1996 United States presidential election in Massachusetts

Main article: 1996 United States presidential election

|[[File:Massachusetts Presidential Election Results 1996.svg|350px]] |County results |[[File:1996 Presidential Election in Massachusetts By Municipality.svg|350px]] |Municipality results Clinton Dole

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.

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.

To date, 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. The town of Lynnfield would not vote Democratic again until 2020.

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
Prohibition (Write-In)	Earl Dodge	4		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	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	Totals	1,571,763	61.47%	718,107	28.09%	266,915	10.44%	853,656	33.38%	2,556,785
	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

Results by municipality