1996 Presidential Election: Clinton Wins a Second Term

Bill Clinton won a second presidential term on November 5, 1996, defeating Republican nominee Bob Dole and Reform Party candidate Ross Perot. Clinton carried 31 states plus the District of Columbia and received 379 electoral votes. The result made him the first Democratic president since Franklin D. Roosevelt to win two consecutive elections, but voters also kept Republicans in charge of the House and Senate.

The Political Setting After the 1994 Republican Wave

Clinton began his first term in 1993 with Democratic control of Congress. That changed dramatically in the 1994 midterms, when Republicans won both chambers for the first time in four decades. Their “Contract with America” and Newt Gingrich’s rise to House speaker created a direct challenge to the White House.

Budget disputes led to two partial federal government shutdowns, one in November 1995 and a longer one from December into January 1996. Each side blamed the other, but public opinion generally moved toward Clinton. The president adopted a strategy of defending selected federal programs while accepting parts of a smaller-government agenda.

The economy supplied a favorable background. Unemployment was below its early-decade peak, inflation remained moderate and the federal budget deficit was falling. Clinton also signed welfare legislation in August after vetoing two earlier versions. The decision divided Democrats but allowed him to say he had fulfilled a 1992 promise to change the system.

Dole, a longtime Kansas senator and Senate majority leader, secured the Republican nomination after defeating a field that included Pat Buchanan, Steve Forbes and Lamar Alexander. At 73, Dole framed experience and character as strengths, but he struggled to separate his campaign from an unpopular Republican Congress and to answer questions about the future direction of the party.

How Clinton, Dole and Perot Ran

Clinton presented himself as a centrist protecting education, Medicare, environmental rules and public safety. His campaign described a “bridge to the twenty-first century,” contrasting incremental investment with Republican tax and spending plans. The White House’s ability to use presidential events also kept him consistently visible.

Dole resigned from the Senate in June, declaring that he had nowhere to go but the White House or home. He selected former congressman and football quarterback Jack Kemp as his running mate and proposed a 15 percent across-the-board income-tax reduction. The proposal offered a clear economic difference but did not erase Clinton’s polling lead.

Perot returned after winning nearly 19 percent as an independent in 1992. His new Reform Party nominated him with economist Pat Choate. The Commission on Presidential Debates excluded Perot from the fall debates after concluding he lacked a realistic chance of election. He remained on ballots nationwide and focused on deficits, trade and political reform.

Campaign-finance questions complicated Clinton’s final weeks. Reports examined Democratic fundraising practices and foreign-linked contributions. Dole pressed the issue, but the late controversy did not change the broad direction of the race.

The November 5 Results

Clinton received 47,401,185 popular votes, or approximately 49.2 percent, according to the Federal Election Commission. Dole received 39,197,469, about 40.7 percent, and Perot received 8,085,402, about 8.4 percent. Smaller-party and independent candidates shared the remainder.

The Electoral College margin was wider: 379 for Clinton and 159 for Dole. Clinton won much of the Northeast, the West Coast and portions of the Midwest and South. Dole performed strongly across the Great Plains, Mountain West and much of the South. Clinton became the first Democrat since 1944 to carry Arizona, while Dole won Virginia, a state Democrats had not carried since 1964.

No candidate received a popular-vote majority. That fact sometimes causes confusion because “won the popular vote” can mean either a plurality or more than half. Clinton had the plurality by more than eight million votes but finished just below 50 percent in a field with a significant third-party candidate.

The election took place on the first Tuesday after the first Monday, the federal rule explained on the Election Day guide. On a 1996 calendar, November 5 fell on a Tuesday exactly as the rule required.

A Reelected President and a Republican Congress

Republicans lost a small number of House seats but kept their majority. They also retained the Senate. Voters therefore chose continuity at both ends of divided government: Clinton remained president, and the congressional opposition remained able to block or reshape legislation.

The arrangement produced cooperation in some areas. Clinton and congressional leaders reached the Balanced Budget Act and Taxpayer Relief Act in 1997. The federal budget later moved into surplus, helped by economic growth, rising tax receipts, earlier deficit-reduction measures and the spending agreement.

Conflict also continued. Investigations of campaign finance and the Whitewater matter expanded, and the Monica Lewinsky investigation ultimately led the House to impeach Clinton in December 1998. The Senate acquitted him in February 1999. The reelection did not determine that later outcome, but it established the second-term political setting in which it unfolded.

What the 1996 Election Revealed

The result showed the advantage of incumbency during improving economic conditions, but it was not a sweeping party realignment. Clinton won comfortably while his party failed to regain Congress. Perot demonstrated continuing dissatisfaction with the two major parties, although his support fell by more than half from 1992.

Turnout among the voting-age population was low by modern presidential-election standards, one reason analysts avoid reading the result as universal enthusiasm. Many voters approved of the economy or Clinton’s more centrist positioning without endorsing every Democratic policy.

For date researchers, the most useful summary is precise: on Tuesday, November 5, 1996, Clinton won a second term with 379 electoral votes and a popular-vote plurality. He did not win 50 percent, and Democrats did not win Congress. Those details distinguish the actual election from the shorthand often attached to it. Explore the surrounding dates on the full 1996 US calendar.