Nevertheless, Clinton retained seven counties that he had been the first Democrat to carry since 1964 in 1992: San Bernardino, Ventura, San Joaquin, Santa Barbara, Monterey, Imperial, and San Benito, of which all save Imperial and San Benito cast over 100,000 votes. He also became the first Democrat since Woodrow Wilson in 1912 to win the White House without carrying Plumas County. Clinton became the first Democrat to win the White House without carrying Fresno County since the county's founding in 1856, and remains the only one to have done so as of 2020. In contrast, Clinton flipped no counties in the state from red to blue, making this the first election since 1980 in which no red counties in the state turned blue. Of these counties, San Diego, Riverside, Fresno, and San Luis Obispo cast over 100,000 votes and San Diego County was the largest county in the country to switch parties in 1996. He also carried Trinity County, the one county in the state in which Ross Perot had won a plurality in 1992. Dole reclaimed eleven counties for the GOP: San Diego, Riverside, Fresno, San Luis Obispo, Butte, Tehama, Tuolumne, Siskiyou, Del Norte, Plumas, and Mariposa. Nevertheless, Clinton's margin of victory shrank from 13.40% to 12.89%, even as his national margin swelled by 3%. In 1996, Clinton carried California once again by double digits, representing the first time California had voted Democratic in back-to-back elections since 19. Ĭalifornia had grown increasingly Democratic relative to the rest of the nation in the prior three elections, culminating in Bill Clinton's becoming the first Democrat to carry California in 1992 since Lyndon Johnson's 1964 landslide. Billionaire businessman Ross Perot ( Reform Party) finished in third, with 6.96% of the popular vote. Voters chose 54 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.Ĭalifornia, was won by Incumbent President Bill Clinton ( D) over Senator Bob Dole ( R), with Clinton winning 51.1% to 38.21% by a margin of 12.89%. The 1996 United States presidential election in California took place on November 5, 1996, as part of the 1996 United States presidential election.