1996 United States presidential election in Ohio

1996 United States presidential election in Ohio

← 1992 November 5, 1996 2000 →
 
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 21 0 0
Popular vote 2,148,222 1,859,883 483,207
Percentage 47.38% 41.02% 10.66%

County Results

President before election

Bill Clinton
Democratic

Elected President

Bill Clinton
Democratic

The 1996 United States presidential election in Ohio took place on November 5, 1996. All 50 states and the District of Columbia, were part of the 1996 United States presidential election. State voters chose 21 electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.

Ohio was won by incumbent United States President Bill Clinton of Arkansas, who was running against Kansas Senator Bob Dole. Clinton ran a second time with former Tennessee Senator Al Gore as vice president, and Dole ran with former New York Congressman Jack Kemp.[1]

Ohio weighed in for this election as 2% more third-party than the national average. The presidential election of 1996 was a very multi-partisan election for Ohio, with over 11% of the electorate voting for third-party candidates. Most counties in the state turned out more for Dole than Clinton. Two notable exceptions to this trend were Cleveland's Cuyahoga County, and residents of several counties on the eastern border with Pennsylvania and the southeastern border with West Virginia, who voted largely for Clinton. In his second bid for the presidency, Ross Perot led the newly reformed Reform Party to gain over 10% of the votes in Ohio, and to pull in support nationally as the most popular third-party candidate to run for United States Presidency in recent times.

As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election in which the following counties voted for a Democratic presidential candidate: Columbiana, Harrison, Hocking, Jackson, Lawrence, Meigs, Perry, Pike, Scioto, Vinton, Carroll, Gallia, Guernsey, Huron, Noble, Ross, and Seneca.[2] This was the first time since 1940 that a Democrat carried Ohio in two consecutive presidential elections, and the last time a Democrat carried the state by more than 5%.

  1. ^ "1996 Presidential General Election Results – Ohio". Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved February 7, 2018.
  2. ^ Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016