7 0 439,838 394,022 49.21% 44.08% Start date November 5, 1996 | 0 0 394,022 52,222 44.08% 5.84% | |
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The 1996 United States presidential election in Mississippi took place on November 5, 1996. All 50 states and the District of Columbia, were part of the 1996 United States presidential election. Mississippi voters chose 7 electors to the Electoral College, which selected the President and Vice President.
Mississippi was won by Kansas Senator Bob Dole, who was running against incumbent United States President Bill Clinton of Arkansas. Clinton ran a second time with former Tennessee Senator and Al Gore as Vice President, and Dole ran with former New York Congressman Jack Kemp.
Mississippi weighed in for this election as 4% more Republican than the national average.
Partisan background
The presidential election of 1996 was a very multi-partisan election for Mississippi, with almost than 7% of the electorate voting for third-party candidates. During this election, the vast majority of counties in Mississippi voted in majority for the Republican candidate, with the notable exceptions of Jackson's highly populated Hinds County and a Democratic stronghold of counties bordering the Mississippi River, which tended to vote Democratic during this time.
In his second bid for the Presidency, Ross Perot led the newly reformed Reform Party to gain over 5% of the votes in Mississippi, and to pull in support nationally as the most popular third-party candidate to run for United States Presidency in recent times.