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| Turnout | 75.11%[1] ( 9.11%) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 County results Municipality results
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The1996 United States presidential election in Massachusetts took place on November 5, 1996, as part of the1996 United States presidential election. Voters chose 12 representatives, or electors to theElectoral College, who voted forpresident andvice president.
A solidly blue state,Massachusetts was won by incumbentDemocratic PresidentBill Clinton in a landslide. Clinton took 61.47% of the popular vote overRepublican challengerBob Dole, who took 28.09%, a victory margin of 33.39%.Reform Party candidateRoss Perot finished in third, with 8.89% of the popular vote.[2]
LikeNew England as a whole, Massachusetts is a largelysecular andliberal society in the modern era, and thus it rejected an increasinglyconservative Republican Party dominated byEvangelical Christians.
Massachusetts had been a Democratic-leaning state since1928, when voted for DemocratCatholic candidateAl Smith, and a Democratic stronghold since1960. In fact, Clinton's landslide victory was indicative of a long-term trend in Massachusetts back toward being the overwhelmingly Democratic stronghold it had been in the 1960s, after having trended somewhat toward the GOP in 1976 and the 1980s. Clinton's 61.47% was the highest percentage a presidential candidate had received in Massachusetts since1968, and his 33.39% victory margin was the widest margin by which any candidate won the state since the massive Democratic landslide of1964, a record that would not be broken again until2020.
Massachusetts was the only state in the union where Clinton broke 60% of the vote in 1996, with only theDistrict of Columbia voting more Democratic. Massachusetts registered as a significant 25% more Democratic than the national average, making it the most Democratic state in the 1996 election.
To date, this is the last occasion that the town ofSherborn voted Republican and the last occasion that the towns ofBlandford,East Brookfield,Hampden,Hubbardston,Montgomery,Oakham,Southwick,Tolland, andWest Bridgewater voted Democratic in a presidential election. The town ofLynnfield would not vote Democratic again until 2020.
| 1996 United States presidential election in Massachusetts | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | Percentage | Electoral votes | |
| Democratic | Bill Clinton (incumbent) | 1,571,763 | 61.47% | 12 | |
| Republican | Bob Dole | 718,107 | 28.09% | 0 | |
| Reform | Ross Perot | 227,217 | 8.89% | 0 | |
| Libertarian | Harry Browne | 20,426 | 0.80% | 0 | |
| Independent(Write-In) | Others | 6,012 | 0.24% | 0 | |
| Natural Law | John Hagelin | 5,184 | 0.20% | 0 | |
| Green(Write-in) | Ralph Nader | 4,734 | 0.19% | 0 | |
| Workers World | Monica Moorehead | 3,277 | 0.13% | 0 | |
| Socialist(Write-In) | Mary Cal Hollis | 61 | <0.01% | 0 | |
| Prohibition(Write-In) | Earl Dodge | 4 | <0.01% | 0 | |
| Totals | 2,556,785 | 100.0% | 12 | ||
| County | Bill Clinton Democratic | Bob Dole Republican | Various candidates Other parties | Margin | Total votes cast | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | ||
| Barnstable | 59,223 | 53.48% | 40,144 | 36.25% | 11,370 | 10.27% | 19,079 | 17.23% | 110,737 |
| Berkshire | 39,338 | 64.73% | 13,055 | 21.48% | 8,381 | 13.79% | 26,283 | 43.25% | 60,774 |
| Bristol | 127,725 | 64.44% | 47,164 | 23.79% | 23,324 | 11.77% | 80,561 | 40.65% | 198,213 |
| Dukes | 5,137 | 66.70% | 1,739 | 22.58% | 826 | 10.72% | 3,398 | 44.12% | 7,702 |
| Essex | 171,021 | 58.68% | 89,120 | 30.58% | 31,301 | 10.74% | 81,901 | 28.10% | 291,442 |
| Franklin | 19,728 | 60.25% | 8,055 | 24.60% | 4,959 | 15.15% | 11,673 | 35.65% | 32,742 |
| Hampden | 105,050 | 60.99% | 48,513 | 28.17% | 18,676 | 10.84% | 56,537 | 32.82% | 172,239 |
| Hampshire | 41,844 | 64.07% | 14,787 | 22.64% | 8,678 | 13.29% | 27,057 | 41.43% | 65,309 |
| Middlesex | 398,190 | 63.41% | 169,926 | 27.06% | 59,861 | 9.53% | 228,264 | 36.35% | 627,977 |
| Nantucket | 2,453 | 58.98% | 1,222 | 29.38% | 484 | 11.64% | 1,231 | 29.60% | 4,159 |
| Norfolk | 180,504 | 60.07% | 92,982 | 30.95% | 26,985 | 8.98% | 87,522 | 29.12% | 300,471 |
| Plymouth | 106,072 | 54.67% | 64,626 | 33.31% | 23,313 | 12.02% | 41,446 | 21.36% | 194,011 |
| Suffolk | 145,586 | 73.01% | 39,753 | 19.94% | 14,053 | 7.05% | 105,833 | 53.07% | 199,392 |
| Worcester | 169,892 | 58.26% | 87,021 | 29.84% | 34,704 | 11.90% | 82,871 | 28.42% | 291,617 |
| Totals | 1,571,763 | 61.47% | 718,107 | 28.09% | 266,915 | 10.44% | 853,656 | 33.38% | 2,556,785 |
State and district results of the1996 United States presidential election | ||
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