The 1996 United States presidential election in California took place on November 5 1996 as part of the 1996 United Stat

The 1996 United States presidential election in California took place on November 5, 1996, as part of the 1996 United States presidential election. Voters chose 54 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president. California, was won by Incumbent President Bill Clinton (D) over Senator Bob Dole (R), with Clinton winning 51.1% to 38.21% by a margin of 12.89%. Billionaire businessman Ross Perot (Reform Party) finished in third, with 6.96% of the popular vote.

1996 United States presidential election in California

← 1992

November 5, 1996

2000 →

Turnout

65.53% (of registered voters)

9.79 pp
52.56% (of eligible voters)

1.96 pp


Nominee	Bill Clinton	Bob Dole	Ross Perot
Party	Democratic	Republican	Reform
Home state	Arkansas	Kansas	Texas
Running mate	Al Gore	Jack Kemp	James Campbell
Electoral vote	54	0	0
Popular vote	5,119,835	3,828,380	697,847
Percentage	51.10%	38.21%	6.96%

Clinton

40–50%

50–60%

60–70%

70–80%

80–90%

Dole

40–50%

50–60%

President before election

Bill Clinton
Democratic

Elected President

Bill Clinton
Democratic

California had grown increasingly Democratic relative to the rest of the nation in the prior three elections, culminating in Bill Clinton's becoming the first Democrat to carry California in 1992 since Lyndon Johnson's 1964 landslide. In 1996, Clinton carried California once again by double digits, representing the first time California had voted Democratic in back-to-back elections since 1948. This was also the first time since 1964 that a Democrat won a majority of the vote in California. Nevertheless, Clinton's margin of victory shrank from 13.40% to 12.89%, even as his national margin swelled by 3%. Dole reclaimed eleven counties for the GOP: San Diego, Riverside, Fresno, San Luis Obispo, Butte, Tehama, Tuolumne, Siskiyou, Del Norte, Plumas, and Mariposa. He also carried Trinity County, the one county in the state in which Ross Perot had won a plurality in 1992. Of these counties, San Diego, Riverside, Fresno, and San Luis Obispo cast over 100,000 votes; and San Diego County was the largest county in the country to switch parties in 1996.

In contrast, Clinton flipped no counties in the state from red to blue, making this the first election since 1980 in which no red counties in the state turned blue. Clinton became the first Democrat to win the White House without carrying Fresno County since the county's founding in 1856, and remains the only one to have done so as of 2020. He also became the first Democrat since Woodrow Wilson in 1912 to win the White House without carrying Plumas County. Nevertheless, Clinton retained seven counties that he had been the first Democrat to carry since 1964 in 1992: San Bernardino, Ventura, San Joaquin, Santa Barbara, Monterey, Imperial, and San Benito, of which all save Imperial and San Benito cast over 100,000 votes. He also retained all the counties that had voted Democratic in 1988, including a number of sizeable ones that had voted Republican in 1976, such as Santa Clara, Contra Costa, San Mateo, and Sonoma. This was the last election in which California voted to the right of Arkansas, Michigan, Minnesota, or West Virginia. This was also the first election since 1912 in which California voted differently than nearby Montana.

Late in the 1996 campaign, Dole had made an upset victory over Clinton in California central to his strategy. Dole hoped to capitalize on 2 issues that had been figuring prominently in California politics under Governor Pete Wilson, illegal immigration & affirmative action. California is one of 13 states where on the election ballot, James Campbell of California, Perot's former boss at IBM, was listed as a stand-in vice-presidential candidate. The Reform Party successfully conducted a drive to qualify as a party in California over the course of eighteen days in 1995.

Results

1996 United States presidential election in California
Party		Candidate	Running mate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Democratic	William Jefferson Clinton (Incumbent)	Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (Incumbent)	5,119,835	51.10%	54
	Republican	Robert Joseph Dole	Jack French Kemp	3,828,380	38.21%	0
	Reform	Henry Ross Perot		697,847	6.96%	0
	Green	Ralph Nader	Winona LaDuke	237,016	2.37%	0
	Libertarian	Harry Browne	Jo Jorgensen	73,600	0.73%	0
	Peace and Freedom	Marsha Feinland		25,332	0.25%	0
	Taxpayers’	Howard Phillips	Herbert Titus	21,202	0.21%	0
	Natural Law	John Hagelin	Dr. V. Tompkins	15,403	0.15%	0
	Write-in	Charles Collins		765	0.01%	0
	Write-in	James Harris		77	0.00%	0
	Write-in	Joel Neuberg		13	0.00%	0
	Write-in	Willie Carter		12	0.00%	0
	Write-in	Isabell Masters		2	0.00%	0
Invalid or blank votes				242,155	2.36%	—
Totals			10,261,639	100.0%	54
Voter turnout			65.53%		—

By county

County	Bill Clinton Democratic		Bob Dole Republican		Ross Perot Reform		Ralph Nader Green		Various candidates Other parties		Margin		Total votes cast
County	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	Total votes cast
Alameda	303,903	65.77%	106,581	23.07%	24,270	5.25%	20,432	4.42%	6,858	1.48%	197,322	42.70%	462,044
Alpine	258	42.02%	264	43.00%	63	10.26%	19	3.09%	10	1.63%	-6	-0.98%	614
Amador	5,868	40.60%	6,870	47.54%	1,267	8.77%	264	1.83%	183	1.27%	-1,002	-6.94%	14,452
Butte	30,651	38.53%	38,961	48.98%	6,393	8.04%	2,409	3.03%	1,136	1.43%	-8,310	-10.45%	79,550
Calaveras	6,646	38.63%	8,279	48.12%	1,612	9.37%	338	1.96%	331	1.92%	-1,633	-9.49%	17,206
Colusa	2,054	36.60%	3,047	54.29%	404	7.20%	42	0.75%	65	1.16%	-993	-17.69%	5,612
Contra Costa	196,512	55.73%	123,954	35.15%	20,416	5.79%	7,334	2.08%	4,386	1.24%	72,558	20.58%	352,602
Del Norte	3,652	41.08%	3,670	41.29%	1,225	13.78%	199	2.24%	143	1.61%	-18	-0.21%	8,889
El Dorado	22,957	36.33%	32,759	51.84%	5,077	8.03%	1,439	2.28%	964	1.53%	-9,802	-15.51%	63,196
Fresno	94,448	45.32%	98,813	47.42%	10,962	5.26%	2,523	1.21%	1,647	0.79%	-4,365	-2.10%	208,393
Glenn	2,841	32.04%	5,041	56.86%	788	8.89%	85	0.96%	111	1.25%	-2,200	-24.82%	8,866
Humboldt	24,628	44.17%	19,803	35.52%	5,811	10.42%	4,651	8.34%	864	1.55%	4,825	8.65%	55,757
Imperial	14,591	55.27%	9,705	36.76%	1,778	6.73%	154	0.58%	172	0.65%	4,886	18.51%	26,400
Inyo	2,601	34.36%	3,924	51.84%	811	10.71%	127	1.68%	106	1.40%	-1,323	-17.48%	7,569
Kern	62,658	36.56%	92,151	53.77%	13,452	7.85%	1,289	0.75%	1,841	1.07%	-29,493	-17.21%	171,391
Kings	11,254	43.59%	12,368	47.91%	1,745	6.76%	205	0.79%	243	0.94%	-1,114	-4.32%	25,815
Lake	10,432	48.90%	7,458	34.96%	2,539	11.90%	583	2.73%	323	1.51%	2,974	13.94%	21,335
Lassen	3,318	33.60%	5,194	52.60%	1,080	10.94%	131	1.33%	152	1.54%	-1,876	-19.00%	9,875
Los Angeles	1,430,629	59.34%	746,544	30.96%	157,752	6.54%	45,977	1.91%	30,112	1.25%	684,085	28.38%	2,411,014
Madera	11,254	36.70%	16,510	53.85%	2,192	7.15%	376	1.23%	330	1.08%	-5,256	-17.15%	30,662
Marin	67,406	58.04%	32,714	28.17%	6,559	5.65%	7,360	6.34%	2,101	1.81%	34,692	29.87%	116,140
Mariposa	2,920	36.73%	3,976	50.02%	729	9.17%	192	2.42%	132	1.66%	-1,056	-13.29%	7,949
Mendocino	14,952	45.74%	9,765	29.87%	3,685	11.27%	3,608	11.04%	682	2.09%	5,187	15.87%	32,692
Merced	21,786	46.41%	20,847	44.41%	3,427	7.30%	462	0.98%	416	0.89%	939	2.00%	46,938
Modoc	1,368	31.79%	2,285	53.10%	528	12.27%	49	1.14%	73	1.70%	-917	-21.31%	4,303
Mono	1,580	38.62%	1,882	46.00%	447	10.93%	96	2.35%	86	2.10%	-302	-7.38%	4,091
Monterey	57,700	53.15%	39,794	36.66%	7,240	6.67%	2,391	2.20%	1,433	1.32%	17,906	16.49%	108,558
Napa	24,588	50.89%	17,439	36.09%	4,254	8.80%	1,242	2.57%	796	1.65%	7,149	14.80%	48,319
Nevada	15,369	35.56%	21,784	50.40%	3,330	7.70%	2,097	4.85%	639	1.48%	-6,415	-14.84%	43,219
Orange	327,485	37.88%	446,717	51.67%	66,195	7.66%	11,842	1.37%	12,337	1.43%	-119,232	-13.79%	864,576
Placer	34,981	37.05%	49,808	52.75%	6,542	6.93%	1,875	1.99%	1,221	1.29%	-14,827	-15.70%	94,427
Plumas	3,540	36.31%	4,905	50.31%	919	9.43%	214	2.19%	172	1.76%	-1,365	-14.00%	9,750
Riverside	168,579	43.05%	178,611	45.61%	35,481	9.06%	4,814	1.23%	4,128	1.05%	-10,032	-2.56%	391,613
Sacramento	203,019	49.83%	166,049	40.76%	23,856	5.86%	9,142	2.24%	5,348	1.31%	36,970	9.07%	407,414
San Benito	7,030	50.55%	5,384	38.72%	1,044	7.51%	236	1.70%	212	1.52%	1,646	11.83%	13,906
San Bernardino	183,372	44.36%	180,135	43.58%	39,330	9.51%	5,150	1.25%	5,368	1.30%	3,237	0.78%	413,355
San Diego	389,964	44.11%	402,876	45.57%	63,037	7.13%	15,858	1.79%	12,416	1.40%	-12,912	-1.46%	884,151
San Francisco	209,777	72.24%	45,479	15.66%	9,659	3.33%	21,471	7.39%	3,999	1.38%	164,298	56.58%	290,385
San Joaquin	67,253	46.34%	65,131	44.87%	9,692	6.68%	1,501	1.03%	1,563	1.08%	2,122	1.47%	145,140
San Luis Obispo	40,395	40.19%	46,733	46.50%	8,204	8.16%	3,854	3.83%	1,314	1.31%	-6,338	-6.31%	100,500
San Mateo	152,304	60.55%	73,508	29.22%	15,047	5.98%	7,336	2.92%	3,337	1.33%	78,796	31.33%	251,532
Santa Barbara	70,650	46.87%	63,915	42.40%	9,457	6.27%	4,774	3.17%	1,949	1.29%	6,735	4.47%	150,745
Santa Clara	297,639	56.88%	168,291	32.16%	34,908	6.67%	12,312	2.35%	10,141	1.94%	129,348	24.72%	523,291
Santa Cruz	58,250	56.52%	27,766	26.94%	6,555	6.36%	7,803	7.57%	2,688	2.61%	30,484	29.58%	103,062
Shasta	20,848	33.11%	34,736	55.17%	5,875	9.33%	675	1.07%	827	1.31%	-13,888	-22.06%	62,961
Sierra	573	33.57%	877	51.38%	170	9.96%	40	2.34%	47	2.75%	-304	-17.81%	1,707
Siskiyou	7,022	38.39%	8,653	47.30%	1,879	10.27%	372	2.03%	367	2.01%	-1,631	-8.91%	18,293
Solano	64,644	55.12%	40,742	34.74%	8,682	7.40%	1,868	1.59%	1,343	1.15%	23,902	20.38%	117,279
Sonoma	100,738	55.57%	53,555	29.54%	13,862	7.65%	9,547	5.27%	3,595	1.98%	47,183	26.03%	181,297
Stanislaus	53,738	45.93%	52,403	44.79%	8,360	7.14%	1,172	1.00%	1,334	1.14%	1,335	1.14%	117,007
Sutter	8,504	34.37%	14,264	57.64%	1,533	6.20%	208	0.84%	236	0.95%	-5,760	-23.27%	24,745
Tehama	7,290	35.66%	10,292	50.34%	2,325	11.37%	245	1.20%	291	1.42%	-3,002	-14.68%	20,443
Trinity	2,203	37.38%	2,530	42.93%	856	14.53%	159	2.70%	145	2.46%	-327	-5.55%	5,893
Tulare	32,669	38.06%	46,272	53.90%	5,106	5.95%	737	0.86%	1,062	1.24%	-13,603	-15.84%	85,846
Tuolumne	8,950	40.73%	10,386	47.27%	1,925	8.76%	427	1.94%	284	1.29%	-1,436	-6.54%	21,972
Ventura	110,772	44.10%	109,202	43.47%	23,054	9.18%	4,732	1.88%	3,434	1.37%	1,570	0.63%	251,194
Yolo	33,033	56.88%	18,807	32.38%	3,150	5.42%	2,377	4.09%	712	1.23%	14,226	24.50%	58,079
Yuba	5,789	37.42%	7,971	51.53%	1,308	8.46%	201	1.30%	201	1.30%	-2,182	-14.11%	15,470
Total	5,119,835	51.10%	3,828,380	38.21%	697,847	6.96%	237,016	2.37%	136,406	1.36%	1,291,455	12.89%	10,019,484

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

Butte
Del Norte
Fresno
Mariposa
Plumas
Riverside
San Diego
San Luis Obispo
Siskiyou
Tehama
Tuolumne

Counties that flipped from Independent to Republican

Trinity

By congressional district

Clinton won 36 of 52 congressional districts, including eight held by Republicans, with the remaining 16 going to Dole, including one held by a Democrat.

District	Clinton	Dole	Perot	Representative
1st	48%	35%	10%	Frank Riggs
2nd	36%	51%	9%	Wally Herger
3rd	45%	44%	7%	Vic Fazio
4th	38%	51%	8%	John Doolittle
5th	57%	34%	5%	Bob Matsui
6th	57%	29%	7%	Lynn Woolsey
7th	65%	25%	6%	George Miller
8th	66%	18%	4%	Nancy Pelosi
9th	75%	13%	3%	Ron Dellums
10th	48%	43%	6%	Bill Baker
10th	48%	43%	6%	Ellen Tauscher
11th	46%	45%	7%	Richard Pombo
12th	70%	21%	4%	Tom Lantos
13th	62%	28%	7%	Pete Stark
14th	58%	31%	6%	Anna Eshoo
15th	53%	35%	7%	Tom Campbell
16th	61%	29%	6%	Zoe Lofgren
17th	55%	32%	6%	Sam Farr
18th	46%	45%	7%	Gary Condit
19th	40%	52%	6%	George Radanovich
20th	52%	41%	6%	Cal Dooley
21st	34%	56%	8%	Bill Thomas
22nd	44.0%	44.2%	7%	Andrea Seastrand
22nd	44.0%	44.2%	7%	Walter Capps
23rd	46%	42%	9%	Elton Gallegly
24th	52%	37%	7%	Anthony Beilenson
24th	52%	37%	7%	Brad Sherman
25th	41%	47%	9%	Buck McKeon
26th	65%	25%	7%	Howard Berman
27th	49%	41%	7%	Carlos Moorhead
27th	49%	41%	7%	Jim Rogan
28th	45%	44%	8%	David Dreier
29th	67%	24%	5%	Henry Waxman
30th	71%	20%	5%	Xavier Becerra
31st	65%	26%	7%	Matthew G. Martínez
32nd	81%	12%	4%	Julian Dixon
33rd	80%	14%	4%	Lucille Roybal-Allard
34th	64%	27%	7%	Esteban Torres
35th	84%	11%	4%	Maxine Waters
36th	47%	41%	8%	Jane Harman
37th	82%	13%	4%	Walter R. Tucker III
37th	82%	13%	4%	Juanita Millender-McDonald
38th	53%	36%	8%	Steve Horn
39th	41%	48%	8%	Ed Royce
40th	38%	49%	11%	Jerry Lewis
41st	43%	47%	8%	Jay Kim
42nd	54%	36%	9%	George Brown Jr.
43rd	43%	46%	9%	Ken Calvert
44th	44%	45%	9%	Sonny Bono
45th	38%	51%	8%	Dana Rohrabacher
46th	49%	41%	8%	Bob Dornan
46th	49%	41%	8%	Loretta Sánchez
47th	36%	54%	7%	Christopher Cox
48th	34%	56%	8%	Ron Packard
49th	49%	40%	7%	Brian Bilbray
50th	60%	32%	6%	Bob Filner
51st	39%	52%	7%	Duke Cunningham
52nd	41%	48%	8%	Duncan Hunter

Notes

On the California, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Oregon, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Texas election ballots, James Campbell of California, Perot's former boss at IBM, was listed as a stand-in vice-presidential candidate until Perot decided on Pat Choate as his choice for Vice President.

References

"Historical Voter Registration and Participation in Statewide General Elections 1910-2018" (PDF). California Secretary of State. Retrieved May 5, 2022.
Dave Leip's Atlas of United States Presidential Election Results - 1996 California Results
"County winners, 1836-2016". Google Docs. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
Ayres, B. Drummond Jr. (October 31, 1996). "Behind Dole's California Strategy: A Bid to Save His Campaign (Published 1996)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
"Perot Names Stand-in Veep Candidate". Archived from the original on May 17, 2008. Retrieved February 5, 2012.
"Registration Drive". Ballot Access News. November 16, 1995. Archived from the original on June 1, 2006. Retrieved July 23, 2024.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
Statement of Vote November 5, 1996, Prepared by Bill Jones California Secretary of State Archived July 31, 2008, at the Wayback Machine(access date 2012-02-05)
"Counties by Congressional Districts" (PDF). November 5, 1996. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 19, 2024. Retrieved January 28, 2025.

[2] On the California, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Oregon, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Texas election ballots, James Campbell of California, Perot's former boss at IBM, was listed as a stand-in vice-presidential candidate until Perot decided on Pat Choate as his choice for Vice President.

[1] "Historical Voter Registration and Participation in Statewide General Elections 1910-2018" (PDF). California Secretary of State. Retrieved May 5, 2022.

[Atlas-3] Dave Leip's Atlas of United States Presidential Election Results - 1996 California Results

[GoogleDocs-4] "County winners, 1836-2016". Google Docs. Retrieved November 29, 2020.

[Drummond1996-5] Ayres, B. Drummond Jr. (October 31, 1996). "Behind Dole's California Strategy: A Bid to Save His Campaign (Published 1996)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 29, 2020.

[Campbell-6] "Perot Names Stand-in Veep Candidate". Archived from the original on May 17, 2008. Retrieved February 5, 2012.

[7] "Registration Drive". Ballot Access News. November 16, 1995. Archived from the original on June 1, 2006. Retrieved July 23, 2024.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)

[CalSecState-8] Statement of Vote November 5, 1996, Prepared by Bill Jones California Secretary of State Archived July 31, 2008, at the Wayback Machine(access date 2012-02-05)

[9] "Counties by Congressional Districts" (PDF). November 5, 1996. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 19, 2024. Retrieved January 28, 2025.