1996 United States presidential election in Arkansas

The 1996 United States presidential election in Arkansas took place on November 5, 1996, as part of the 1996 United States presidential election. State voters chose six electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Arkansas, incumbent President Bill Clinton's home state, was won by Clinton by a 17% margin of victory. Republican nominee Bob Dole did not put up a challenge in Arkansas, nor did billionaire businessman Ross Perot (Ref-TX), who had unsuccessfully run for president as an independent in the previous election. Perot won 7.90 percent of the popular vote in Arkansas in 1996, a significant total for a third party candidate.

As of the 2024 presidential election, this remains the last time a Democratic nominee carried Arkansas. Since then, the state has shifted sharply toward the Republican Party, transforming from a Democratic stronghold into one of the most reliably Republican states in the country. This election marked the beginning of Arkansas’s ongoing rightward trend in every subsequent presidential race and the last time a Democrat managed to flip any county in Arkansas.

This is also the last election in which Washington County, Columbia County, Arkansas County, Faulkner County, Union County, Garland County, Johnson County, Howard County, Calhoun County, Saline County, Perry County, Miller County, Van Buren County, Montgomery County, Madison County, Pike County, Logan County, White County, Lonoke County, Pope County, Independence County, Cleburne County, Yell County, Conway County, Franklin County, Grant County, Sharp County, Sevier County, Marion County, Stone County, Fulton County, Scott County, Prairie County, and Cleveland County voted for a Democratic presidential candidate.