United States presidential election in New Jersey, 1996

United States presidential election in New Jersey, 1996

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 15 0 0 Popular vote 1,652,329 1,103,078 262,134 Percentage 53.7% 35.9% 8.5%

County Results   Clinton—60-70%   Clinton—50-60%   Clinton—<50%   Dole—<50%   Dole—50-60%

President before election Bill Clinton Democratic Elected President Bill Clinton Democratic

The 1996 United States presidential election in New Jersey took place on November 5, 1996 throughout all 50 states and D.C., which was part of the 1996 United States presidential election. Voters chose 15 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President. The major contenders were incumbent Democratic President Bill Clinton and Republican Senator from Kansas Bob Dole, with Reform Party candidate Ross Perot running a distant third.

New Jersey voted decisively to re-elect Democrat Bill Clinton, giving him 53.72% of the vote over Republican Bob Dole's 35.86%, a margin of victory of 17.86%.

This double-digit win was indicative of a major shift in New Jersey politics toward the Democratic Party. As recently as the 1980s, Republican presidential candidates had easily carried the state by double digit margins. In 1992, Bill Clinton had managed to win the state, but only with a narrow 43-41 plurality over George H.W. Bush. As in neighboring New York and many other states, Clinton in 1996 drastically improved his electoral performance among suburban voters, a key voting bloc in New Jersey. Following this election, New Jersey has become a reliable blue state in presidential elections, not being seriously contested by Republicans in any election since. Despite that, Dole is currently the only Republican to fail to garner 40% of the New Jersey ballot since Barry Goldwater in 1964.

Results

United States presidential election in New Jersey, 1996[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Democratic	Bill Clinton	1,652,329	53.72%	15
	Republican	Bob Dole	1,103,078	35.86%	0
	Reform	Ross Perot	262,134	8.52%	0
	Green	Ralph Nader	32,465	1.06%	0
	Libertarian	Harry Browne	14,763	0.48%	0
	Natural Law	John Hagelin	3,887	0.13%	0
	U.S. Taxpayers	Howard Phillips	3,440	0.11%	0
	Socialist Workers	James Harris	1,837	0.06%	0
	Workers World	Monica Moorehead	1,337	0.04%	0
	Socialist Equality	Jerome White	537	0.02%	0
Totals			3,075,807	100.00%	15
Voter Turnout (Voting age/Registered)					51%/71%

References

1. "1996 Presidential General Election Results - New Jersey". U.S. Election Atlas. Retrieved 5 February 2013.

See also