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Main article: 1996 United States presidential election
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The 1996 United States presidential election in Colorado took place on November 7, 1996, as part of the 1996 United States presidential election. Voters chose eight representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Colorado was narrowly won by Republican Senator Bob Dole of Kansas over incumbent Democratic President Bill Clinton of Arkansas. Dole won with a plurality of 45.80% of the vote to Clinton's 44.43%, a margin of 1.37%.[1] Billionaire businessman Ross Perot of Texas, running as the Reform Party nominee, finished third, with 6.59% of the popular vote.

Dole, from neighboring Kansas, performed most strongly in the eastern parts of Colorado bordering his home state. Clinton won Denver by 31.8%, about the same as his 31.4% margin in the city in 1992. He also won Boulder County, which had been a historically Republican county before voting for Dukakis in 1988, by a commanding margin of 17.6%, although this was down somewhat from his 24.4% margin in the county in 1992. He won the traditionally Democratic Denver-area suburban county of Adams County by 12.4%, a larger margin than Humphrey, Carter, or Dukakis had scored in the county, but, again, down from his own 14.1% margin in 1992. Clinton also retained a number of smaller counties that he had won for the Democrats for the first time since 1964--Clear Creek, Eagle, Gunnison, Routt, and Summit-and did well in the traditionally Democratic counties in the southern parts of the state.

However, aside from slightly narrowing Clinton's margins in Boulder and Adams Counties, Dole improved substantially on George H. W. Bush's 1992 margins in the large, then-traditionally Republican Denver-area suburban counties of Jefferson and Arapahoe, winning them by 5.7% and 8.9%, respectively (Bush had won them in 1992 by 0.9% and 3.1%, respectively). He also won conservative stronghold El Paso County, home to Colorado Springs, by a commanding margin of 26.8%, an improvement over Bush's 1992 margin of 23.7%. And he flipped sizeable Larimer County, home to Fort Collins, which had been the largest county in the state that Clinton won for the Democrats for the first time since 1964 in 1992. He also flipped smaller Garfield and La Plata Counties, and won the two counties Perot had won a plurality in 1992, Moffat and San Juan.

Dole's slim victory made Colorado one of three states (along with Georgia and Montana) to flip against Clinton from 1992 to 1996, even as Clinton increased his national margin of victory by nearly 3 points. As of the 2020 presidential election, this was the last time since 1960 that Colorado and Nevada voted for different candidates, and the last time to date that Colorado has backed a losing Republican candidate.

This is also the last election in which Mineral County, Otero County, and Bent County voted for a Democratic presidential candidate.[2] Colorado was one of only two states which Bill Clinton lost in either of his elections but his wife Hillary Clinton won in 2016; the other being Virginia. Clinton is the only Democratic president to lose Colorado in his second election bid despite winning the state in his first, (although FDR lost Colorado in his third and fourth elections, after winning the state in his first two). This marks the last time that Colorado voted against an incumbent president who was re-elected.

Dole's victory was the first of three consecutive Republican victories in the state, as Colorado would not vote Democratic again until Barack Obama in 2008, after which it became a Democratic stronghold.

Results

1996 United States presidential election in Colorado
Party Candidate Running mate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Republican Robert Dole Jack Kemp 691,848 45.80% 8
Democratic Bill Clinton (inc.) Al Gore 671,152 44.43% 0
Reform Ross Perot Patrick Choate 99,629 6.59% 0
Green CO Ralph Nader Winona LaDuke 25,070 1.66% 0
Libertarian Harry Browne Jo Jorgensen 12,392 0.82% 0
American Constitution Howard Phillips Herbert Titus 2,813 0.19% 0
Independent Charles Collins Rosemary Giumarra 2,809 0.19% 0
Natural Law Dr. John Hagelin Dr. V. Tompkins 2,547 0.17% 0
Socialist Mary Cal Hollis Eric Chester 669 0.04% 0
Workers World Monica Moorehead Gloria La Riva 599 0.04% 0
American Diane Templin Gary Van Horn 557 0.04% 0
CO Prohibition Earl Dodge Rachel Kelly 375 0.02% 0
Socialist Workers Campaign James Harris Laura Garza 244 0.02% 0

Results by county

County Bob Dole[3]
Republican 		Bill Clinton[3]
Democratic 		Ross Perot[3]
Reform 		Ralph Nader[3]
Green 		Harry Browne[3]
Libertarian 		Various candidates
Other parties 		Margin Total votes cast
# % # % # % # % # % # % # %
Adams 36,666 38.92% 48,314 51.28% 7,206 7.65% 869 0.92% 596 0.63% 563 0.60% -11,648 -12.36% 94,214
Alamosa 2,038 41.23% 2,330 47.14% 437 8.84% 80 1.62% 34 0.69% 24 0.49% -292 -5.91% 4,943
Arapahoe 82,778 50.79% 68,306 41.91% 8,476 5.20% 1,549 0.95% 1,063 0.65% 824 0.51% 14,472 8.88% 162,996
Archuleta 1,963 57.11% 997 29.01% 360 10.47% 58 1.69% 30 0.87% 29 0.84% 966 28.10% 3,437
Baca 1,321 59.53% 659 29.70% 203 9.15% 11 0.50% 9 0.41% 16 0.72% 662 29.83% 2,219
Bent 917 41.70% 1,046 47.57% 209 9.50% 13 0.59% 2 0.09% 12 0.55% -129 -5.87% 2,199
Boulder 41,922 34.55% 63,316 52.17% 6,840 5.64% 6,772 5.58% 1,469 1.21% 1,035 0.85% -21,394 -17.52% 121,354
Chaffee 3,052 46.85% 2,768 42.49% 538 8.26% 76 1.17% 45 0.69% 36 0.55% 284 4.36% 6,515
Cheyenne 739 62.84% 328 27.89% 91 7.74% 1 0.09% 3 0.26% 14 1.19% 411 34.95% 1,176
Clear Creek 1,746 41.97% 1,863 44.78% 365 8.77% 79 1.90% 64 1.54% 43 1.03% -117 -2.81% 4,160
Conejos 1,149 36.08% 1,726 54.19% 245 7.69% 26 0.82% 5 0.16% 34 1.07% -577 -18.11% 3,185
Costilla 333 20.29% 1,168 71.18% 112 6.83% 21 1.28% 5 0.30% 2 0.12% -835 -50.89% 1,641
Crowley 680 49.60% 559 40.77% 114 8.32% 3 0.22% 8 0.58% 7 0.51% 121 8.83% 1,371
Custer 920 58.90% 412 26.38% 164 10.50% 25 1.60% 15 0.96% 26 1.66% 508 32.52% 1,562
Delta 6,047 54.48% 3,584 32.29% 1,060 9.55% 237 2.14% 79 0.71% 93 0.84% 2,463 22.19% 11,100
Denver 58,529 30.04% 120,312 61.76% 8,777 4.51% 3,423 1.76% 2,117 1.09% 1,656 0.85% -61,783 -31.72% 194,814
Dolores 417 51.67% 276 34.20% 95 11.77% 12 1.49% 6 0.74% 1 0.12% 141 17.47% 807
Douglas 32,120 61.80% 16,232 31.23% 2,662 5.12% 415 0.80% 315 0.61% 231 0.44% 15,888 30.57% 51,975
Eagle 4,637 40.89% 5,094 44.92% 1,193 10.52% 263 2.32% 100 0.88% 54 0.48% -457 -4.03% 11,341
El Paso 102,403 59.04% 55,822 32.19% 11,175 6.44% 1,653 0.95% 1,237 0.71% 1,151 0.66% 46,581 26.85% 173,441
Elbert 4,125 61.04% 1,894 28.03% 507 7.50% 64 0.95% 72 1.07% 96 1.42% 2,231 33.01% 6,758
Fremont 7,437 51.24% 5,344 36.82% 1,438 9.91% 131 0.90% 68 0.47% 95 0.65% 2,093 14.42% 14,513
Garfield 6,281 44.43% 5,722 40.47% 1,562 11.05% 369 2.61% 117 0.83% 87 0.62% 559 3.96% 14,138
Gilpin 682 38.12% 799 44.66% 184 10.29% 86 4.81% 29 1.62% 9 0.50% -117 -6.54% 1,789
Grand 2,264 46.30% 2,012 41.15% 473 9.67% 65 1.33% 37 0.76% 39 0.80% 252 5.15% 4,890
Gunnison 2,230 37.04% 2,812 46.70% 570 9.47% 284 4.72% 71 1.18% 54 0.90% -582 -9.66% 6,021
Hinsdale 289 52.83% 185 33.82% 56 10.24% 14 2.56% 2 0.37% 1 0.18% 104 19.01% 547
Huerfano 996 35.88% 1,483 53.42% 210 7.56% 62 2.23% 9 0.32% 16 0.58% -487 -17.54% 2,776
Jackson 486 58.34% 222 26.65% 107 12.85% 9 1.08% 3 0.36% 6 0.72% 264 31.69% 833
Jefferson 101,517 48.41% 89,494 42.67% 12,967 6.18% 2,600 1.24% 1,763 0.84% 1,382 0.66% 12,023 5.74% 209,723
Kiowa 549 61.96% 246 27.77% 74 8.35% 5 0.56% 2 0.23% 10 1.13% 303 34.19% 886
Kit Carson 2,068 60.26% 1,073 31.26% 235 6.85% 12 0.35% 11 0.32% 33 0.96% 995 29.00% 3,432
La Plata 8,057 46.56% 6,509 37.61% 1,403 8.11% 1,119 6.47% 126 0.73% 92 0.53% 1,548 8.95% 17,306
Lake 728 29.53% 1,338 54.28% 274 11.12% 57 2.31% 38 1.54% 30 1.22% -610 -24.75% 2,465
Larimer 45,935 47.14% 40,965 42.04% 6,823 7.00% 1,691 1.74% 1,050 1.08% 986 1.01% 4,970 5.10% 97,450
Las Animas 1,905 31.53% 3,611 59.76% 427 7.07% 33 0.55% 30 0.50% 36 0.60% -1,706 -28.23% 6,042
Lincoln 1,272 57.74% 729 33.09% 164 7.44% 7 0.32% 9 0.41% 22 1.00% 543 24.65% 2,203
Logan 4,032 53.15% 2,765 36.45% 609 8.03% 39 0.51% 55 0.73% 86 1.13% 1,267 16.70% 7,586
Mesa 24,761 53.12% 17,114 36.72% 3,707 7.95% 379 0.81% 356 0.76% 296 0.64% 7,647 16.40% 46,613
Mineral 179 40.04% 192 42.95% 69 15.44% 1 0.22% 2 0.45% 4 0.89% -13 -2.91% 447
Moffat 2,466 50.99% 1,635 33.81% 649 13.42% 26 0.54% 41 0.85% 19 0.39% 831 17.18% 4,836
Montezuma 4,175 53.31% 2,578 32.92% 827 10.56% 161 2.06% 32 0.41% 58 0.74% 1,597 20.39% 7,831
Montrose 6,730 54.99% 4,019 32.84% 1,187 9.70% 137 1.12% 83 0.68% 83 0.68% 2,711 22.15% 12,239
Morgan 4,557 52.34% 3,347 38.44% 687 7.89% 29 0.33% 26 0.30% 61 0.70% 1,210 13.90% 8,707
Otero 3,356 45.13% 3,386 45.53% 581 7.81% 31 0.42% 21 0.28% 62 0.83% -30 -0.40% 7,437
Ouray 984 54.85% 569 31.72% 167 9.31% 52 2.90% 12 0.67% 10 0.56% 415 23.13% 1,794
Park 2,661 50.77% 1,844 35.18% 534 10.19% 87 1.66% 70 1.34% 45 0.86% 817 15.59% 5,241
Phillips 1,284 58.76% 706 32.31% 156 7.14% 2 0.09% 15 0.69% 22 1.01% 578 26.45% 2,185
Pitkin 1,969 28.19% 3,949 56.54% 535 7.66% 365 5.23% 129 1.85% 38 0.54% -1,980 -28.35% 6,985
Prowers 2,504 53.83% 1,745 37.51% 342 7.35% 20 0.43% 19 0.41% 22 0.47% 759 16.32% 4,652
Pueblo 17,402 34.60% 28,791 57.24% 3,374 6.71% 376 0.75% 159 0.32% 199 0.40% -11,389 -22.64% 50,301
Rio Blanco 1,697 62.50% 731 26.92% 243 8.95% 17 0.63% 14 0.52% 13 0.48% 966 35.58% 2,715
Rio Grande 2,129 49.50% 1,720 39.99% 379 8.81% 30 0.70% 14 0.33% 29 0.67% 409 9.51% 4,301
Routt 3,019 38.52% 3,660 46.70% 859 10.96% 147 1.88% 104 1.33% 48 0.61% -641 -8.18% 7,837
Saguache 712 36.48% 969 49.64% 160 8.20% 75 3.84% 17 0.87% 19 0.97% -257 -13.16% 1,952
San Juan 153 41.35% 133 35.95% 50 13.51% 19 5.14% 5 1.35% 10 2.70% 20 5.40% 370
San Miguel 773 28.18% 1,535 55.96% 231 8.42% 116 4.23% 49 1.79% 39 1.42% -762 -27.78% 2,743
Sedgwick 715 52.69% 519 38.25% 101 7.44% 4 0.29% 11 0.81% 7 0.52% 196 14.44% 1,357
Summit 3,261 38.73% 3,970 47.16% 823 9.78% 188 2.23% 119 1.41% 58 0.69% -709 -8.43% 8,419
Teller 4,458 57.93% 2,312 30.05% 707 9.19% 92 1.20% 74 0.96% 52 0.68% 2,146 27.88% 7,695
Washington 1,566 64.18% 649 26.60% 190 7.79% 6 0.25% 7 0.29% 22 0.90% 917 37.58% 2,440
Weld 26,518 49.67% 21,325 39.94% 4,347 8.14% 465 0.87% 307 0.58% 428 0.80% 5,193 9.73% 53,390
Yuma 2,589 58.72% 1,439 32.64% 319 7.24% 12 0.27% 12 0.27% 38 0.86% 1,150 26.08% 4,409
Total 691,848 45.80% 671,152 44.43% 99,629 6.59% 25,070 1.66% 12,392 0.82% 10,613 0.70% 20,696 1.37% 1,510,704

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

Counties that flipped from Independent to Republican

References

  1. ^ Dave Leip's Atlas of United States Presidential Election Results - 1996 Colorado Results
  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
  3. ^ a b c d e Our Campaigns; CO US President, November 05, 1996
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election_in_Colorado,_1996