ambassador
  Alan Keyes, from Maryland
• 
  Senator
  Richard Lugar
  from Indiana
• 
  Senator
  Phil Gramm
  from Texas
• 
  Representative
  Bob Dornan
  from California
• 
  Senator
  Arlen Specter
  from Pennsylvania
• 
  Governor
  Pete Wilson
  of California

A number of Republican candidates entered the field to challenge the incumbent Democratic President, Bill Clinton.

The fragmented field of candidates debated issues such as a flat tax and other tax cut proposals, and a return to supply-side economic policies popularized by Ronald Reagan. More attention was drawn to the race by the budget stalemate in 1995 between the Congress and the President, which caused temporary shutdowns and slowdowns in many areas of federal government service.

Former Secretary of Labor Lynn Martin of Illinois, who served in the United States House of Representatives from Illinois's 16th District and was the 1990 Republican U.S. Senate nominee losing to incumbent Paul Simon conducted a bid for most of 1995, but withdrew before the Iowa caucuses as polls showed her languishing far behind. She participated in a number of primary Presidential debates before withdrawing. Martin's predecessor in Congress, John Anderson had made first a Republican then Independent Presidential bid in 1980. Also, Simon who defeated Martin for the U.S. Senate had run for President as a Democrat in 1988.

Former U.S. Army General Colin Powell was widely courted as a potential Republican nominee. However, on November 8, 1995, Powell announced that he would not seek the nomination. Former Secretary of Defense and future Vice President of the United States Dick Cheney was touted by many as a possible candidate for the presidency, but he declared his intentions not to run in early 1995. Former and future Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld formed a presidential campaign exploratory committee, but declined to formally enter the race. Former Secretary of State James A. Baker III and former Secretary of Education William Bennett both flirted with bids, both even set up exploratory committees, for a number of months but both finally declared within days of each other they would not run either.

Primaries and convention

Main article: 1996 Republican Party presidential primaries

Ahead of the 1996 primary contest, Republican Leader of the United States Senate and former vice-presidential candidate Bob Dole was seen as the most likely winner. However, Steve Forbes finished first in Delaware and Arizona while paleoconservative firebrand Pat Buchanan managed early victories in Alaska and Louisiana, in addition to a strong second place in the Iowa caucuses and a surprising victory in the small but key New Hampshire primary. Buchanan's New Hampshire win alarmed the Republican "establishment" sufficiently as to provoke prominent Republicans to quickly coalesce around Dole, and Dole won every primary starting with North and South Dakota. Dole resigned his Senate seat on June 11 and the Republican National Convention formally nominated Dole on August 15, 1996 for President.

Popular primaries vote

• Bob Dole – 9,024,742 (58.82%)
• Pat Buchanan – 3,184,943 (20.76%)
• Steve Forbes – 1,751,187 (11.41%)
• Lamar Alexander – 495,590 (3.23%)
• Alan Keyes – 471,716 (3.08%)
• Richard Lugar – 127,111 (0.83%)
• Unpledged – 123,278 (0.80%)
• Phil Gramm – 71,456 (0.47%)
• Bob Dornan – 42,140 (0.28%)
• Morry Taylor – 21,180 (0.14%)

Convention tally:

• Bob Dole 1928
• Pat Buchanan 47
• Steve Forbes 2
• Alan Keyes 1
• Robert Bork 1

Former Representative and Housing Secretary Jack Kemp was nominated by acclamation for Vice President, the following day. This was the only Republican ticket between 1976 and 2008 that did not include a member of the Bush family.

Major third parties

Main article: United States third party and independent presidential candidates, 1996

Parties in this section have obtained ballot access in enough states to theoretically obtain the minimum number of electoral votes needed to win the election. Individuals included in this section have completed one or more of the following actions: received, or formally announced their candidacy for, the presidential nomination of a third party; formally announced intention to run as an independent candidate and obtained enough ballot access to win the election; filed as a third party or non-affiliated candidate with the FEC (for other than exploratory purposes). Within each party, candidates are listed alphabetically by surname.

Reform Party nomination

Main article: Reform Party presidential primaries, 1996

Ross Perot was on the ballot in every state.

Reform candidates

• Ross Perot – party founder and businessman from Texas
• Richard Lamm – former Governor of Colorado
• David Boren – former Senator from and former Governor of Oklahoma (declined)
• Lowell Weicker – former Senator from and former Governor of Connecticut (declined)
• Tim Penny – former Representative from Minnesota (declined)

• 
  Party Founder Ross Perot, from Texas
• 
  Former Governor Richard Lamm of Colorado
• 
  Former Senator David Boren from Oklahoma (declined)
• 
  Former Governor Lowell Weicker of Connecticut (declined)
• 
  Former Representative Tim Penny from Minnesota
  (declined)

The United States Reform Party had great difficulty in finding a candidate willing to run in the general election. Lowell Weicker, Tim Penny, David Boren and Richard Lamm were among those who toyed with the notion of seeking its presidential nomination, though all but Lamm decided against it; Lamm had himself come close to withdrawing his name from consideration.

Ultimately, the Reform Party nominated its founder Ross Perot from Texas in its first election as an official political party. Although Perot easily won the nomination, his victory at the party's national convention led to a schism as supporters of Lamm accused him of rigging the vote to prevent them from casting their ballots. This faction walked out of the national convention and eventually formed their own group, the American Reform Party, and attempted to convince Lamm to run as an Independent in the general election; Lamm declined, pointing out a promise he made before running that he would respect the Party's final decision.

Economist Pat Choate was nominated for Vice President.

Libertarian Party nomination

Harry Browne was on the ballot in every state.

Libertarian candidates

• Harry Browne – writer and investment analyst from Tennessee
• Rick Tompkins – former candidate for Senator from Arizona
• Irwin Schiff – writer and prominent figure in the tax protester movement from Nevada
• Douglas J. Ohmen – political activist from California
• Jeffrey Diket – political activist from Louisiana

• 
  Writer Harry Browne from Tennessee

The Libertarian Party nominated free-market writer and investment analyst, Harry Browne from Tennessee, and selected Jo Jorgensen from South Carolina as his running-mate. Browne and Jorgensen drew 485,798 votes (0.5% of the popular vote).

The Balloting

Presidential Ballot	1st
Harry Browne	416
Rick Tompkins	74
None	61
Irwin Schiff	32
Douglas J. Ohmen	20
Jeffrey Diket	1
Jo Jorgensen	1

Natural Law Party nomination

John Hagelin was on the ballot in forty-three states (463 Electoral Votes). Those states with a lighter shade are states in which he was an official write-in candidate.

Natural Law candidate:

• 
  Scientist and Researcher John Hagelin from Iowa

The Natural Law Party for a second time nominated scientist and researcher John Hagelin for President and Mike Tompkins for Vice President. The party platform included preventive health care, sustainable agriculture and renewable energy technologies. During his campaigns, Hagelin favored abortion rights without public financing, campaign finance law reform, improved gun control, a flat tax, the eradication of PACs, a ban on soft money contributions, and school vouchers.

Hagelin and Tompkins drew 113,671 votes (0.1% of the popular vote).

U.S. Taxpayers' Party nomination

Howard Phillips was on the ballot in thirty-eight states (414 Electoral Votes). Those states with a lighter shade are states in which he was an official write-in candidate.

U.S. Taxpayers' candidates

• Howard Phillips, conservative political activist from Virginia
• Pat Buchanan, conservative columnist from Virginia (declined)
• Alan Keyes, Former Diplomat and Political Activist from Maryland (declined)
• Bob Dornan, Congressman from California (declined)

• 
  Conservative Columnist Pat Buchanan
  (Declined)
• 
  Former Diplomat Alan Keyes
  (Declined)
• 
  Representative Bob Dornan
  (Declined)
• 
  Conservative Political Activist Howard Phillips

The U.S. Taxpayers Party had run its first presidential ticket in 1992, it being head by Howard Phillips who had failed to find any prominent conservative willing to take the mantle. In 1996 the situation ultimately proved the same, though Pat Buchanan for a time was widely speculated to be planning on bolting to the Taxpayers' Party should the expected Republican nominee, Senator Bob Dole, name a Pro-Choice running-mate. When Jack Kemp, who is Pro-Life, was tapped for the position Buchanan agreed to endorse the Republican ticket. Again, Phillips found himself at a temporary post that was made permanent, with Herbert Titus being nominated for the Vice Presidency.

Phillips and Titus drew 182,820 votes (0.2% of the popular vote).

General election

Campaign

Without meaningful primary opposition, Clinton was able to focus on the general election early, while Dole was forced to move to the right and spend his campaign reserves fighting off challengers. Political adviser Dick Morris urged Clinton to raise huge sums of campaign funds via soft money for an unprecedented early TV blitz of swing states promoting Clinton's agenda and record. As a result, Clinton could run a campaign through the summer defining his opponent as an aged conservative far from the mainstream before Dole was in a position to respond. Compared to the 50-year-old Clinton, then 73-year-old Dole appeared especially old and frail, as illustrated by an embarrassing fall off a stage during a campaign event in Chico, California. Dole further enhanced this contrast on September 18 when he made a reference to a no-hitter thrown the day before by Hideo Nomo of the "Brooklyn Dodgers", a team that had left Brooklyn for Los Angeles 38 years earlier. A few days later Dole would make a joke about the remark by saying, "And I'd like to congratulate the St. Louis Cardinals on winning the N.L. Central. Notice I said the St. Louis Cardinals, not the St. Louis Browns." (The Browns had left St. Louis after the 1954 season to become the Baltimore Orioles.)

Dole chose to focus on Clinton as being "part of the spoiled baby boomer generation" and stating, "My generation won [World War II], and we may need to be called to service one last time." Although his message won appeal with older voters, surveys found that his age was widely held as a liability and his frequent allusions to WWII and the Great Depression in speeches and campaign ads "unappealing" to younger voters. To prove that he was still healthy and active, Dole released all of his medical records to the public and published photographs of himself running on a treadmill. After the falling incident in California, he joked that he "was trying to do that new Democratic dance, the Macarena".

The Clinton campaign avoided mentioning Dole's age directly, instead choosing to confront it in more subtle ways such as the campaign slogan "Building Bridges to the Future" in contrast to the Republican candidate's frequent remarks that he was a "bridge to the past", before the social upheavals of the 1960s. Clinton, without actually calling Dole old, questioned the age of his ideas.

Dole (left) and Clinton (right) at the first presidential debate on October 6, 1996 at The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts in Hartford, Connecticut.

With respect to the issues, Dole promised a 15% across-the-board reduction in income tax rates and made former Congressman and supply side advocate Jack Kemp his running mate. Bill Clinton framed the narrative against Dole early, painting him as a mere clone of unpopular House Speaker Newt Gingrich, warning America that Bob Dole would work in concert with the Republican Congress to slash popular social programs, like Medicare and Social Security, dubbed by Clinton as "Dole-Gingrich". Bob Dole's tax-cut plan found itself under attack from the White House, who said it would "blow a hole in the deficit," which had been cut nearly in half during his opponent's term.

Throughout the run-up to the general election, Clinton maintained comfortable leads in the polls over Dole and Perot. The televised debates featured only Dole and Clinton, locking out Perot and the other minor candidates from the discussion. Perot, who had been allowed to participate in the 1992 debates, would eventually take his case to court, seeking damages from not being in the debate, as well as citing unfair coverage from the major media outlets.

Throughout this campaign, Clinton was always leading in the polls, generally by large margins. In October, Republican National Committee "operatives urg[ed] their party's Congressional candidates to cut loose from Bob Dole and press voters to maintain a Republican majority" and spent $4 million on advertising in targeted districts.

Presidential Debates

Main article: 1996 United States presidential debates

The Commission on Presidential Debates announced two debates:

Debates among candidates for the 1996 U.S. presidential election

No.	Date	Host	Location	Moderators	Participants	Viewership (Millions)
P1	Sunday, October 6, 1996	Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts	Hartford, Connecticut	Jim Lehrer	President Bill Clinton Senator Bob Dole	46.1
VP	Wednesday, October 9, 1996	Mahaffey Theater	St. Petersburg, Florida	Jim Lehrer	Vice President Al Gore Secretary Jack Kemp	26.6
P2	Wednesday, October 16, 1996	University of San Diego	San Diego, California	Jim Lehrer	President Bill Clinton Senator Bob Dole	36.6

Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts
Hartford, CT

Mahaffey Theater
St. Petersberg, FL

University of San Diego
San Diego CA

class=notpageimage|

Sites of the 1996 general election debates

Campaign donations controversy

Main article: 1996 United States campaign finance controversy

In late September 1995, questions arose regarding the Democratic National Committee's fund-raising practices. In February the following year, China's alleged role in the campaign finance controversy first gained public attention after the Washington Post published a story stating that a U.S. Department of Justice investigation had discovered evidence that agents of China sought to direct contributions from foreign sources to the DNC before the 1996 presidential campaign. The paper wrote that intelligence information had showed the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C. was used for coordinating contributions to the DNC in violation of U.S. law forbidding non-American citizens from giving monetary donations to U.S. politicians and political parties. Seventeen people were eventually convicted for fraud or for funneling Asian funds into the U.S. elections.

One of the more notable events learned involved Vice President Al Gore and a fund-raising event held at Hsi Lai Temple in Hacienda Heights, California. The Temple event was organized by DNC fund-raisers John Huang and Maria Hsia. It is illegal under U.S. law for religious organizations to donate money to politicians or political groups due to their tax-exempt status. The U.S. Justice Department alleged Hsia facilitated $100,000 in illegal contributions to the 1996 Clinton-Gore re-election campaign through her efforts at the Temple. Hsia was eventually convicted by a jury in March 2000. The DNC eventually returned the money donated by the Temple's monks and nuns. Twelve nuns and employees of the Temple refused to answer questions by pleading the Fifth Amendment when they were subpoenaed to testify before Congress in 1997.

Results

On election day, President Clinton won a decisive victory over Dole, becoming the first Democrat to win two consecutive presidential elections since Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1936, 1940, and 1944. In the popular vote, he out-polled Dole by over 8.2 million votes. The Electoral College map did not change much from the previous election, with the Democratic incumbent winning 379 votes to the Republican ticket's 159. In the West, Dole managed to narrowly win Colorado and Montana (both had voted for Clinton four years earlier), while Clinton became the first Democrat to win the state of Arizona since Harry Truman in 1948. In the South, Clinton took Florida – a state he had failed to win in 1992 – from the Republicans in exchange for the less electoral-vote-rich Georgia. The election helped to cement Democratic presidential control in California, Vermont, Maine, Illinois, New Jersey and Connecticut; all went on to vote Democratic in every subsequent presidential election after having voted Republican in the five prior to 1992. 1996 marked the first time that Vermont voted for a Democrat in two successive elections. Pennsylvania and Michigan both voted Democratic, and would remain in the Democratic presidential fold until 2016. Although Clinton won a victory in the popular vote that was slightly greater than that achieved by his previous rival President George H.W. Bush, he won less Electoral states due to under-performance in rural counties nationwide – a precursor of the trend where future Democratic contenders for the Presidency perform well in populated metropolitan areas but vastly underperform in rural counties.

Reform Party nominee Ross Perot won approximately 8% of the popular vote. His vote total was less than half of his performance in 1992. The 1996 national exit poll showed that just as in 1992, Perot drew supporters from Clinton and Dole equally. In polls directed at Perot voters as to who would be a second choice, Clinton consistently held substantial leads. Perot's best showing was in states that tended to strongly favor either Clinton (such as Maine) or Dole (particularly Montana, though the margin of victory there was much closer). Perot once again received his lowest amount of support in the South.

Although Clinton is a native of Arkansas, and his running mate hailed from Tennessee, the Democratic ticket again carried just four of the eleven states of the American South. This tied Clinton's 1992 run for the weakest performance by a winning Democratic presidential candidate in the region before 2000 (in terms of states won). Clinton's performance seems to have been part of a broader decline in support for the Democratic Party in the South. In the 2000 and 2004 elections, the Democrats would fail to carry even one of the former Confederate states, contributing to their defeat both times. This completed the Republican takeover of the American South, a region in which Democrats had held a near monopoly from 1880 to 1948. However, in 2008, the Democrats were able to win three former Confederate states, but that was still worse than Clinton's performances in both 1992 and 1996. Since 1984, no winning presidential candidate has surpassed Bill Clinton's 8.5 percentage popular vote margin, or his 220 electoral vote margin since 1988. Also note that no Democratic presidential candidate has surpassed Clinton's electoral vote margin since 1964 and except Lyndon B. Johnson in that election no Democratic presidential candidate has surpassed his 8.5 percentage popular vote margin since 1940.

The election was also notable for the fact that for the first time in U.S. history the winner was elected without winning the male vote and the third time in U.S. history that a candidate was elected President twice without receiving an absolute majority of the popular vote in either election (Grover Cleveland and Woodrow Wilson are the others, although all three won pluralities [i.e. the most votes]).

Clinton was the first Democrat to win re-election to the presidency since Franklin D. Roosevelt, and the first Southern Democrat to win re-election since Andrew Jackson in 1832.

Following the 2016 election, 1996 remains the last time the following states voted Democratic: Arizona, Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri, Kentucky and West Virginia. Clinton also remains the last presidential candidate of either party to win at least one county in every state and the last Democrat to win a majority or plurality in Spokane County, Washington, Pinal and Gila Counties, Arizona, Washington County, Arkansas, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, Oneida County, New York and Anoka County, Minnesota. Clinton was also the last Democrat to win Florida, Nevada and Ohio until 2008. This election also constitutes the last time that a Democrat won the presidency without winning Colorado and Virginia.

Electoral results

Presidential candidate	Party	Home state	Popular vote		Electoral vote	Running mate
			Count	Percentage		Vice-presidential candidate	Home state	Electoral vote
William Jefferson Clinton (Incumbent)	Democratic	Arkansas	47,401,185	49.24%	379	Albert Arnold Gore, Jr.	Tennessee	379
Robert Joseph Dole	Republican	Kansas	39,197,469	40.71%	159	Jack French Kemp	New York	159
Henry Ross Perot	Reform	Texas	8,085,294	8.40%	0	Patrick Choate	Washington, D.C.	0
Ralph Nader	Green	Connecticut	685,297	0.71%	0	Winona LaDuke	California	0
Harry Browne	Libertarian	Tennessee	485,759	0.50%	0	Jo Jorgensen	South Carolina	0
Howard Phillips	Taxpayers	Virginia	184,656	0.19%	0	Herbert Titus	Oregon	0
John Hagelin	Natural Law	Iowa	113,670	0.12%	0	Mike Tompkins	Massachusetts	0
Other			113,667	0.12%	—	Other		—
Total			96,277,634	100%	538			538
Needed to win					270			270

Official Source (Popular Vote): 1996 Official Presidential General Election Results

Source (popular and electoral vote): Federal Elections Commission Electoral and Popular Vote Summary unofficial Secondary Source (Popular Vote): Leip, David. "1996 Presidential Election Results". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved August 7, 2005.

Voting age population: 196,498,000

Percent of voting age population casting a vote for President: 49.00%

Popular vote Clinton   49.24% Dole   40.71% Perot   8.40% Nader   0.71% Browne   0.50% Others   0.44%

Electoral vote Clinton   70.45% Dole   29.55%

• 
  Election results by county.

    Bill Clinton

    Bob Dole
• 
  1996 Presidential Election, Results by Congressional District
• 
  Results by county, shaded according to winning candidate's percentage of the vote

Results by state

States/districts won by Clinton/Gore

States/districts won by Dole/Kemp

		Bill Clinton Democratic			Bob Dole Republican			Ross Perot Reform			Ralph Nader Green			Harry Browne Libertarian			Others			Margin		State Total
State	elec­toral votes	#	%	elec­toral votes	#	%	elec­toral votes	#	%	elec­toral votes	#	%	elec­toral votes	#	%	elec­toral votes	#	%	elec­toral votes	#	%	#
Alabama	9	662,165	43.16%	–	769,044	50.12%	9	92,149	6.01%	–	–	–	–	5,290	0.34%	–	5,701	0.37%	–	−106,879	−6.97%	1,534,349	AL
Alaska	3	80,380	33.27%	–	122,746	50.80%	3	26,333	10.90%	–	7,597	3.14%	–	2,276	0.94%	–	2,288	0.95%	–	−42,366	−17.53%	241,620	AK
Arizona	8	653,288	46.52%	8	622,073	44.29%	–	112,072	7.98%	–	2,062	0.15%	–	14,358	1.02%	–	552	0.04%	–	31,215	2.22%	1,404,405	AZ
Arkansas	6	475,171	53.74%	6	325,416	36.80%	–	69,884	7.90%	–	3,649	0.41%	–	3,076	0.35%	–	7,066	0.80%	–	149,755	16.94%	884,262	AR
California	54	5,119,835	51.10%	54	3,828,380	38.21%	–	697,847	6.96%	–	237,016	2.37%	–	73,600	0.73%	–	62,806	0.63%	–	1,291,455	12.89%	10,019,484	CA
Colorado	8	671,152	44.43%	–	691,848	45.80%	8	99,629	6.59%	–	25,070	1.66%	–	12,392	0.82%	–	10,613	0.70%	–	−20,696	−1.37%	1,510,704	CO
Connecticut	8	735,740	52.83%	8	483,109	34.69%	–	139,523	10.02%	–	24,321	1.75%	–	5,788	0.42%	–	4,133	0.30%	–	252,631	18.14%	1,392,614	CT
Delaware	3	140,355	51.80%	3	99,062	36.58%	–	28,719	10.60%	–	18	0.01%	–	2,052	0.76%	–	639	0.24%	–	41,293	15.25%	270,845	DE
D.C.	3	158,220	85.19%	3	17,339	9.34%	–	3,611	1.94%	–	4,780	2.57%	–	588	0.32%	–	1,188	0.64%	–	140,881	75.85%	185,726	DC
Florida	25	2,546,870	48.02%	25	2,244,536	42.32%	–	483,870	9.12%	–	4,101	0.08%	–	23,965	0.45%	–	452	0.01%	–	302,334	5.70%	5,303,794	FL
Georgia	13	1,053,849	45.84%	–	1,080,843	47.01%	13	146,337	6.37%	–	–	–	–	17,870	0.78%	–	172	0.01%	–	−26,994	−1.17%	2,299,071	GA
Hawaii	4	205,012	56.93%	4	113,943	31.64%	–	27,358	7.60%	–	10,386	2.88%	–	2,493	0.69%	–	928	0.26%	–	91,069	25.29%	360,120	HI
Idaho	4	165,443	33.65%	–	256,595	52.18%	4	62,518	12.71%	–	–	–	–	3,325	0.68%	–	3,838	0.78%	–	−91,152	−18.54%	491,719	ID
Illinois	22	2,341,744	54.32%	22	1,587,021	36.81%	–	346,408	8.03%	–	1,447	0.03%	–	22,548	0.52%	–	12,223	0.29%	–	754,723	17.51%	4,311,391	IL
Indiana	12	887,424	41.55%	–	1,006,693	47.13%	12	224,299	10.50%	–	1,121	0.05%	–	15,632	0.73%	–	673	0.03%	–	−119,269	−5.58%	2,135,842	IN
Iowa	7	620,258	50.26%	7	492,644	39.92%	–	105,159	8.52%	–	6,550	0.53%	–	2,315	0.19%	–	7,149	0.58%	–	127,614	10.34%	1,234,075	IA
Kansas	6	387,659	36.08%	–	583,245	54.29%	6	92,639	8.62%	–	914	0.09%	–	4,557	0.42%	–	5,286	0.49%	–	−195,586	−18.21%	1,074,300	KS
Kentucky	8	636,614	45.84%	8	623,283	44.88%	–	120,396	8.67%	–	701	0.05%	–	4,009	0.29%	–	3,705	0.27%	–	13,331	0.96%	1,388,708	KY
Louisiana	9	927,837	52.01%	9	712,586	39.94%	–	123,293	6.91%	–	4,719	0.26%	–	7,499	0.42%	–	8,025	0.45%	–	215,251	12.07%	1,783,959	LA
Maine	4	312,788	51.62%	4	186,378	30.76%	–	85,970	14.19%	–	15,279	2.52%	–	2,996	0.49%	–	2,486	0.41%	–	126,410	20.86%	605,897	ME
Maryland	10	966,207	54.25%	10	681,530	38.27%	–	115,812	6.50%	–	2,606	0.15%	–	8,765	0.49%	–	5,950	0.33%	–	284,677	15.99%	1,780,870	MD
Massachusetts	12	1,571,763	61.47%	12	718,107	28.09%	–	227,217	8.89%	–	4,734	0.19%	–	20,426	0.80%	–	14,538	0.57%	–	853,656	33.39%	2,556,785	MA
Michigan	18	1,989,653	51.69%	18	1,481,212	38.48%	–	336,670	8.75%	–	2,322	0.06%	–	27,670	0.72%	–	11,317	0.29%	–	508,441	13.21%	3,848,844	MI
Minnesota	10	1,120,438	51.10%	10	766,476	34.96%	–	257,704	11.75%	–	24,908	1.14%	–	8,271	0.38%	–	14,843	0.68%	–	353,962	16.14%	2,192,640	MN
Mississippi	7	394,022	44.08%	–	439,838	49.21%	7	52,222	5.84%	–	–	–	–	2,809	0.31%	–	4,966	0.56%	–	−45,816	−5.13%	893,857	MS
Missouri	11	1,025,935	47.54%	11	890,016	41.24%	–	217,188	10.06%	–	534	0.02%	–	10,522	0.49%	–	13,870	0.64%	–	135,919	6.30%	2,158,065	MO
Montana	3	167,922	41.23%	–	179,652	44.11%	3	55,229	13.56%	–	–	–	–	2,526	0.62%	–	1,932	0.47%	–	−11,730	−2.88%	407,261	MT
Nebraska	5	236,761	34.95%	–	363,467	53.65%	5	71,278	10.52%	–	–	–	–	2,792	0.41%	–	3,117	0.46%	–	−126,706	−18.70%	677,415	NE
Nevada	4	203,974	43.93%	4	199,244	42.91%	–	43,986	9.47%	–	4,730	1.02%	–	4,460	0.96%	–	7,885	1.70%	–	4,730	1.02%	464,279	NV
New Hampshire	4	246,214	49.32%	4	196,532	39.37%	–	48,390	9.69%	–	–	–	–	4,237	0.85%	–	3,802	0.76%	–	49,682	9.95%	499,175	NH
New Jersey	15	1,652,329	53.72%	15	1,103,078	35.86%	–	262,134	8.52%	–	32,465	1.06%	–	14,763	0.48%	–	11,038	0.36%	–	549,251	17.86%	3,075,807	NJ
New Mexico	5	273,495	49.18%	5	232,751	41.86%	–	32,257	5.80%	–	13,218	2.38%	–	2,996	0.54%	–	1,357	0.24%	–	40,744	7.33%	556,074	NM
New York	33	3,756,177	59.47%	33	1,933,492	30.61%	–	503,458	7.97%	–	75,956	1.20%	–	12,220	0.19%	–	34,826	0.55%	–	1,822,685	28.86%	6,316,129	NY
North Carolina	14	1,107,849	44.04%	–	1,225,938	48.73%	14	168,059	6.68%	–	2,108	0.08%	–	8,740	0.35%	–	3,113	0.12%	–	−118,089	−4.69%	2,515,807	NC
North Dakota	3	106,905	40.13%	–	125,050	46.94%	3	32,515	12.20%	–	–	–	–	847	0.32%	–	1,094	0.41%	–	−18,145	−6.81%	266,411	ND
Ohio	21	2,148,222	47.38%	21	1,859,883	41.02%	–	483,207	10.66%	–	2,962	0.07%	–	12,851	0.28%	–	27,309	0.60%	–	288,339	6.36%	4,534,434	OH
Oklahoma	8	488,105	40.45%	–	582,315	48.26%	8	130,788	10.84%	–	–	–	–	5,505	0.46%	–	–	–	–	−94,210	−7.81%	1,206,713	OK
Oregon	7	649,641	47.15%	7	538,152	39.06%	–	121,221	8.80%	–	49,415	3.59%	–	8,903	0.65%	–	10,428	0.76%	–	111,489	8.09%	1,377,760	OR
Pennsylvania	23	2,215,819	49.17%	23	1,801,169	39.97%	–	430,984	9.56%	–	3,086	0.07%	–	28,000	0.62%	–	27,060	0.60%	–	414,650	9.20%	4,506,118	PA
Rhode Island	4	233,050	59.71%	4	104,683	26.82%	–	43,723	11.20%	–	6,040	1.55%	–	1,109	0.28%	–	1,679	0.43%	–	128,367	32.89%	390,284	RI
South Carolina	8	504,051	43.85%	–	573,458	49.89%	8	64,386	5.60%	–	–	–	–	4,271	0.37%	–	3,291	0.29%	–	−69,407	−6.04%	1,149,457	SC
South Dakota	3	139,333	43.03%	–	150,543	46.49%	3	31,250	9.65%	–	–	–	–	1,472	0.45%	–	1,228	0.38%	–	−11,210	−3.46%	323,826	SD
Tennessee	11	909,146	48.00%	11	863,530	45.59%	–	105,918	5.59%	–	6,427	0.34%	–	5,020	0.27%	–	4,064	0.21%	–	45,616	2.41%	1,894,105	TN
Texas	32	2,459,683	43.83%	–	2,736,167	48.76%	32	378,537	6.75%	–	4,810	0.09%	–	20,256	0.36%	–	12,191	0.22%	–	−276,484	−4.93%	5,611,644	TX
Utah	5	221,633	33.30%	–	361,911	54.37%	5	66,461	9.98%	–	4,615	0.69%	–	4,129	0.62%	–	6,880	1.03%	–	−140,278	−21.07%	665,629	UT
Vermont	3	137,894	53.35%	3	80,352	31.09%	–	31,024	12.00%	–	5,585	2.16%	–	1,183	0.46%	–	2,411	0.93%	–	57,542	22.26%	258,449	VT
Virginia	13	1,091,060	45.15%	–	1,138,350	47.10%	13	159,861	6.62%	–	–	–	–	9,174	0.38%	–	18,197	0.75%	–	−47,290	−1.96%	2,416,642	VA
Washington	11	1,123,323	49.84%	11	840,712	37.30%	–	201,003	8.92%	–	60,322	2.68%	–	12,522	0.56%	–	15,955	0.71%	–	282,611	12.54%	2,253,837	WA
West Virginia	5	327,812	51.51%	5	233,946	36.76%	–	71,639	11.26%	–	–	–	–	3,062	0.48%	–	–	–	–	93,866	14.75%	636,459	WV
Wisconsin	11	1,071,971	48.81%	11	845,029	38.48%	–	227,339	10.35%	–	28,723	1.31%	–	7,929	0.36%	–	15,178	0.69%	–	226,942	10.33%	2,196,169	WI
Wyoming	3	77,934	36.84%	–	105,388	49.81%	3	25,928	12.25%	–	–	–	–	1,739	0.82%	–	582	0.28%	–	−27,454	−12.98%	211,571	WY
TOTALS:	538	47,400,125	49.24%	379	39,198,755	40.71%	159	8,085,402	8.40%	–	685,297	0.71%	–	485,798	0.50%	–	420,024	0.44%	–	8,201,370	8.52%	96,275,401	US

Close states

State where the margin of victory was under 1% (8 electoral votes):

1. Kentucky, 0.96%

States where the margin of victory was under 5% (109 electoral votes):

1. Nevada, 1.02%
2. Georgia, 1.17%
3. Colorado, 1.37%
4. Virginia, 1.96%
5. Arizona, 2.22%
6. Tennessee, 2.41%
7. Montana, 2.88%
8. South Dakota, 3.46%
9. North Carolina, 4.69%
10. Texas, 4.93%

States where the margin of victory was between 5% and 10% (143 electoral votes):

1. Mississippi, 5.13%
2. Indiana, 5.58%
3. Florida, 5.70%
4. South Carolina, 6.04%
5. Missouri, 6.30%
6. Ohio, 6.36%
7. North Dakota, 6.81%
8. Alabama, 6.96%
9. New Mexico, 7.32%
10. Oklahoma, 7.81%
11. Oregon, 8.09%
12. Pennsylvania, 9.20% (tipping point state)
13. New Hampshire, 9.95%

Voter demographics

The Presidential vote in social groups (percentages)
Social group	Clinton	Dole	Perot	% of total vote
Total vote	49	41	8	100
Party and ideology
Conservative Republicans	6	88	5	21
Moderate Republicans	20	72	7	13
Liberal Republicans	44	48	9	2
Conservative independents	19	60	19	7
Moderate independents	50	30	17	15
Liberal independents	58	15	18	4
Conservative Democrats	69	23	7	6
Moderate Democrats	84	10	5	20
Liberal Democrats	89	5	4	13
Gender and marital status
Married men	40	48	10	33
Married women	63	28	7	33
Unmarried men	49	35	12	15
Unmarried women	62	28	7	20
Race
White	43	46	9	83
Black	84	12	4	10
Hispanic	72	21	6	5
Asian	43	48	8	1
Religion
Protestant	41	50	8	38
Catholic	53	37	9	29
Other Christian	45	41	12	16
Jewish	78	16	3	3
Other	60	23	11	6
None	59	23	13	7
White Religious Right
White Religious Right	26	65	8	17
Everyone else	54	35	9	83
Age
18–29 years old	53	34	10	17
30–44 years old	48	41	9	33
45–59 years old	48	41	9	26
60 and older	48	44	7	24
First time voters
First time voter	54	34	11	9
Everyone else	48	42	8	91
Sexual orientation
Gay, lesbian, or bisexual	66	23	7	5
Heterosexual	47	43	8	95
Education
Not a high school graduate	59	28	11	6
High school graduate	51	35	13	24
Some college education	48	40	10	27
College graduate	44	46	8	26
Postgraduate education	52	40	5	17
Family income
Under $15,000	59	28	11	11
$15,000–30,000	53	36	9	23
$30,000–50,000	48	40	10	27
$50,000–75,000	47	45	7	21
$75,000–100,000	44	48	7	9
Over $100,000	38	54	6	9
Region
East	55	34	9	23
Midwest	48	41	10	26
South	46.0	45.9	7.3	30
West	48	40	8	20
Community size
Population over 500,000	68	25	6	10
Population 50,000 to 500,000	50	39	8	21
Suburbs	47	42	8	39
Rural areas, towns	45	44	10	30

Source: Voter News Service exit poll, reported in The New York Times, November 10, 1996, 28.

Polling controversy

Some post-election debate focused on the alleged flaws in the pre-election polls, almost all of which overstated Clinton's lead over Dole, some by a substantial margin. For example, a CBS/New York Times poll overstated Clinton's lead by 10 points despite having an error margin of 2.4%. The odds against this sort of error occurring were 15,000:1. A less extreme example was a Pew poll that overstated Clinton's lead by 5 points, the chances of this happening were 10:1 against. Gerald Wasserman, having examined eight pre-election polls, argued that pure chance would produce such a skewed result in favor of Clinton only once in 4,900 elections. However, because Clinton won the election by a comfortable margin, there was no major reaction towards the inaccuracy of the polls. The polls were also less inaccurate than the overwhelming majority of those taken in 1948, which predicted that losing candidate Thomas Dewey would beat President Harry Truman by a comfortable margin, and in 1980, which predicted that Ronald Reagan would win by a smaller margin than he did.

See also

• List of Presidents of the United States
• Second inauguration of Bill Clinton
• Newspaper endorsements in the 1996 United States presidential election
• 1996 United States gubernatorial elections
• 1996 United States House of Representatives elections
• 1996 United States Senate elections

Further reading

Books

• Ceaser, James W.; Andrew E. Busch (1997). Losing to Win: The 1996 Elections and American Politics. ISBN 0-8476-8405-9.
• Clinton, Bill (2005). My Life. Vintage. ISBN 1-4000-3003-X.
• Green, John C. (1999). Financing the 1996 Election. ISBN 0-585-26014-1.
• Moreland, Laurence W.; Steed, Robert P., eds. (1997). The 1996 Presidential Election in the South: Southern Party Systems in the 1990s. ISBN 0-275-95951-1.
• Pomper, Gerald M.; et al. (1997). The Election of 1996: Reports and Interpretations. ISBN 0-585-22457-9.
• Woodward, Bob (1996). The Choice. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-068481308-0.

Journals

• Jelen, Ted G.; Marthe Chandler (2000). "Culture Wars in the Trenches: Social Issues as Short-Term Forces in Presidential Elections, 1968–1996". The American Review of Politics. 21: 69–87.

Web references

• "Libertarian Party Historical Overview". Archived from the original on January 30, 2006. Retrieved January 25, 2006. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
• "Fear & Loathing on the Campaign Trail '96". Retrieved December 21, 2011.

External links

• United States presidential election of 1996 at the Encyclopædia Britannica

Campaign websites

• Clinton-Gore 1996 website screen shots
• Dole-Kemp Page at the Wayback Machine (archived 1996-11-06) (as of 1996)
  • Dole-Kemp 1996 website (archive?)

Other links

• The Election Wall's 1996 Election Video Page
• 1996 popular vote by counties
• 1996 popular vote by states
• 1996 popular vote by states (with bar graphs)
• CNN: 1996 Presidential Campaign Ads
• Popular vote data from the Federal Election Commission
• How close was the 1996 election? at the Wayback Machine (archived August 25, 2012) — Michael Sheppard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Choose or Lose at the Wayback Machine (archived 1996-12-22) - MTV pages on the election
• Election of 1996 in Counting the Votes