The 1996 United States presidential election in Utah took place on November 7, 1996, as part of the 1996 United States presidential election. Voters chose five representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
Utah was won by Republican nominee Bob Dole, who obtained 54.37 percent of the vote - his highest total in any state - and won by a 21.07 point margin, his highest margin of victory nationwide.
, this is the last election in which Tooele and Carbon Counties voted for a Democratic presidential candidate. This also marked the first time since statehood that a president won two terms without ever carrying Utah.
This is the only presidential election in Utah in which fewer votes were cast than in the previous election.
Technically the voters of Utah cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. Utah is allocated five electors because it has three congressional districts and two senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of five electors, who pledge to vote for their candidate and their running mate. Whoever wins the majority of votes in the state is awarded all five electoral votes. Their chosen electors then vote for president and vice president. Although electors are pledged to their candidate and running mate, they are not obligated to vote for them. An elector who votes for someone other than their candidate is known as a faithless elector.
The electors of each state and the District of Columbia met in December 1996 to cast their votes for president and vice president. The Electoral College itself never meets as one body. Instead the electors from each state and the District of Columbia met in their respective capitols.
All electors from Utah were pledged to and voted for Bob Dole and Jack Kemp.