1996 United States presidential election in California

The 1996 United States presidential election in California took place on November 5, 1996, as part of the 1996 United States presidential election. Voters chose 54 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president. California, was won by incumbent President Bill Clinton (D) over Senator Bob Dole (R), with Clinton winning 51.1% to 38.21% by a margin of 12.89%. Billionaire businessman Ross Perot (Reform Party) finished in third, with 6.96% of the popular vote.^[2]

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1996 United States presidential election in California

← 1992 November 5, 1996 2000 →
Turnout	65.53% (of registered voters) 9.79 pp 52.56% (of eligible voters) 1.96 pp[1]
Nominee Bill Clinton Bob Dole Ross Perot Party Democratic Republican Reform Home state Arkansas Kansas Texas Running mate Al Gore Jack Kemp James Campbell[a] Electoral vote 54 0 0 Popular vote 5,119,835 3,828,380 697,847 Percentage 51.10% 38.21% 6.96%
County results Clinton   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   70–80% Dole   40–50%   50–60%
President before election Bill Clinton Democratic Elected President Bill Clinton Democratic

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California had grown increasingly Democratic relative to the rest of the nation in the prior three elections, culminating in 1992 in Bill Clinton's becoming the first Democrat to carry California since Lyndon Johnson's 1964 landslide. In 1996, Clinton carried California once again by double digits, representing the first time California had voted Democratic in back-to-back elections since 1948. This was also the first time since 1964 that a Democrat won a majority of the vote in California. Nevertheless, Clinton's margin of victory shrank from 13.40% to 12.89%, even as his national margin swelled by 3%. Dole reclaimed eleven counties for the GOP: San Diego, Riverside, Fresno, San Luis Obispo, Butte, Tehama, Tuolumne, Siskiyou, Del Norte, Plumas, and Mariposa. He also carried Trinity County, the one county in the state in which Ross Perot had won a plurality in 1992. Of these counties, San Diego, Riverside, Fresno, and San Luis Obispo cast over 100,000 votes; and San Diego County was the largest county in the country to switch parties in 1996.

In contrast, Clinton flipped no counties in the state from red to blue, making this the first election since 1980 in which no red counties in the state turned blue. Clinton became the first Democrat to win the White House without carrying Fresno County since the county's founding in 1856, and remains the only one to have done so as of 2020.^[3] He also became the first Democrat since Woodrow Wilson in 1912 to win the White House without carrying Plumas County.^[3] Nevertheless, Clinton retained seven counties that in 1992 he had been the first Democrat to carry since 1964: San Bernardino, Ventura, San Joaquin, Santa Barbara, Monterey, Imperial, and San Benito, of which all save Imperial and San Benito cast over 100,000 votes. He also retained all the counties that had voted Democratic in 1988, including a number of sizeable ones that had voted Republican in 1976, such as Santa Clara, Contra Costa, San Mateo, and Sonoma. This was the last election in which California voted to the right of Arkansas, Michigan, Minnesota, or West Virginia. This was also the first election since 1912 in which California voted differently than nearby Montana.

Late in the 1996 campaign, Dole had made an upset victory over Clinton in California central to his strategy.^[4] Dole hoped to capitalize on two issues that had been figuring prominently in California politics under Governor Pete Wilson, illegal immigration & affirmative action.^[4] California is one of 13 states where on the election ballot, James Campbell of California, Perot's former boss at IBM, was listed as a stand-in vice-presidential candidate.^[2][5] The Reform Party successfully conducted a drive to qualify as a party in California over the course of eighteen days in 1995.^[6]

Among white voters, 45% supported Clinton, while 43% supported Dole. 7% supported Perot.^[7]