Colonel William A. Phillips

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The 1996 United States presidential election in Massachusetts took place on November 5, 1996, as part of the 1996 United States presidential election. Voters chose 12 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

A solidly blue state, Massachusetts was won by incumbent Democratic President Bill Clinton in a landslide. Clinton took 61.47% of the popular vote over Republican challenger Bob Dole, who took 28.09%, a victory margin of 33.39%. Reform Party candidate Ross Perot finished in third, with 8.89% of the popular vote.[1]

Like New England as a whole, Massachusetts is a largely secular and liberal society in the modern era, and thus it rejected an increasingly conservative Republican Party dominated by Evangelical Christians.

Massachusetts had been a Democratic-leaning state since 1928, when voted for Democrat Catholic candidate Al Smith, and a Democratic stronghold since 1960. 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 since 1968, and his 33.39% victory margin was the widest margin by which any candidate won the state since the massive Democratic landslide of 1964, a record that would not be broken again until 2020.

Massachusetts was the only state in the union where Clinton broke 60% of the vote in 1996, with only the District 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. As of 2020, this is the last occasion that the town of Sherborn voted Republican and the last occasion that the towns of Blandford, East Brookfield, Hampden, Hubbardston, Montgomery, Oakham, Southwick, Tolland, and West Bridgewater voted Democratic in a presidential election.

Results

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

Results by county

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

Results by municipality

Results by town. Blue indicates towns carried by Bill Clinton, red indicates towns carried by Bob Dole.

See also

References

  1. ^ "1996 Presidential General Election Results". U.S. Election Atlas. Retrieved January 8, 2013.