New York, a reliable blue state that no Republican presidential candidate has won since 1984, was won by incumbent Democratic President Bill Clinton of Arkansas and Vice President Al Gore of Tennessee, over the Republican ticket of Senator Bob Dole of Kansas and Representative Jack Kemp of New York. Clinton carried New York by a landslide 28.86% margin of victory, taking 59.47% of the vote to Dole's 30.61%, even though Republican vice presidential candidate Jack Kemp was from New York. Reform Party candidate Ross Perot finished in third, with 7.97% of the popular vote.
Clinton improved dramatically on his 1992 showing in New York, when he had won the state with a 49.7% plurality. 1996 firmly entrenched New York's status in the modern era as a Democratic stronghold, rather than the swing state it had been in the 20th century. Many historically powerfully Republican upstate counties were won by the Democratic ticket: As of the 2024 presidential election, this is the last time for a Democrat to carry Cattaraugus, Chenango, Delaware, Fulton, Jefferson, Ontario, Schuyler, Yates, Chemung, Herkimer, Lewis, Oneida and Schoharie counties.[1]
This is the first election since 1964 that Democrats swept all five boroughs of New York City, which also occurred in 2000 and 2012. In this process of sweeping traditionally Republican suburbs around New York City, Clinton increased his lead in Westchester County – where he later moved in 2000 – from an 8.5% win in 1992 to a 21-point sweep in 1996. Many of these gains would be preserved in future elections: since 1996, no Democratic presidential candidate has received less than 55% of the vote in New York State, and only one has received less than 58%. Clinton's 28.86% victory margin is the second widest ever for a Democrat, only behind Lyndon Johnson's 37.25% in 1964, although several subsequent Democrats have received a higher vote share.
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