1996 United States presidential election in Arizona

Main article: 1996 United States presidential election

Clinton Dole The 1996 United States presidential election in Arizona took place on November 5, 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. Arizona was won by President Bill Clinton (D) over Senator Bob Dole (R-KS), with Clinton winning 46.5% to 44.3% by a margin of 2.2%.

Clinton had come fairly close to winning Arizona four years earlier. In his re-election bid, he was able to gain a larger share of the vote in Democratic-trending Pima County as well as most of northern Arizona. He also increased his support in Maricopa County, although it was again carried by the Republican candidate. His statewide margin of victory was slightly over 31,000 votes out of about 1.4 million cast. Billionaire businessman Ross Perot (Reform-TX) finished in third, with 8.0% of the popular vote. Exit polls suggest he did not change the outcome. As of 2024, this is the last election in which the following counties have voted for a Democratic presidential candidate: Gila, Greenlee, Navajo, Pinal and La Paz.

This is the last election in which Arizona would vote differently from Georgia, as both had Republican winning streaks from 2000 to 2016, with both states flipping simultaneously in 2020 and 2024.

This is the only presidential election in Arizona's history in which Maricopa County, containing more than half of Arizona's population, voted for a candidate that lost the state, and one of only two elections in which Yavapai County, home to the city of Prescott, did so. This was the first time a Democrat had won Arizona in a presidential election since 1948, and the last time until 2020. This is also the only presidential election since 1944 in which Arizona voted Democratic while Colorado voted Republican, and the only presidential election since 1980 in which Arizona voted to the left of Nevada.

Results

1996 United States presidential election in Arizona	Party	Candidate	Running mate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
**Democratic**	**Bill Clinton (incumbent)**	**Al Gore** **(incumbent)**	**653,288**	**46.52%**	**8**
Republican	Robert Dole	Jack Kemp	622,073	44.29%	0
Reform	Ross Perot	Patrick Choate	112,072	7.98%	0
Libertarian	Harry Browne	Jo Jorgensen	14,358	1.02%	0
Green	Ralph Nader (write-in)	Winona LaDuke	2,062	0.15%	0
U.S. Taxpayers'	Howard Phillips (write-in)		347	0.02%	0
Natural Law	John Hagelin (write-in)	Mike Tompkins	153	0.01%	0
*No Party*	Charles Collins (write-in)	Rosemary Giumarra	36	0.00%	0
Maverick Democratic	Caroline Killeen (write-in)	William F. Buckley Jr.	16	0.00%	0
*No Party*	Robert B. Winn (write-in)		5	0.00%	0
**Totals**		**1,404,405**	**100.00%**	**8**

By county

County	Bill Clinton
Democratic	Bob Dole
Republican	Ross Perot
Reform	Harry Browne
Libertarian	Various candidates
Other parties	Margin	Total votes cast	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	Totals	653,288	46.52%	622,073	44.29%	112,072	7.98%	14,358	1.02%	2,614	0.19%	31,215	2.23%	1,404,405
	Apache		12,394		66.33%		4,761		25.48%		1,296		6.94%		204		1.09%		29		0.16%		7,633		40.85%		18,684
	Cochise		13,782		43.17%		14,365		45.00%		3,346		10.48%		383		1.20%		47		0.15%		-583		-1.83%		31,923
	Coconino		20,475		53.15%		13,638		35.40%		3,666		9.52%		609		1.58%		137		0.35%		6,837		17.75%		38,522
	Gila		8,577		49.26%		6,407		36.80%		2,211		12.70%		204		1.17%		12		0.07%		2,170		12.46%		17,411
	Graham		3,938		42.36%		4,222		45.42%		1,034		11.12%		100		1.08%		2		0.02%		-284		-3.06%		9,296
	Greenlee		1,755		51.72%		1,159		34.16%		426		12.56%		53		1.56%		0		0.00%		596		17.56%		3,393
	La Paz		1,964		43.71%		1,902		42.33%		597		13.29%		30		0.67%		0		0.00%		62		1.38%		4,493
	Maricopa		363,991		44.53%		386,015		47.22%		58,479		7.15%		7,551		0.92%		1,396		0.18%		-22,024		-2.69%		817,432
	Mohave		16,629		40.04%		17,997		43.33%		6,369		15.33%		481		1.16%		57		0.14%		-1,368		-3.29%		41,533
	Navajo		12,912		51.78%		9,262		37.14%		2,461		9.87%		272		1.09%		31		0.12%		3,650		14.64%		24,938
	Pima		137,983		52.16%		104,121		39.36%		18,809		7.11%		2,894		1.09%		745		0.28%		33,862		12.80%		264,552
	Pinal		19,579		53.07%		13,034		35.33%		3,972		10.77%		293		0.79%		17		0.04%		6,545		17.74%		36,895
	Santa Cruz		5,241		64.17%		2,256		27.62%		600		7.35%		65		0.80%		5		0.06%		2,985		36.55%		8,167
	Yavapai		21,801		36.64%		29,921		50.29%		6,649		11.18%		1,009		1.70%		115		0.19%		-8,120		-13.65%		59,495
	Yuma		12,267		44.33%		13,013		47.03%		2,157		7.80%		210		0.76%		24		0.08%		-746		-2.70%		27,671

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

• Cochise

Republican ]]

By congressional district

Clinton won three of six congressional districts, including two that elected Republicans.

District	Dole	Clinton	Perot	Representative
**47%**	46%	7%		Matt Salmon
29%	**64%**	7%		Ed Pastor
**48%**	42%	10%		Bob Stump
**49%**	44%	7%		John Shadegg
44%	**48%**	8%		Jim Kolbe
45%	**47%**	8%		J.D. Hayworth

Electors

Bill Clinton
& Al Gore
Democratic Party	Bob Dole
& Jack Kemp
Republican Party	Ross Perot
& Pat Choate
Reform Party

Harry Browne
& Jo Jorgensen
Libertarian Party	Ralph Nader
& Winona LaDuke
Green Party	Howard Phillips
U.S. Taxpayers Party

John Hagelin
& Mike Tompkins
Natural Law Party	Charles Collins
& Rosemary Giumarra
Independent	Caroline Killeen
& William F. Buckley Jr.
Maverick Democratic	Robert B. Winn
Independent