The 1996 United States presidential election in Georgia took place on November 5, 1996, as part of the 1996 United States presidential election. Voters chose 13 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
Georgia was won by Senator Bob Dole (R-KS) by a narrow 1.2% margin. Georgia was the third-closest contest that year, with only Kentucky and Nevada being closer, as well as Dole's closest race. Dole's victory was possible due to the declining support for Democrats in Georgia and many other Southeastern States, though the Democratic Party in Georgia would remain dominant at the state level until the early 2000s. Billionaire businessman Ross Perot (Ref-TX), who had unsuccessfully run for president as an independent in the previous election, won 6.4% of the popular vote in Georgia, a significant total for a third-party candidate. Until the 2020 election (which Democrats won), this was the last time that a Democratic presidential nominee finished within 2% of the Republican candidate; this was also the last time any third-party candidate had won more than 5% of the popular vote in Georgia.
During the concurrent U.S. Senate election in Georgia, Secretary of State of Georgia Max Cleland (D) narrowly defeated businessman Guy Millner (R) 48.87% to 47.54%. In addition, incumbent U.S. Representatives Sanford Bishop (D-GA-2), Saxby Chambliss (R-GA-8), and Charlie Norwood (R-GA-10) all received strong challenges that year during the House elections but were nonetheless re-elected.
Georgia weighed in for this election as 10 points more Republican than the national average. , this is the last election in which Wheeler, Butts, Heard, Polk, Long, Hart, Chattooga, Elbert, Treutlen, Decatur, Screven, Wilkes, Greene, Dodge, Clinch, Crawford, Lanier, Miller, Brooks, Taylor, Turner, Wilcox, Cook, Marion, Jenkins, Atkinson, Berrien, Lamar, Crisp, Emanuel, Pulaski, Schley, Grady, Irwin, Johnson, Seminole, Putnam, Montgomery, Jasper, and Ben Hill counties voted for a Democratic presidential candidate.Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016
Georgia was one of three states won by Clinton in 1992 that Dole was able to flip, the others being Montana and Colorado.
This is the last election in which Georgia would vote differently from Arizona, as both had Republican winning streaks from 2000 to 2016 before flipping simultaneously in 2020 and 2024.
Among white voters, 61% supported Dole, 29% supported Clinton, and 8% supported Perot. Georgia was Doles fourth strongest performance among whites in the entire nation, the top three were Mississippi (Dole+43), South Carolina (Dole+37), and Alabama (Dole+33).
Results 1996 United States presidential election in GeorgiaDave Leip’s U.S. Election Atlas; 1996 Presidential General Election Results – GeorgiaPartyCandidateRunning mateVotesPercentageElectoral votes Republican Bob Dole Jack Kemp 1,080,843 47.01% 13 Democratic Bill Clinton (incumbent) Al Gore (incumbent) 1,053,849 45.84% 0 Reform Ross Perot Pat Choate 146,337 6.37% 0 Libertarian Harry Browne Jo Jorgensen 17,870 0.78% 0 Taxpayers Howard Phillips (write-in) Herbert Titus 145 0.01% 0 Independent Charles E. Collins (write-in) Rosemary Giumarra 15 0.00% 0 Socialist Workers James Harris (write-in) Laura Garza 12 0.00% 0 Totals 2,299,071 100.00% 13 Voter turnout (Voting age) 42%
Results by county