United States Presidential Election of 1996

Clinton re-elected 379 to 159 over Dole as the incumbent's party won two presidencies in a row for the first time since 1964.

Overview

After the budget-shutdown standoff with Gingrich's Congress, Clinton, running on a bridge to the twenty-first century against 73-year-old war hero Bob Dole, won 379 to 159 with 49.2 percent, holding Perot's Reform Party to 8.4 percent. It was the first back-to-back Democratic presidential wins since FDR. Republicans kept Congress for the first time since 1930, institutionalizing divided government. Clinton's second term brought surpluses, welfare reform's entrenchment, and impeachment over the Lewinsky affair.