1996 United States presidential election in Massachusetts

The 1996 United States presidential election in Massachusetts took place on November 5, 1996, as part of the 1996 United States presidential election. Voters chose 12 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

1996 United States presidential election in Massachusetts

November 5, 1996
 
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 12 0 0
Popular vote 1,571,763 718,107 227,217
Percentage 61.47% 28.09% 8.89%

County Results
Clinton
  50-60%
  60-70%
  70-80%


President before election

Bill Clinton
Democratic

Elected President

Bill Clinton
Democratic

A solidly blue state, Massachusetts was won by incumbent Democratic President Bill Clinton in a landslide. Clinton took 61.47% of the popular vote over Republican challenger Bob Dole, who took 28.09%, a victory margin of 33.39%. Reform Party candidate Ross Perot finished in third, with 8.89% of the popular vote.[1]

Like New England as a whole, Massachusetts is a largely secular and liberal society in the modern era, and thus it rejected an increasingly conservative Republican Party dominated by Evangelical Christians.

Massachusetts had been a Democratic-leaning state since 1928, when voted for Democrat Catholic candidate Al Smith, and a Democratic stronghold since 1960. In fact, Clinton's landslide victory was indicative of a long-term trend in Massachusetts back toward being the overwhelmingly Democratic stronghold it had been in the 1960s, after having trended somewhat toward the GOP in 1976 and the 1980s. Clinton's 61.47% was the highest percentage a presidential candidate had received in Massachusetts since 1968, and his 33.39% victory margin was the widest margin by which any candidate won the state since the massive Democratic landslide of 1964, a record that would not be broken again until 2020.

Massachusetts was the only state in the union where Clinton broke 60% of the vote in 1996, with only the District of Columbia voting more Democratic. Massachusetts registered as a whopping 25% more Democratic than the national average, making it the most Democratic state in the 1996 election. As of 2020, this is the last occasion that the town of Sherborn voted Republican and the last occasion that the towns of Blandford, East Brookfield, Hampden, Hubbardston, Montgomery, Oakham, Southwick, Tolland, and West Bridgewater voted Democratic in a presidential election.

Results

1996 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
Party Candidate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Democratic Bill Clinton (incumbent) 1,571,763 61.47% 12
Republican Bob Dole 718,107 28.09% 0
Reform Ross Perot 227,217 8.89% 0
Libertarian Harry Browne 20,426 0.80% 0
Independent (Write-In) Others 6,012 0.24% 0
Natural Law John Hagelin 5,184 0.20% 0
Green (Write-in) Ralph Nader 4,734 0.19% 0
Workers World Monica Moorehead 3,277 0.13% 0
Socialist (Write-In) Mary Cal Hollis 61 <0.01% 0
Prohibition (Write-In) Earl Dodge 4 <0.01% 0
Totals 2,556,785 100.0% 12

Results by county

1996 United States presidential election in Massachusetts (by county) [2]
County Clinton% Clinton# Dole% Dole# Others% Others#
Barnstable53.5%59,22336.3%40,14410.3%11,370
Berkshire64.7%39,33821.5%13,05513.8%8,381
Bristol64.4%127,72523.8%47,16411.8%23,324
Dukes66.7%5,13722.6%1,73910.7%826
Essex58.7%171,02130.6%89,12010.7%31,301
Franklin60.3%19,72824.6%8,05515.1%4,959
Hampden61.0%105,05028.2%48,51310.9%18,676
Hampshire64.1%41,84422.6%14,78713.3%8,678
Middlesex63.4%398,19027.1%169,9269.5%59,861
Nantucket59.0%2,45329.4%1,22211.6%484
Norfolk60.1%180,50431.0%92,9829.0%26,985
Plymouth54.7%106,07233.3%64,62612.0%23,313
Suffolk73.0%145,58619.9%39,7537.1%14,053
Worcester58.3%169,89229.8%87,02111.9%34,704

Results by municipality

Results by town. Blue indicates towns carried by Bill Clinton, red indicates towns carried by Bob Dole.

See also

References

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