United States presidential election, 1996 facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
United States presidential election, 1996

← 1992 November 5, 1996 2000 →

Nominee Bill Clinton Bob Dole Ross Perot Party Democrat Republican Reform Home state Arkansas Kansas Texas Running mate Al Gore Jack Kemp Pat Choate Electoral vote 379 159 0 States carried 31 + DC 19 0 Popular vote 47,402,357 39,198,755 8,085,294 Percentage 49.24% 40.71% 8.4%

Presidential election results map. Red denotes states won by Dole/Kemp, Blue denotes those won by Clinton/Gore.

President before election Bill Clinton Democrat Elected President Bill Clinton Democrat

The United States presidential election of 1996 was a big event on November 5, 1996. On this day, Americans chose their next President and Vice President. The main candidates were the current President Bill Clinton from Arkansas and his Vice President Al Gore from Tennessee. They were from the Democratic Party.

Their main challengers were Bob Dole from Kansas, a former Senator, running for the Republican Party. His running mate was Jack Kemp from New York. Another important candidate was businessman Ross Perot from Texas. He ran for the Reform Party with Pat Choate as his running mate. Perot didn't get as much attention this time as he did in the 1992 election.

President Clinton won the election easily. This was partly because the economy was doing well after a tough period in the early 1990s. Also, the world was relatively peaceful. Clinton won by a lot of votes and secured a large victory in the Electoral College.

Understanding the 1996 Election Results

This section explains how the votes were counted and what they mean.

How Bill Clinton Won

President Bill Clinton won his re-election without much trouble. He was the first sitting President since Woodrow Wilson in 1916 to win with less than 50% of the total votes from people. Clinton received about 49% of the popular vote. The popular vote is the total number of votes cast by individual citizens.

However, in the U.S. election system, the winner is decided by electoral votes. Each state gets a certain number of electoral votes based on its population. To win, a candidate needs more than half of the total electoral votes. Clinton won enough states to get 379 electoral votes, which was more than enough to win the presidency.

Bob Dole's Campaign

Senator Robert Dole, the Republican candidate, faced a tough challenge. The country was doing well, with a strong economy and peaceful international relations. These factors usually help the current president. Dole received about 41% of the popular vote. He won enough states to get 159 electoral votes.

Even though the Republicans lost the presidency, they did well in other races. They won many seats in Congress. This helped them get ready for future elections, like the 1998 mid-term elections and the 2000 presidential race.

Images for kids

• 
• 
• 

  Dole (left) and Clinton (right) at the first presidential debate on October 6, 1996 at The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts in Hartford, Connecticut.

• 
• 

  Writer Harry Browne from Tennessee

• 

  Scientist and Researcher John Hagelin from Iowa

• 

  1996 Presidential Election, Results by Congressional District

See also

In Spanish: Elecciones presidenciales de Estados Unidos de 1996 para niños