1996 United States presidential election

Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 5, 1996. Incumbent Democratic president Bill Clinton and his running mate, incumbent vice president Al Gore, were elected to a second term. They defeated the Republican ticket of former Senate majority leader Bob Dole and former secretary of housing and urban development Jack Kemp and the Reform ticket of businessman Ross Perot and economist Pat Choate. Clinton and Gore were re-nominated by their party with no difficulty. Meanwhile, numerous Republican candidates entered the competitive primaries, with Dole considered the early frontrunner. Dole clinched the nomination after defeating challenges by publisher Steve Forbes and paleoconservative leader Pat Buchanan. Dole's running mate was Jack Kemp, a former New York congressman and football player who had served as the housing secretary under President George H. W. Bush. Ross Perot, who had won 18 % of the popular vote as an independent candidate in 1992, ran as the candidate of the Reform Party. Perot received less media attention in 1996 and was excluded from the presidential debates. Clinton's chances of winning were initially considered slim in the middle of his term, as his party had lost both the House of Representatives and the Senate in 1994 for the first time in decades. He was able to regain ground as the economy began to recover from the early 1990s recession with a relatively stable world stage. Clinton tied Dole to Newt Gingrich, the arch-conservative Republican speaker of the House, and expressed concern that Republicans would increase the deficit and slash spending on popular programs like Social Security and Medicare. Dole promised an across-the-board 15% reduction in federal income taxes and labeled Clinton as a "spoiled" Baby Boomer who "never grew up" and "never sacrificed." Dole's age was a persistent issue in the election, and gaffes by Dole exacerbated the issue for his campaign. On election day, Clinton defeated Dole by a wide margin, winning 379 electors to Dole's 159 and taking 49 % of the national popular vote to Dole's 40 %. As in 1992, Perot's strong candidacy held both major party candidates below 50% nationwide. As of 2026, he remains the last third party or independent candidate to receive more than 5% of the popular vote.