1996 United States presidential election information
53rd quadrennial U.S. presidential election
1996 United States presidential election
← 1992
November 5, 1996
2000 →
538 members of the Electoral College 270 electoral votes needed to win
Turnout
51.7%[1] 6.4 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 states won by Clinton/Gore and red denotes those won by Dole/Kemp. Numbers indicate electoral votes cast by each state and the District of Columbia.
President before election
Bill Clinton
Democratic
Elected President
Bill Clinton
Democratic
The 1996 United States presidential election was the 53rd quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 5, 1996.[2] Incumbent Democratic President Bill Clinton defeated former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, the Republican nominee (and the party's nominee for vice president in 1976), and Ross Perot, the Reform Party nominee and 1992 Independent presidential candidate.
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, and warned that Republicans would increase the deficit and slash spending on popular programs like Social Security and Medicare. Dole promised an across-the-board 15% reduction in federal income taxes and labeled 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.
On election day, Clinton defeated Dole by a wide margin, winning 379 electors to Dole's 159 and taking 49.2% of the national popular vote to Dole's 40.7%. As in 1992, Perot's strong candidacy held both major party candidates below 50% nationwide. Notably, Clinton's strength with many southern and rural whites makes him the last Democrat as of 2020 to carry the states of Kentucky, Louisiana, West Virginia, Arkansas, Missouri, and Tennessee in a presidential election. He was also the last Democrat to win Arizona until 2020.
^"National General Election VEP Turnout Rates, 1789-Present". United States Election Project. CQ Press.
^"Election Dates". Uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved June 17, 2010.
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Global Information
6.4 pp
