1896 Presidential Election

The Battle of the Standards

November 3, 1896 · The Gilded Age · 447 electoral votes, 224 to win

McKinley's businesslike front-porch campaign, funded on an unprecedented scale by Mark Hanna, beat Bryan's whirlwind free-silver crusade. The realignment it sealed kept Republicans dominant for a generation.

Elected

William McKinley

Republican

Electoral vote

271 of 447

Popular vote

51.0%

7,111,607 votes

Turnout

79.6%

The result

William McKinley
Republican · 51.00% of votes
271
electoral votes
William Jennings Bryan
Democratic · 46.70% of votes
176
electoral votes
John M. Palmer
National Democratic · 0.97% of votes
—
electoral votes
Joshua Levering
Prohibition · 0.94% of votes
—
electoral votes
Charles H. Matchett
Socialist Labor · 0.26% of votes
—
electoral votes
Charles Eugene Bentley
National Prohibition Party · 0.10% of votes
—
electoral votes

13,936,957 votes recorded for the candidates listed.

Results by state

Alabama
William Jennings Bryan · 67.0% · runner-up William McKinley 28.6%
11
electoral votes
Arkansas
William Jennings Bryan · 73.7% · runner-up William McKinley 25.1%
8
electoral votes
California
William McKinley · 49.2% · runner-up William Jennings Bryan 48.5%
1 Bryan · 8 McKinley
electoral votes
Colorado
William Jennings Bryan · 84.9% · runner-up William McKinley 13.9%
4
electoral votes
Connecticut
William McKinley · 63.2% · runner-up William Jennings Bryan 32.5%
6
electoral votes
Delaware
William McKinley · 53.2% · runner-up William Jennings Bryan 43.1%
3
electoral votes
Florida
William Jennings Bryan · 70.4% · runner-up William McKinley 24.3%
4
electoral votes
Georgia
William Jennings Bryan · 57.8% · runner-up William McKinley 36.6%
13
electoral votes
Idaho
William Jennings Bryan · 78.1% · runner-up William McKinley 21.3%
3
electoral votes
Illinois
William McKinley · 55.7% · runner-up William Jennings Bryan 42.7%
24
electoral votes
Indiana
William McKinley · 50.8% · runner-up William Jennings Bryan 48.0%
15
electoral votes
Iowa
William McKinley · 55.5% · runner-up William Jennings Bryan 42.9%
13
electoral votes

The state table accounts for 173 of William Jennings Bryan's 176 official electoral votes. The remainder reflect split delegations, district allocations, faithless electors or votes not counted, as recorded at the electoral count.

The Congress it seated

55th Congress

1897–1899

Unified government

Senate

34–46 +10

Republican control · Democratic–Republican +10 independents

House

134–206 +16

Republican control · Democratic–Republican +16 independents