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{{Short description|none}}
{{for|related races|2000 United States elections}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2017}}
{{Infobox election
| election_name = 2000 United States presidential election
| country = United States
| flag_year = 1900
| type = presidential
| ongoing = no
| previous_election = 1996 United States presidential election
| previous_year = 1996
| election_date = November 7, 2000
| next_election = 2004 United States presidential election
| next_year = 2004
| votes_for_election = [[List of 2000 United States presidential electors|538 members]] of the [[United States Electoral College|Electoral College]]
| needed_votes = 270 electoral
| turnout = 54.2%<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.electproject.org/national-1789-present|title=National General Election VEP Turnout Rates, 1789-Present|work=United States Election Project|publisher=[[CQ Press]]|access-date=February 21, 2023|archive-date=July 25, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140725110444/http://www.electproject.org/national-1789-present|url-status=live|quote=1996 51.7 […] 2000 54.2}}</ref> {{increase}} 5.2 [[percentage point|pp]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.fec.gov/resources/cms-content/documents/federalelections96.pdf|title=FEDERAL ELECTIONS 96 Election Results for the U.S. President, the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives|date=May 1997|publisher=[[Federal Election Commission]]|page=11|quote=Percent of voting age population casting a vote for President: 48.99%}}</ref>
| image_size = x200px
<!-- George W. Bush -->| image1 = GeorgeWBush (1).jpg
| nominee1 = '''[[George W. Bush]]'''
| party1 = Republican Party (United States)
| home_state1 = [[Texas]]
| running_mate1 = '''[[Dick Cheney]]'''
| electoral_vote1 = '''271'''
| states_carried1 = '''30'''
| popular_vote1 = 50,456,002<ref name="el2000"/>
| percentage1 = {{percent|<!-- BUSH: --> 50,456,002|<!-- TOTAL: --> 105,421,423|1|pad=yes}}
<!-- Al Gore -->| image2 = Al Gore, Vice President of the United States, official portrait 1994 (3x4 close cropped).jpg
| nominee2 = [[Al Gore]]
| party2 = Democratic Party (United States)
| home_state2 = [[Tennessee]]
| running_mate2 = [[Joe Lieberman]]
| electoral_vote2 = 266{{efn|name="Discrepancy Between Pledged Elector Tally and Electoral Vote for Gore/Lieberman"|267 electors pledged to the Gore/Lieberman ticket were elected; however, [[Barbara Lett-Simmons|an elector]] from the District of Columbia [[Faithless elector|cast a blank ballot]] for president and vice president, bringing the ticket's total number of electoral votes to 266.}}
| states_carried2 = 20 + [[Washington D.C.|DC]]
| popular_vote2 = '''50,999,897'''<ref name="el2000"/>
| percentage2 = '''{{percent|<!-- GORE: --> 50,999,897|<!-- TOTAL: --> 105,421,423|1|pad=yes}}'''
| map_size = 350px
| map = {{2000 United States presidential election imagemap}}
| map_caption = Presidential election results map. <span style="color:red;">Red</span> denotes states won by Bush/Cheney and <span style="color:blue;">blue</span> denotes those won by Gore/Lieberman. One of D.C.'s three electors [[Faithless elector|cast a blank ballot]] for president and vice president. Numbers indicate [[electoral votes]] cast by each state and the District of Columbia.
| title = President
| before_election = [[Bill Clinton]]
| before_party = Democratic Party (United States)
| after_election = [[George W. Bush]]
| after_party = Republican Party (United States)
}}
{{US 2000 presidential elections series}}
[[United States presidential election|Presidential elections]] were held in the United States on November 7, 2000. [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] Governor [[George W. Bush]] of [[Texas]], the eldest son of 41st President [[George H. W. Bush]], and former [[United States Secretary of Defense|Secretary of Defense]] [[Dick Cheney]] very narrowly defeated incumbent [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] Vice President [[Al Gore]] and [[United States Senate|Senator]] [[Joe Lieberman]]. It was the fourth of five U.S. presidential elections, and the first since [[1888 United States presidential election|1888]], in which the [[List of United States presidential elections in which the winner lost the popular vote|winning candidate lost the popular vote]], and is considered one of the closest U.S. presidential elections in history, with long-standing controversy about the result.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/elections/5-of-the-closest-presidential-elections-in-us-history |title=5 of the closest Presidential elections in US history |last=Haddad |first=Ken |date=November 7, 2016 |website=WDIV |language=en-US |access-date=September 1, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190110183524/https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/elections/5-of-the-closest-presidential-elections-in-us-history|archive-date=January 10, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.fosters.com/zz/elections/20161101/5-of-closest-presidential-elections-in-us-history/1 |title=5 of the closest presidential elections in U.S. history |last=Fain |first=Thom| website=fosters.com |language=en|access-date=September 1, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190110183510/https://www.fosters.com/zz/elections/20161101/5-of-closest-presidential-elections-in-us-history/1|archive-date=January 10, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2017/07/23/top-9-closest-us-presidential-elections-since-1945/|title=Top 9 closest US presidential elections since 1945|last=Wood|first=Richard|date=July 25, 2017 |website=Here Is The City |language=en |access-date=September 1, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190110133656/https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2017/07/23/top-9-closest-us-presidential-elections-since-1945/|archive-date=January 10, 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref>
Incumbent Democratic President [[Bill Clinton]] was ineligible to seek a third term because of term limits established by the [[Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution|22nd Amendment]]. Incumbent [[Vice President of the United States|Vice President]] Gore easily secured the [[2000 Democratic Party presidential primaries|Democratic nomination]], defeating former [[New Jersey]] Senator [[Bill Bradley]] in the [[2000 Democratic primaries|primaries]]. He selected [[Connecticut]] Senator [[Joe Lieberman]] as his [[running mate]]. Bush was seen as the early favorite for the [[2000 Republican Party presidential primaries|Republican nomination]], and after a contentious primary battle with [[Arizona]] Senator [[John McCain]] and others, he secured the nomination by [[Super Tuesday]]. He selected former Secretary of Defense [[Dick Cheney]] as his [[running mate]].
Both major-party candidates focused primarily on domestic issues, such as the budget, tax relief, and reforms for federal [[social insurance]] programs, although foreign policy was not ignored. Due to President Clinton's [[Clinton–Lewinsky scandal|sex scandal]] with [[Monica Lewinsky]] and [[Impeachment of Bill Clinton|subsequent impeachment]], Gore avoided campaigning with Clinton. Republicans denounced Clinton's indiscretions, while Gore criticized Bush's lack of experience.
[[File:Gorelogo.svg|thumb|Gore's campaign logo]]
[[File:George W. Bush for President 2000.svg|thumb|Bush's campaign logo]]
On election night, it was unclear who had won, with the [[United States Electoral College|electoral votes]] of the state of [[2000 United States presidential election in Florida|Florida]] still undecided. It took a month to resolve the issue, after which Florida's votes went to Bush, tipping the election in his favor.
Ultimately, Bush won 271 electoral votes, one vote more than the 270 required to win, while Gore won the popular vote by 543,895 votes (a margin of 0.52% of all votes cast).<ref name="el2000">{{cite web|title=Federal Elections 2000: 2000 Presidential Electoral and Popular Vote Table|url=https://transition.fec.gov/pubrec/fe2000/elecpop.htm|publisher=[[Federal Election Commission]]|access-date=March 22, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120912083944/http://www.fec.gov/pubrec/2000presgeresults.htm|archive-date=September 12, 2012|url-status=dead|date=December 2001}}</ref> Bush flipped 11 states that had voted Democratic in [[1996 United States presidential election|1996]]: Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, Tennessee, and West Virginia. Despite Gore's loss, this election marked the first time since [[1948 United States presidential election|1948]] that the Democratic Party won the popular vote in three consecutive elections.
==Background==
{{Further|United States presidential election#Procedure}}
President [[Bill Clinton]], a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] and former [[List of governors of Arkansas|governor of Arkansas]], was ineligible to seek reelection to a third term due to the [[Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution|Twenty-second Amendment]]; in accordance with Section{{nbsp}}1 of the [[Twentieth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Twentieth Amendment]], his term expired at noon [[Eastern Time Zone|Eastern Standard Time]] on January 20, 2001.
==Republican Party nomination==
{{Main article|George W. Bush 2000 presidential campaign|2000 Republican Party presidential primaries|2000 Republican National Convention}}
{{George W. Bush series}}
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%; text-align:center"
|-
| style="background:#F1F1F1;" colspan="30"|[[File:Republican Disc.svg|65px|center|link=Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party (United States)]]<big>'''2000 Republican Party ticket'''</big>
|-
! style="width:3em; font-size:135%; background:{{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}; width:200px;"| [[George W. Bush|{{color|white|George W. Bush}}]]
! style="width:3em; font-size:135%; background:{{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}; width:200px;"| [[Dick Cheney|{{color|white|Dick Cheney}}]]
|- style="color:#000; font-size:100%; background:#FFD0D7;"
| style="width:3em; width:200px;"|'''''for President'''''
| style="width:3em; width:200px;"|'''''for Vice President'''''
|-
| [[File:GeorgeWBush (1).jpg|center|200x200px]]
| [[File:Dick Cheney.jpg|center|200x200px]]
|-
| [[List of governors of Texas|46th]]<br />[[Governor of Texas]]<br /><small>(1995–2000)</small>
| [[United States Secretary of Defense#List of secretaries of defense|17th]]<br />[[United States Secretary of Defense|U.S. Secretary of Defense]]<br /><small>(1989–1993)</small>
|-
| colspan=2 |[[George W. Bush 2000 presidential campaign|'''Campaign''']]
|-
| colspan=2 |[[File:Bush Cheney 2000 campaign logo.svg|center|200x200px]]
|}
=== Withdrawn candidates ===
{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
| colspan="7" style="text-align:center; color:white; background:{{party color|Republican Party (United States)}};" |''Candidates in this section are sorted by popular vote from the primaries''
|-
! scope="col" style="width:3em;" |[[John McCain]]
! scope="col" style="width:3em;" |[[Alan Keyes]]
! scope="col" style="width:3em;" |[[Steve Forbes]]
! scope="col" style="width:3em;" |[[Gary Bauer]]
! scope="col" style="width:3em;" |[[Orrin Hatch]]
! scope="col" style="width:3em;" |[[Elizabeth Dole]]
! scope="col" style="width:3em;" |[[Pat Buchanan]]
|-
|[[File:McCain2 (1).jpg|alt=|center|120x120px]]
|[[File:Alan Keyes (1).jpg|alt=|center|120x120px]]
|[[File:SteveForbesJun2009.jpg|alt=|center|120x120px]]
|[[File:Barybauerconcord (2).jpg|alt=|center|120x120px]]
|[[File:Orrin Hatch official photo.jpg|alt=|center|120x120px]]|||[[File:Elizabeth Dole official photo.jpg|alt=|center|120x120px]]
|[[File:Pat Buchanan.jpg|alt=|center|120x120px]]
|- style="text-align:center"
|-
|U.S. Senator<br />from [[Arizona]]<br /><small>(1987–2018)</small>
|Asst. Secretary of State<br /><small>(1985–1987)</small>
|Businessman
|[[United States Department of Education|U.S. Under Secretary of Education]]<br /><small>(1985–1987)</small>
|U.S. Senator<br />from [[Utah]]<br /><small>(1977–2019)</small>
|[[United States Secretary of Labor|U.S. Secretary of Labor]]<br /><small>(1989–1990)</small>
|White House Communications Director<br /><small>(1985–1987)</small>
|-
|[[File:McCain 2000 campaign logo.svg|alt=|center|100x100px]]
|
[[File:Alan Keyes 2000 campaign logo.svg|alt=|center|100x100px]]
|[[File:Steve Forbes presidential campaign, 2000.png|alt=|center|100x100px]]
|[[File:Gary Bauer presidential campaign, 2000.png|alt=|center|100x100px]]
|[[File:Orrin Hatch 2000.jpg|alt=|center|100x100px]]
|[[File:Elizabeth Dole for president 2000.svg|alt=|center|100x100px]]
|[[File:Buchanan2000.gif|alt=|center|100x100px]]
|- style="text-align:center"
|-
|[[John McCain 2000 presidential campaign|Campaign]]
|[[Alan Keyes 2000 presidential campaign|Campaign]]
|[[Steve_Forbes#Campaigns for president|Campaign]]
|[[Gary Bauer 2000 presidential campaign|Campaign]]
|[[Orrin Hatch 2000 presidential campaign|Campaign]]
|[[Elizabeth Dole 2000 presidential campaign|Campaign]]
|[[Pat Buchanan 2000 presidential campaign|Campaign]]
|- style="text-align:center"
|-
|''W: March 9''<br /><small>'''6,457,696''' votes</small>
|''W: July 25''<br /><small>'''1,009,232''' votes</small>
|''W: Feb 10''<br /><small>'''151,362''' votes</small>
|''W: Feb 4''<br /><small>'''65,128''' votes</small>
|''W: Jan 26''<br /><small>'''20,408''' votes</small>
|''W: Oct 20''<br />
<small>'''231''' votes</small>
|''W: Oct 25''<br /> Ran for the [[2000 Reform Party presidential primaries|Reform Party nominaton]]
<small>'''0''' votes</small>
|}
=== Primaries ===
Bush became the early front-runner, acquiring unprecedented funding and a broad base of leadership support based on his governorship of Texas, the Bush family's name recognition, and connections in American politics. Former cabinet member [[George Shultz]] played an important early role in securing establishment Republican support for Bush. In April 1998, he invited Bush to discuss policy issues with experts including [[Michael Boskin]], [[John B. Taylor|John Taylor]], and [[Condoleezza Rice]], who later became his [[Secretary of state (U.S. state government)|Secretary of State]]. The group, which was "looking for a candidate for 2000 with good political instincts, someone they could work with", was impressed, and Shultz encouraged him to enter the race.<ref>{{cite episode |series=Frontline|series-link=Frontline (U.S. TV series)|network=PBS|station=[[WGBH-TV]] |___location=Boston|airdate=October 12, 2004|transcript=The Choice|transcript-url= https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/choice2004/etc/script.html }}</ref>
Several aspirants withdrew before the [[2000 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses|Iowa caucuses]] because they did not secure funding and endorsements sufficient to remain competitive with Bush. These included [[Elizabeth Dole]], [[Dan Quayle]], [[Lamar Alexander]], and [[Bob Smith (New Hampshire politician)|Bob Smith]]. [[Pat Buchanan]] dropped out to run for the Reform Party nomination. That left Bush, [[John McCain]], [[Alan Keyes]], [[Steve Forbes]], [[Gary Bauer]], and [[Orrin Hatch]] as the only candidates still in the race.
On January 24, Bush won the Iowa caucuses with 41% of the vote. Forbes came in second with 30% of the vote. Keyes received 14%, Bauer 9%, McCain 5%, and Hatch 1%.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://p2000.us/chrniowa.html|title=Iowa Caucuses|date=January 24, 2000|website=www.gwu.edu|publisher=[[George Washington University]]|access-date=October 28, 2023|archive-date=October 28, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231028160053/https://p2000.us/chrniowa.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Two days later, Hatch dropped out and endorsed Bush.<ref>{{Cite news |date=January 27, 2000 |title=The 2000 Campaign; Crushed in Iowa, Hatch Abandons Campaign and Endorses Bush |page=22 |work=[[The New York Times]] |agency=[[Associated Press]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/01/27/us/the-2000-campaign-crushed-in-iowa-hatch-abandons-campaign-and-endorses-bush.html |url-status=live |access-date=June 15, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220501031435/https://www.nytimes.com/2000/01/27/us/the-2000-campaign-crushed-in-iowa-hatch-abandons-campaign-and-endorses-bush.html |archive-date=May 1, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The national media portrayed Bush as the establishment candidate.
With the support of many moderate Republicans and independents, McCain portrayed himself as a crusading insurgent who focused on [[Electoral reform|campaign reform]].<ref>{{cite magazine|title=How McCain Does It|url=https://www.newsweek.com/id/83219?tid=relatedcl|author=[[Evan Thomas|Thomas, Evan]] and [[Michael Isikoff|Isikoff, Michael]]|magazine=[[Newsweek]]|date=March 5, 2000|access-date=November 4, 2023}}</ref>
On February 1, McCain, who had skipped the caucuses in order to divert resources toward New Hampshire and South Carolina, won a surprising 49–30% victory over Bush in the [[2000 New Hampshire Republican presidential primary|New Hampshire primary]].<ref>{{cite news|first=Dan|last=Balz|title=McCain Stuns Bush in N.H. Primary|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=February 2, 2000|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPcap/2000-02/02/012r-020200-idx.html|access-date=October 28, 2023}}</ref> Bauer subsequently dropped out, followed by Forbes, who had won no primaries after spending $32 million of his own money on his campaign.<ref>{{cite news|first=Leslie|last=Wayne|title=Forbes Spent Millions, but for Little Gain|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=February 10, 2000|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/02/10/us/the-2000-campaign-the-end-forbes-spent-millions-but-for-little-gain.html|access-date=October 28, 2023}}</ref> This left three candidates. In the [[2000 United States presidential election in South Carolina|South Carolina primary]], Bush soundly defeated McCain.<ref name="Borger">{{cite news|first=Julian|last=Borger|title=Bush win stuns McCain|website=[[The Guardian]]|date=February 20, 2000|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/feb/21/uselections2000.usa|access-date=November 4, 2023}}</ref> Some McCain supporters accused the Bush campaign of [[wikt:mudslinging|mudslinging]] and [[negative campaigning]], citing [[push poll]]s that implied that McCain's adopted Bangladeshi-born daughter was an African-American child he fathered out of wedlock.<ref name=pushpolling>{{cite web |url=http://www.dadmag.com/archive/060400jmccain.php |title=Interview with John McCain |website=Dadmag.com |date=June 4, 2000 |access-date=November 16, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071221071033/http://www.dadmag.com/archive/060400jmccain.php |archive-date=December 21, 2007 |url-status=live }}</ref> McCain's loss in South Carolina damaged his campaign, but he won both Michigan and his home state of Arizona on February 22.<ref>{{cite news|first=Richard L.|last=Berke|title=McCain Rebounds in Michigan, Buoyed by Big Crossover Vote, And Wins Easily in Home State|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=February 23, 2000|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/02/23/us/2000-campaign-overview-mccain-rebounds-michigan-buoyed-big-crossover-vote-wins.html|access-date=November 4, 2023|archive-date=November 4, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231104200939/https://www.nytimes.com/2000/02/23/us/2000-campaign-overview-mccain-rebounds-michigan-buoyed-big-crossover-vote-wins.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
The primary campaigns impacted the [[South Carolina State House]], where a controversy about the Confederate flag flying over the capitol dome prompted the state legislature to move the flag to a less prominent position at a [[Flags of the Confederate States of America|Civil War memorial on the capitol grounds]]. Most GOP candidates said the issue should be left to South Carolina voters, but McCain later recanted and said the flag should be removed.<ref>Holmes, Steven A. "[https://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/20/us/after-campaigning-on-candor-mccain-admits-he-lacked-it-on-confederate-flag-issue.html After Campaigning on Candor, McCain Admits He Lacked It on Confederate Flag Issue] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170226024221/http://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/20/us/after-campaigning-on-candor-mccain-admits-he-lacked-it-on-confederate-flag-issue.html |date=February 26, 2017 }}. ''[[The New York Times]]''. April 20, 2000. Retrieved 2015-06-19.</ref>
McCain criticized Bush for speaking at and accepting the endorsement of [[Bob Jones University]] despite its policy banning [[interracial dating]], actions for which Bush subsequently apologized.<ref>{{cite news|first1=David S.|last1=Broder|first2=Mike|last2=Allen|title=Bush Cites Regret on Bob Jones|date=February 28, 2000|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2000/02/28/bush-cites-regret-on-bob-jones/ae6ee98e-cef3-4acf-b576-3e7e69a9f57c/|access-date=November 18, 2023}}</ref> On February 28, McCain also referred to [[Jerry Falwell Sr.|Jerry Falwell]] and televangelist [[Pat Robertson]] as "agents of intolerance,"<ref>{{cite news|first1=Craig|last1=Timberg|first2=Justin|last2=Blum|title=McCain Attacks Two Leaders of Christian Right|date=February 29, 2000|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2000/02/29/mccain-attacks-two-leaders-of-christian-right/0bf3e70f-8859-499c-9cfa-79d3417e03d9/|access-date=November 4, 2023|archive-date=August 8, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220808102015/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2000/02/29/mccain-attacks-two-leaders-of-christian-right/0bf3e70f-8859-499c-9cfa-79d3417e03d9/|url-status=live}}</ref> a term from which he distanced himself during his [[John McCain 2008 presidential campaign|2008 bid]]. He lost Virginia to Bush on February 29.<ref>{{cite news|title=Why Virginia Loves George|date=February 29, 2000|website=[[CBS News]]|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/why-virginia-loves-george/|access-date=November 18, 2023|archive-date=November 18, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231118192828/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/why-virginia-loves-george/|url-status=live}}</ref> On [[Super Tuesday]], March 7, Bush won New York, Ohio, Georgia, Missouri, California, Maryland, and Maine. McCain won Rhode Island, Vermont, Connecticut, and Massachusetts but dropped out of the race. McCain became the Republican presidential nominee [[2008 United States presidential election|8 years later]], but lost the general election to [[Barack Obama]]. Bush took the majority of the remaining contests and won the Republican nomination on March 14, winning his home state of Texas and his brother [[Jeb Bush|Jeb's]] home state of Florida, among others. At the [[2000 Republican National Convention|Republican National Convention]] in Philadelphia, Bush accepted the nomination.
Bush asked former [[United States Secretary of Defense|Secretary of Defense]] [[Dick Cheney]] to head up a team to help select a running mate for him, but ultimately chose Cheney himself as the vice presidential nominee. While the U.S. Constitution does not specifically disallow a president and a vice president from the same state, it prohibits electors from casting both of their votes for persons from their own state. Accordingly, Cheney—who had been a resident of [[Texas]] for nearly 10 years—changed his voting registration back to Wyoming. Had Cheney not done this, either he or Bush would have forfeited his electoral votes from Texas.<ref>{{cite news|title=Cheney changes voter registration, boosts Bush running mate chances|website=[[Deseret News]]|date=July 22, 2000|url=https://www.deseret.com/2000/7/22/19519524/cheney-changes-voter-registration-boosts-bush-running-mate-chances|access-date=November 18, 2023}}</ref>
;Delegate totals
* Governor George W. Bush – 1,526
* Senator John McCain – 275
* Ambassador Alan Keyes – 23
* Businessman Steve Forbes – 10
* Gary Bauer – 2
* None of the names shown – 2
* Uncommitted – 1
==Democratic Party nomination==
{{Al Gore series}}
{{Main article|Al Gore 2000 presidential campaign|2000 Democratic Party presidential primaries|2000 Democratic National Convention}}
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%; text-align:center"
|-
| style="background:#f1f1f1;" colspan="30"|[[File:Democratic Disc.svg|65px|center|link=Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party (United States)]]<big>'''2000 Democratic Party ticket'''</big>
|-
! style="width:3em; font-size:135%; background:#3333FF; width:200px;"| [[Al Gore|{{color|white|Al Gore}}]]
! style="width:3em; font-size:135%; background:#3333FF; width:200px;"| [[Joe Lieberman|{{color|white|Joe Lieberman}}]]
|- style="color:#000; font-size:100%; background:#c8ebff;"
| style="width:3em; width:200px;"|'''''for President'''''
| style="width:3em; width:200px;"|'''''for Vice President'''''
|-
| [[File:Al Gore, Vice President of the United States, official portrait 1994.jpg|center|200x200px]]
| [[File:Joe Lieberman official portrait 2 (cropped 3x4).jpg|center|200x200px]]
|-
| [[List of vice presidents of the United States|45th]]<br />[[Vice President of the United States]]<br /><small>(1993–2001)</small>
| [[United States Senate|U.S. Senator]]<br />from [[Connecticut]]<br /><small>(1989–2013)</small>
|-
| colspan=2 |[[Al Gore 2000 presidential campaign|'''Campaign''']]
|-
| colspan=2 |[[File:Gore-Liberman 2000 Logo.png|center|200x200px]]
|}
=== Withdrawn candidates ===
{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="font-size:90%"
| style="text-align:center; width:700px; font-size:120%; color:white; background:{{party color|Democratic Party (United States)}};" |
|-
! scope="col" style="width:3em; font-size:120%;" |[[Bill Bradley]]
|-
|
|-
|[[File:Sen. Bill Bradley (NJ) (cropped).jpg|center|232x232px]]
|- style="text-align:center"
|U.S. Senator<br />from [[New Jersey]]<br /><small>(1979–1997)</small>
|-
|[[File:Bill Bradley logo.png|alt=|center|100x100px]]
|- style="text-align:center"
|[[Bill Bradley 2000 presidential campaign|Campaign]]
|- style="text-align:center"
|''W: March 9''<br /><small>'''3,027,912''' votes</small>
|}
=== Primaries ===
Vice President [[Al Gore]] was a consistent front-runner for the nomination. Other prominent Democrats mentioned as possible contenders included [[Bob Kerrey]],<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1998/12/13/kerrey/ |title= West Memphis Kerrey bows out of 2000 presidential race |publisher= CNN |date= December 13, 1998 |access-date= December 14, 2007 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071228114246/http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1998/12/13/kerrey/ |archive-date= December 28, 2007 |url-status= live }}</ref> [[Missouri]] Representative [[Dick Gephardt]], [[Minnesota]] Senator [[Paul Wellstone]], and actor and director [[Warren Beatty]].<ref>York, Anthony (September 2, 1999) [http://www.salon.com/news/feature/1999/09/02/beatty/index.html "Life of the Party?"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071015093716/http://salon.com/news/feature/1999/09/02/beatty/index.html |date=October 15, 2007 }} ''Salon News''.</ref> Of these, only Wellstone formed an [[exploratory committee]].<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/04/08/wellstone/index.html |title= Wellstone Launches Presidential Exploratory Committee |publisher= CNN |first= Carin |last= Dessauer |date= April 8, 1998 |access-date= December 14, 2007 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071230075616/http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/04/08/wellstone/index.html |archive-date= December 30, 2007 |url-status= live }}</ref>
Running an insurgency campaign, [[United States Senate|U.S. Senator]] [[Bill Bradley]] positioned himself as the alternative to Gore, who was a founding member of the centrist [[Democratic Leadership Council]]. While former basketball star [[Michael Jordan]] campaigned for him in the early primary states, Bradley announced his intention to campaign "in a different way" by conducting a positive campaign of "big ideas." His campaign's focus was a plan to spend the record-breaking budget surplus on a variety of social welfare programs to help the poor and the middle class, along with campaign finance reform and [[gun control]].
Gore easily defeated Bradley in the primaries, largely because of support from the Democratic Party establishment and Bradley's poor showing in the Iowa caucus, where Gore successfully painted Bradley as aloof and indifferent to the plight of farmers. The closest Bradley came to a victory was his 50–46 loss to Gore in the New Hampshire primary. On March 14, Gore clinched the Democratic nomination.
None of Bradley's delegates were allowed to vote for him, so Gore won the nomination unanimously at the [[2000 Democratic National Convention|Democratic National Convention]]. [[Connecticut]] Senator [[Joe Lieberman]] was nominated for vice president by voice vote. Lieberman became the first [[American Jews|Jewish American]] ever to be chosen for this position by a major party. Gore chose Lieberman over five other finalists: Senators [[Evan Bayh]], [[John Edwards]], and [[John Kerry]], [[Party leaders of the United States House of Representatives|House Minority Leader]] [[Dick Gephardt]], and [[Governor of New Hampshire|New Hampshire Governor]] [[Jeanne Shaheen]].<ref name=GoreLiebermanCNN>{{cite news|url=http://archives.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/08/07/gore.lieberman/index.html |title=Gore, Lieberman prepare for public debut of Democratic ticket |publisher=CNN |date=August 8, 2000 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081105210049/http://archives.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/08/07/gore.lieberman/index.html |archive-date=November 5, 2008}}</ref>
Delegate totals:
* Vice President Albert Gore Jr. – 4,328
* [[Abstention]]s – 9
==Other nominations==
===Reform Party nomination===
{{Main|2000 Reform Party presidential primaries|Pat Buchanan 2000 presidential campaign}}
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%; text-align:center"
|-
| style="background:#f1f1f1;" colspan="30"|<big>'''2000 Reform Party ticket'''</big>
|-
! style="width:3em; font-size:135%; background:#8800AA; width:200px;"| [[Pat Buchanan|{{color|white|Pat Buchanan}}]]
! style="width:3em; font-size:135%; background:#8800AA; width:200px;"| [[Ezola Foster|{{color|white|Ezola Foster}}]]
|- style="color:#000; font-size:100%; background:#C26AD8;"
| style="width:3em; width:200px;"|'''''for President'''''
| style="width:3em; width:200px;"|'''''for Vice President'''''
|-
| [[File:Pat Buchanan.jpg|center|200x200px]]
| [[File:Ezola_Foster_in_2000.jpg|center|200x200px]]
|-
| [[White House Communications Director]]<br /><small>(1985–1987)</small>
| Conservative [[political activist]] from [[California]]
|-
| colspan=2 |[[Pat Buchanan 2000 presidential campaign|'''Campaign''']]
|-
| colspan=2 |[[File:Buchanan Reform 2000.svg|center|200x200px]]
|}
{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="font-size:90%;"
|- <sup>†</sup>
| colspan="9" style="text-align:center; width:700px; font-size:120%; color:white; background:{{party color|Reform Party of the United States of America}};"|''Candidates in this section are sorted by date of withdrawal from the primaries''
|- style="text-align:center"
! scope="col" style="width:10em; font-size:120%;"|[[John Hagelin]]
! scope="col" style="width:10em; font-size:120%;"|[[Donald Trump]]
|- style="text-align:center"
|[[File:John S. Hagelin (cropped).jpg|center|120x120px]]
| [[File:Donald Trump in 1999 (3x4 crop).jpg|center|120x120px]]
|- style="text-align:center"
|[[Physicist]] from [[Iowa]]
|Chairman of<br />[[The Trump Organization]]<br /><small>(1971–2017)</small>
|- style="text-align:center"
|
|[[File:Trump 2000.svg|alt=|center|70x70px]]
|- style="text-align:center"
|[[John_Hagelin#Natural_Law_Party|Campaign]]
|[[Donald Trump 2000 presidential campaign|Campaign]]
|- style="text-align:center"
|''{{abbr|LN|Lost Nomination}}: July 01, 2000''<br /><small>'''28,539 votes'''</small>
|''{{abbr|W|Withdrew}}: February 14, 2000''<br /><small>'''0 votes'''</small>
|}
The nomination went to Pat Buchanan<ref name="indy weekly">{{cite news |date=October 8, 2008 |work=[[Independent Weekly]] |title=Q&A with Socialist Party presidential candidate Brian Moore |url=http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A266409 |access-date=November 25, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160104184456/http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A266409 |archive-date=January 4, 2016 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref> and running mate [[Ezola Foster]] from [[California]] over the objections of party founder [[Ross Perot]] and despite a rump convention nomination of [[John Hagelin]] by the Perot faction. In the end, the [[Federal Election Commission]] sided with Buchanan, and that ticket appeared on 49 of 51 possible ballots. Real estate magnate [[Donald Trump]] also sought the Reform Party nomination but soon withdrew from the race. He was respectively elected the 45th and 47th president in [[2016 United States presidential election|2016]] and [[2024 United States presidential election|2024]], both times as the nominee of the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]].<ref>The Buchanan/Foster ticket did not appear in [[Michigan]] and [[Washington D.C.|D.C.]]</ref>
===Association of State Green Parties nomination===
{{Main|2000 Green National Convention}}
{{Nominee Table
| party logo = Green Disc.svg
| partylogosize = 65x65px
| party = Green Party (United States)
| header = 2000 Association of State Green Parties ticket
| president link = Ralph Nader
| president = Ralph Nader
| vice president link = Winona LaDuke
| vice president = Winona LaDuke
| president portrait = Ralph Nader 1999 (cropped).jpg
| vp portrait = Eric Janus and Winona LaDuke (3x4 cropped).jpg
| experience = Founder of<br />[[Public Citizen]]
| vp experience = [[Political activist|Activist]] from [[Minnesota]]
| campaign = Ralph Nader 2000 presidential campaign
| campaign logo = No image.svg
| bottom color = #6BDE9D
}}
* [[Green Party (United States)|Green Party]] candidates:<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thegreenpapers.com/News/20000625-0.html |title=Green Party Presidential Ticket – President: Ralph Nader, Vice President: Winona LaDuke |publisher=Thegreenpapers.com |access-date=January 15, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101106153513/http://www.thegreenpapers.com/News/20000625-0.html |archive-date=November 6, 2010 |url-status=live }}</ref>
** [[Ralph Nader]] from [[Connecticut]] – 295
** [[Jello Biafra]] from [[California]] – 10
** [[Stephen Gaskin]] from [[Tennessee]] – 11
** [[Joel Kovel]] from New York – 3
** Abstain – 1
The [[Greens/Green Party USA]], a then-recognized national party organization, later endorsed Nader for president and he appeared on the ballots of 43 states and [[Washington, D.C.]]
===Libertarian Party nomination===
{{Main|2000 Libertarian National Convention}}
{{Nominee Table
|party logo=Libertarian Disc.svg
|partylogosize=65x65px
|party=Libertarian Party (United States)
|header=2000 Libertarian Party ticket
|president link=Harry Browne
|president=Harry Browne
|vice president link=Art Olivier
|vice president=Art Olivier
|president portrait=HarryBrowneLPCon1998 (cropped2).jpg
|vp portrait=Art Olivier (105415391) (cropped).jpg
|experience=[[Writer]] from [[Tennessee]]
|vp experience=Mayor of<br />[[Bellflower, California]]<br /><small>(1998–1999)</small>
|campaign=Harry Browne 2000 presidential campaign
|campaign logo=No image.svg
|bottom color=#ffffbf
|top text color=black
}}
* [[Libertarian Party (United States)|Libertarian Party]] candidates delegate totals:<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thegreenpapers.com/News/20000702-0.html |title=Libertarian Party Presidential Ticket – President: Harry Browne, Vice President: Art Olivier |publisher=The Green Papers |date=July 3, 2000 |access-date=January 15, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101106153457/http://www.thegreenpapers.com/News/20000702-0.html |archive-date=November 6, 2010 |url-status=live }}</ref>
** [[Harry Browne]] from [[Tennessee]] – 493
** [[Don Gorman]] from [[New Hampshire]] – 166
** [[Jacob Hornberger]] from [[Virginia]] – 120
** [[Barry Hess]] from [[Arizona]] – 53
** None of the Above – 23
** Other write-ins – 15
** David Hollist from [[California]] – 8
The [[Libertarian Party (United States)|Libertarian Party]]'s [[2000 Libertarian National Convention|National Nominating Convention]] nominated [[Harry Browne]] from Tennessee and [[Art Olivier]] from California for president and vice president. Browne was nominated on the first ballot and Olivier received the vice presidential nomination on the second ballot.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thegreenpapers.com/News/20000702-0.html |title=Libertarian Party Presidential Ticket |publisher=The Green Papers |date=July 2, 2000 |access-date=November 16, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080928212155/http://www.thegreenpapers.com/News/20000702-0.html |archive-date=September 28, 2008 |url-status=live }}</ref> Browne appeared on every state ballot except Arizona's, due to a dispute between the [[Libertarian Party of Arizona]] (which instead nominated [[L. Neil Smith]]) and the national [[Libertarian Party (United States)|Libertarian Party]].
===Constitution Party nomination===
{{Main|Constitution Party National Convention#1999 convention}}
* [[Constitution Party (United States)|Constitution Party]] candidates:
** [[Howard Phillips (activist)|Howard Phillips]]
** [[Herb Titus]]
** Mathew Zupan
** [[Bob Smith (New Hampshire politician)|Bob Smith]], U.S. senator from New Hampshire (1990–2003)<br />Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from NH-01 (1985–1990) ''Withdrew: August 17, 1999''
The Constitution Party nominated [[Howard Phillips (activist)|Howard Phillips]] from [[Virginia]] for a third time and Curtis Frazier from [[Missouri]]. It was on the ballot in 41 states.<ref name="web.archive.org">{{cite web |url=http://ballot-access.org/2000/status.html |title=Bob Bickford "2000 Presidential Status Summary (table)" ''Ballot Access News'' June 29, 2000 |date=October 1, 2000 |access-date=August 8, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020917230202/http://ballot-access.org/2000/status.html |archive-date=September 17, 2002
|url-status=dead |df=mdy-all}}</ref>
===Natural Law Party nomination===
* [[John Hagelin]] from Iowa and [[Nat Goldhaber]] from California
The [[United States Natural Law Party|Natural Law Party]] held its national convention in [[Arlington County, Virginia]], on August 31–September 2, unanimously nominating a ticket of Hagelin/Goldhaber without a roll-call vote.<ref>[[Richard Winger]]{{cite web|url=http://ballot-access.org/2000/1001.html#17 |title="Natural Law Convention" ''Ballot Access News'' October 1, 2000, Volume 16, Number 7 |access-date=June 18, 2002 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020618140231/http://ballot-access.org/2000/1001.html#17 |archive-date=June 18, 2002}}</ref> The party was on 38 of the 51 ballots nationally.<ref name="web.archive.org"/>
===Independents===
* [[Bob Smith (New Hampshire politician)|Bob Smith]] U.S. Senator from New Hampshire (1990–2003)<br />Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from NH-01 (1985–1990) ''Withdrew: October 28, 1999''
==General election campaign==
The US economy was enjoying record prosperity in the late 1990s. Although the campaign focused mainly on domestic issues, such as the projected budget surplus, proposed reforms of [[Social Security (United States)|Social Security]] and [[Medicare (United States)|Medicare]], health care, and competing plans for tax relief, foreign policy was a prominent issue.
Bush criticized the [[Presidency of Bill Clinton|Clinton administration]]'s policies in [[Somalia]], where 18 Americans died in 1993 intervening among warring factions, and in the Balkans, where United States troops performed a variety of functions. "I don't think our troops ought to be used for what's called [[nation-building]]", Bush said in the second [[American presidential debate|presidential debate]].<ref>{{cite web |year=2004 |url=http://www.debates.org/pages/trans2000b.html |title=The Second Gore-Bush Presidential Debate |work=2000 Debate Transcript |publisher=Commission on Presidential Debates |access-date=October 21, 2005 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20050403122916/http://www.debates.org/pages/trans2000b.html |archive-date= April 3, 2005}}</ref> Bush also pledged to bridge partisan gaps, claiming the atmosphere in Washington stood in the way of progress on necessary reforms.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2000/ |title=Election 2000 Archive |publisher=CNN/AllPolitics.com |access-date=November 16, 2008 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080730055332/http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2000/ |archive-date= July 30, 2008}}</ref> Gore, meanwhile, questioned Bush's fitness for the job, pointing to gaffes Bush made in interviews and speeches and suggesting he lacked the necessary experience to be president.
[[Bill Clinton]]'s [[impeachment of Bill Clinton|impeachment]] and the [[Lewinsky scandal|sex scandal]] that led up to it cast a shadow on the campaign. Republicans strongly denounced the Clinton scandals, and Bush made a promise to restore "honor and dignity" to the White House a centerpiece of his campaign. Gore studiously avoided the Clinton scandals, as did Lieberman, even though Lieberman had been the first Democratic senator to denounce Clinton's misbehavior. Some observers theorized that Gore chose Lieberman in an attempt to separate himself from Clinton's past misdeeds and help blunt the GOP's attempts to link him to his boss.<ref>{{cite web |url-status=live |author-link1=Dan Rather |last1=Rather |first1=Dan |website=[[CBS News]] |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/out-of-the-shadows-09-08-2000/ |title=Out of the Shadows |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090214103931/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2000/08/09/politics/main223151.shtml |archive-date=February 14, 2009 |date=August 9, 2000}}</ref> Others pointed to the passionate kiss Gore gave his wife during the [[2000 Democratic National Convention|Democratic Convention]] as a signal that despite the allegations against Clinton, Gore himself was a faithful husband.<ref>''[[The New York Times]]''. [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C05E3D6123EF933A1575BC0A9669C8B63 When a Kiss Isn't Just a Kiss] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080903133553/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C05E3D6123EF933A1575BC0A9669C8B63 |date=September 3, 2008 }}. August 20, 2000.</ref> Gore avoided appearing with Clinton, who was shunted to low-visibility appearances in areas where he was popular. Experts have argued that this could have cost Gore votes from some of Clinton's core supporters.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.greens.org/s-r/25/25-03.html |title=Gore's Defeat: Don't Blame Nader |publisher=Greens.org |access-date=May 28, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110510025027/http://www.greens.org/s-r/25/25-03.html |archive-date=May 10, 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |first=Jacob |last=Weisberg |url=http://www.slate.com/id/1006450/ |title=Why Gore (Probably) Lost |magazine=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]] |date=November 8, 2000 |access-date=May 28, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511101037/http://www.slate.com/id/1006450/ |archive-date=May 11, 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[Ralph Nader]] was the most successful of the third-party candidates. His campaign was marked by a traveling tour of large "super-rallies" held in sports arenas like [[Madison Square Garden]], with retired [[talk show host]] [[Phil Donahue]] as master of ceremonies.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cH7Y52A74vs |title=YouTube<!-- deleted video --> |website=[[YouTube]] |access-date=December 8, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170220133836/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cH7Y52A74vs |archive-date=February 20, 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref> After initially ignoring Nader, the Gore campaign made a pitch to potential Nader supporters in the campaign's final weeks,<ref>{{cite news|title=Nader assails major parties: scoffs at charge he drains liberal vote|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nader-assails-major-parties/|work=CBS|publisher=Associated Press|date=April 6, 2000|access-date=September 14, 2008|quote=There is a difference between Tweedledum and Tweedledee, but not that much.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020410071752/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2000/04/06/politics/main180811.shtml|archive-date=April 10, 2002|url-status=live}}</ref> downplaying his differences with Nader on the issues and arguing that Gore's ideas were more similar to Nader's than Bush's were and that Gore had a better chance of winning than Nader.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0010/26/nsst.00.html |title=CNN Transcript - CNN NewsStand: Presidential Race Intensifies; Gore Campaign Worried Ralph Nader Could Swing Election to Bush - October 26, 2000 |access-date=December 8, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220122806/http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0010/26/nsst.00.html |archive-date=December 20, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> On the other side, the [[Republican Leadership Council]] ran pro-Nader ads in a few states in an effort to split the liberal vote.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/20001027/aponline115918_000.htm |title=GOP Group To Air Pro-Nader TV Ads |website=Washingtonpost.com |date=October 27, 2000 |access-date=August 18, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160314024016/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/20001027/aponline115918_000.htm |archive-date=March 14, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Nader said his campaign's objective was to pass the 5-percent threshold so his Green Party would be eligible for matching funds in future races.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Baer |first=Susan |date=October 26, 2000 |title=Nader rejects concerns about role as spoiler |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/2000/10/26/nader-rejects-concerns-about-role-as-spoiler/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220163139/http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2000-10-26/news/0010260328_1_nader-green-party-al-gore |archive-date=December 20, 2016 |access-date=December 8, 2016 |website=[[The Baltimore Sun]]}}</ref>
Vice-presidential candidates [[Dick Cheney|Cheney]] and [[Joe Lieberman|Lieberman]] campaigned aggressively. Both camps made numerous campaign stops nationwide, often just missing each other, such as when Cheney, [[Hadassah Lieberman]], and [[Tipper Gore]] attended Chicago's [[Taste of Polonia]] over [[Labor Day Weekend]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9901E2DB1F30F936A3575AC0A9669C8B63|work=The New York Times|title=The 2000 Campaign: Campaign Briefing Published|date=September 5, 2000|access-date=March 25, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080508004859/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9901E2DB1F30F936A3575AC0A9669C8B63|archive-date=May 8, 2008|url-status=live}}</ref>
===Presidential debates===
{{Main|2000 United States presidential debates}}
{| class="wikitable"
|+Debates among candidates for the 2000 U.S. presidential election
!scope="col"| No.
!scope="col"| Date
!scope="col"| Host
!scope="col"| City
!scope="col"| Moderator
!scope="col"| Participants
!scope="col"| Viewership<br />(millions)
|-
!scope="row"| P1
|Tuesday, October 3, 2000
|[[University of Massachusetts Boston]]
|[[Boston|Boston, Massachusetts]]
|[[Jim Lehrer]]
|[[George W. Bush|Governor George W. Bush]]<br />[[Al Gore|Vice President Al Gore]]
|46.6<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.debates.org/index.php?page=2000-debates|title=CPD: 2000 Debates |website=www.debates.org |access-date=January 8, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190108145524/https://www.debates.org/index.php?page=2000-debates|archive-date=January 8, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"| VP
|Thursday, October 5, 2000
|[[Centre College]]
|[[Danville, Kentucky]]
|[[Bernard Shaw (journalist)|Bernard Shaw]]
|[[Dick Cheney|Secretary Dick Cheney]]<br />[[Joe Lieberman|Senator Joe Lieberman]]
|28.5<ref name=":0" />
|-
!scope="row"| P2
|Wednesday, October 11, 2000
|[[Wake Forest University]]
|[[Winston-Salem, North Carolina]]
|[[Jim Lehrer]]
|[[George W. Bush|Governor George W. Bush]]<br />[[Al Gore|Vice President Al Gore]]
|37.5<ref name=":0" />
|-
!scope="row"| P3
|Tuesday, October 17, 2000
|[[Washington University in St. Louis]]
|[[St. Louis|St. Louis, Missouri]]
|[[Jim Lehrer]]
|[[George W. Bush|Governor George W. Bush]]<br />[[Al Gore|Vice President Al Gore]]
|37.7<ref name=":0" />
|}
{{Location map+|USA|places={{Location map~ | USA
| label = '''University of Massachusetts Boston<br />Boston, MA'''
| label_size = 65
| position = top
| lat_deg = 42.3149
| lon_deg = -73.0176
}}
{{Location map~ | USA
| label = '''Centre College<br />Danville, KY'''
| label_size = 65
| position = bottom
| lat_deg = 37.6457
| lon_deg = -84.7815
}}
{{Location map~ | USA
| label = '''Washington University in St. Louis<br />St. Louis, MO'''
| label_size = 65
| position = top
| lat_deg = 38.648
| lon_deg = -90.305
}}
{{Location map~ | USA
| label = '''Wake Forest University<br />Winston-Salem , NC'''
| label_size = 65
| position = right
| lat_deg = 36.1431
| lon_deg = -80.2779
}}|alt=Map of United States showing debate locations|caption=Sites of the 2000 general election debates<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.debates.org/index.php?page=2000-debates#oct-3-2000|title=Commission on Presidential Debates|publisher=Debates.org|access-date=October 14, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121014152010/http://www.debates.org/index.php?page=2000-debates#oct-3-2000|archive-date=October 14, 2012|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.debates.org/index.php?page=2000-debates#oct-11-2000|title=Commission on Presidential Debates|publisher=Debates.org|access-date=October 14, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121014152010/http://www.debates.org/index.php?page=2000-debates#oct-11-2000|archive-date=October 14, 2012|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.debates.org/index.php?page=2000-debates#oct-17-2000|title=Commission on Presidential Debates|publisher=Debates.org|access-date=October 14, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121014152010/http://www.debates.org/index.php?page=2000-debates#oct-17-2000|archive-date=October 14, 2012|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.debates.org/index.php?page=2000-debates#oct-5-2000|title=Commission on Presidential Debates|publisher=Debates.org|access-date=October 14, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121014152010/http://www.debates.org/index.php?page=2000-debates#oct-5-2000|archive-date=October 14, 2012|url-status=live}}</ref>|width=300}}
After the [[1996 United States presidential election|1996 presidential election]], the [[Commission on Presidential Debates]] set new candidate selection criteria.<ref name=criteria/> The new criteria required third-party candidates to poll at least 15% of the vote in [[Polling for United States presidential elections#2000|national polls]] in order to take part in the CPD-sponsored presidential debates.<ref name=criteria>{{cite web |url=http://www.opendebates.org/theissue/2000.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130415152936/http://www.opendebates.org/theissue/2000.html |url-status=usurped |archive-date=April 15, 2013 |title=Open Debates | What Happened in 2000? |work=opendebates.org |year=2011 |access-date=August 13, 2012 }}</ref> Nader was blocked from attending a closed-circuit screening of the first debate despite having a ticket,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/05/us/2000-campaign-green-party-nader-wants-apology-debate-panel-for-turning-him-away.html |title=The 2000 Campaign: the Green Party; Nader Wants Apology From Debate Panel for Turning Him Away |first=Carey |last=Goldberg |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=October 5, 2000 |access-date=August 13, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130502205922/http://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/05/us/2000-campaign-green-party-nader-wants-apology-debate-panel-for-turning-him-away.html |archive-date=May 2, 2013 |url-status=live }}</ref> and barred from attending an interview near the site of the third debate ([[Washington University in St. Louis]]) despite having a "perimeter pass".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.naderlibrary.com/lit.crashparty.12.htm |title=Crashing the Party |first=Ralph |last=Nader |work=naderlibrary.com |year=2002 |access-date=August 13, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140811033217/http://www.naderlibrary.com/lit.crashparty.12.htm |archive-date=August 11, 2014 |url-status=usurped }}</ref> Nader later sued the CPD for its role in the former incident. A settlement was reached that included an apology to him.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.ballot-access.org/2002/0501.html#05 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20030604163632/http://www.ballot-access.org/2002/0501.html#05 |archive-date= June 4, 2003 |title=Ballot Access News – May 1, 2002 |first=Richard |last=Winger |year=2002 |access-date=August 13, 2012}}</ref>
===Notable expressions and phrases===
* [[Bank vault|Lockbox]]/Rainy Day fund: Gore's description of what he would do with the federal budget surplus, which was repeated many times in the first debate.
* [[Fuzzy math (politics)|Fuzzy math]]: a term used by Bush to dismiss the figures used by Gore. Others later turned the term against Bush.<ref name=Safire>{{cite book|last=Safire|first=William|title=Safire's political dictionary|year=2008|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c4UoX6-Sv1AC&q=%22fuzzy+math%22&pg=PA271|pages=270–71|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780195343342|access-date=October 15, 2020|archive-date=March 31, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331172833/https://books.google.com/books?id=c4UoX6-Sv1AC&q=%22fuzzy+math%22&pg=PA271|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Krugman|first1=Paul R.|last2=Bush|first2=George Walker|title=Fuzzy math: the essential guide to the Bush tax plan |year=2001|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|isbn=9780393050622|url=https://archive.org/details/fuzzymath00paul|url-access=registration|quote=fuzzy math.}}</ref>
* [[Al Gore invented the Internet]]: an interpretation of Gore's having said he "took the initiative in creating the Internet," meaning that he was on the committee that funded the research leading to the Internet's formation.
* "[[Strategery]]": a phrase uttered by ''[[Saturday Night Live]]''{{'}}s Bush character (portrayed by [[Will Ferrell]]), which Bush staffers jokingly picked up to describe their operations.
==Results==
{{Unreferenced section|date=June 2020}}
===Ballot access===
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="background:#lightgrey"
|-
! Presidential ticket
! Party
! [[Ballot access]]
! Votes
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
|Gore / Lieberman
|[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
| 50+[[Washington, D.C.|DC]]
| 50,999,897
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
|Bush / Cheney
|[[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]
| 50+[[Washington, D.C.|DC]]
| 50,456,002
|-{{Party shading/Green}}
|Nader / LaDuke
|[[Green Party (United States)|Green]]
| 43+[[Washington, D.C.|DC]]
| 2,882,955
|-{{Party shading/ReformUSA}}
|Buchanan / Foster
|[[Reform Party of the United States of America|Reform]]
| 49
| 448,895
|-{{Party shading/Libertarian}}
|Browne / Olivier
|[[Libertarian Party (United States)|Libertarian]]
| 49+[[Washington, D.C.|DC]]<sup>★</sup>
| 384,431<sup>★</sup>
|-{{Party shading/Constitution}}
|Phillips / Frazier
|[[Constitution Party (United States)|Constitution]]
| 41
| 98,020
|-{{Party shading/Natural Law}}
|Hagelin / Goldhaber
|[[Natural Law Party (United States)|Natural Law]]
| 38
| 83,714
|}
<sup>★</sup>Although the Libertarian Party had ballot access in all fifty United States plus D.C., Browne's name only appeared on the ballot in forty-nine United States plus D.C. The [[Libertarian Party of Arizona]] opted to place [[L. Neil Smith]] on the ballot in Browne's place. When adding Smith's 5,775 Arizona votes to Browne's 384,431 votes nationwide, that brings the total presidential votes cast for the Libertarian Party in 2000 to 390,206.
===Florida recount===
{{Main|2000 United States presidential election recount in Florida}}
[[File:Official Palm Beach County Votomatic Voting Machine used in the November 7, 2000 Presidential Election.jpg|thumb|Official [[Palm Beach County, Florida]] Votomatic voting machine used in the November 7, 2000 U.S. Presidential Election, on display at the [[Florida Historic Capitol Museum]], [[Tallahassee, Florida]]]]
On election night, it was unclear who had won, with [[2000 United States presidential election in Florida|Florida]]'s [[United States Electoral College|electoral votes]] still undecided. The returns showed that Bush won Florida by such a close margin that state law required a [[2000 United States presidential election recount in Florida|recount]]. A month-long series of legal battles led to the highly controversial 5–4 [[U.S. Supreme Court]] decision ''[[Bush v. Gore]]'', which ended the recount with Bush winning Florida by 537 votes, a margin of 0.009%. The Florida recount and subsequent litigation resulted in major post-election controversy, with some analysis suggesting that limited county-based recounts would have confirmed a Bush victory whereas a statewide recount would have given the state to Gore.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=The American Statistician|date=February 2003|volume=57|number=1|pages=1–14|publisher=American Statistical Association|doi=10.1198/0003130031144|title=Statistical Practice: Reliability of the Uncertified Ballots in the 2000 Presidential Election in Florida|first1=Kirk|last1=Wolter|first2=Diana|last2=Jergovic|first3=Whitney|last3=Moore|first4=Joe|last4=Murphy|first5=Colm|last5=O'Muircheartaigh|url=http://www.amstat.org/misc/PresidentialElectionBallots.pdf|jstor=3087271|s2cid=120778921|access-date=June 12, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160318154912/http://www.amstat.org/misc/PresidentialElectionBallots.pdf|archive-date=March 18, 2016|url-status=dead |issn = 0003-1305 }}</ref><ref name="battle"/> Post-election analysis found that Palm Beach County's [[butterfly ballot]] misdirected over 2,000 votes from Gore to third-party candidate [[Pat Buchanan]], tipping Florida—and the election—to Bush.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Butterfly Did It: The Aberrant Vote for Buchanan in Palm Beach County, Florida |url=https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/publications/butterfly-did-it-aberrant-vote-buchanan-palm-beach-county-florida |access-date=2024-10-23 |website=Stanford Graduate School of Business |language=en}}</ref>
With the exceptions of [[2000 United States presidential election in Florida|Florida]] and Gore's home state of [[2000 United States presidential election in Tennessee|Tennessee]], Bush carried the Southern states by comfortable margins, including [[Bill Clinton|Clinton's]] home state of [[2000 United States presidential election in Arkansas|Arkansas]], and also won [[2000 United States presidential election in Ohio|Ohio]], [[2000 United States presidential election in Indiana|Indiana]], most of the rural [[Midwestern United States|Midwestern]] farming states, most of the Rocky Mountain states, and [[2000 United States presidential election in Alaska|Alaska]]. Gore balanced Bush by sweeping the [[Northeastern United States]] (with the exception of [[2000 United States presidential election in New Hampshire|New Hampshire]], which Bush won narrowly), the Pacific Coast states, [[2000 United States presidential election in Hawaii|Hawaii]], [[2000 United States presidential election in New Mexico|New Mexico]], and most of the [[Upper Midwest]]. This was the only presidential election since 1988 where the Republican candidate carried any of the six New England states.
As the night wore on, the returns in a handful of small-to-medium-sized states, including [[2000 United States presidential election in Hawaii|Hawaii]], [[2000 United States presidential election in Iowa|Iowa]], [[2000 United States presidential election in Oregon|Oregon]] and New Mexico (Gore by 355 votes) were extremely close, but the election came down to Florida. As the final national results were tallied the following morning, Bush had clearly won 246 electoral votes and Gore 250, with 270 needed to win. Two smaller states—Wisconsin (11 electoral votes) and Oregon (7)—were still too close to call, but Florida's 25 electoral votes would be decisive regardless of their results. The election's outcome was not known for more than a month after voting ended because of the time required to count and recount Florida's ballots.
Between 7:50 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. EST on November 7, just before the polls closed in the largely Republican Florida panhandle, which is in the Central time zone, all major television news networks ([[CNN]], [[NBC]], [[Fox News|FOX]], [[CBS]], and [[ABC News (United States)|ABC]]) declared that Gore had won Florida. They based this prediction substantially on [[exit poll]]s. But in the vote, Bush began to take a wide lead early in Florida, and by 10 p.m. EST, the networks had retracted their predictions and placed Florida back in the "undecided" column. At approximately 2:30 a.m. on November 8, with 85% of the vote counted in Florida and Bush leading Gore by more than 100,000 votes, the networks declared that Bush had carried Florida and therefore been elected president. But most of the remaining votes to be counted in Florida were in three heavily Democratic counties—[[Broward County, Florida|Broward]], [[Miami-Dade County|Miami-Dade]], and [[Palm Beach County|Palm Beach]]—and as their votes were reported Gore began to gain on Bush. By 4:30 a.m., after all votes were counted, Gore had narrowed Bush's margin to under 2,000 votes, and the networks retracted their declarations that Bush had won Florida and the presidency. Gore, who had privately conceded the election to Bush, withdrew his [[Concession (politics)|concession]]. The final result in Florida was slim enough to require a mandatory recount (by machine) under state law; Bush's lead dwindled to just over 300 votes when it was completed the day after the election. On November 8, Florida Division of Elections staff prepared a press release for [[Florida Secretary of State]] [[Katherine Harris]] that said overseas ballots must be "postmarked or signed and dated" by Election Day. It was never released.<ref name="battle"/>{{rp|16}} A count of the overseas ballots later boosted Bush's margin to 930 votes. (According to a report by ''The New York Times'', 680 of the accepted overseas ballots were received after the legal deadline, lacked required postmarks or a witness signature or address, or were unsigned or undated, cast after election day, from unregistered voters or voters not requesting ballots, or double-counted.<ref name="NYT07152001">{{cite web|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/15/us/examining-the-vote-how-bush-took-florida-mining-the-overseas-absentee-vote.html|title=Examining the Vote; How Bush Took Florida: Mining the Overseas Absentee Vote|first1=David|last1=Barstow|first2=Don Jr. |last2=Van Natta|date=July 15, 2001|access-date=November 16, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161115173828/http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/15/us/examining-the-vote-how-bush-took-florida-mining-the-overseas-absentee-vote.html|archive-date=November 15, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>)
[[File:1116c6 (5124003635).jpg|thumb|right|Florida Supreme Court during the recount]]
Most of the post-electoral controversy revolved around Gore's request for hand recounts in four counties (Broward, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, and [[Volusia County, Florida|Volusia]]), as provided under Florida state law. Harris, who also co-chaired Bush's Florida campaign, announced she would reject any revised totals from those counties if they were not turned in by 5 p.m. on November 14, the statutory deadline for amended returns. The [[Florida Supreme Court]] extended the deadline to November 26, a decision later [[vacated]] by the [[U.S. Supreme Court]]. Miami-Dade eventually halted its recount and resubmitted its original total to the state canvassing board, while Palm Beach County failed to meet the extended deadline, turning in its completed recount results at 7 p.m., which Harris rejected. On November 26, the state canvassing board certified Bush as the winner of Florida's electors by 537 votes. Gore formally contested the certified results. A state court decision overruling Gore was reversed by the Florida Supreme Court, which ordered a recount of over 70,000 ballots previously rejected as undervotes by machine counters. The U.S. Supreme Court halted that order the next day, with [[Justice Scalia]] issuing a concurring opinion that "the counting of votes that are of questionable legality does in my view threaten irreparable harm to petitioner" (Bush).<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://election2000.law.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/00-949x.pdf
|title=SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES. No. 00-949 (00A504) Bush v. Gore, On Application For Stay
|date=December 9, 2000
|access-date=November 13, 2016
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161114002000/http://election2000.law.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/00-949x.pdf
|archive-date=November 14, 2016
|url-status=live
}}</ref>
[[File:20.ElectionProtest.USSC.WDC.11December2000 (21746677994).jpg|thumb|Gore-Lieberman supporters outside the [[U.S. Supreme Court]]]]
On December 12, the Supreme Court in [[Bush v. Gore]] issued a 5–4 [[per curiam decision]] that the Florida Supreme Court's ruling requiring a statewide recount of ballots was unconstitutional on equal protection grounds, and in a 5–4 vote reversed and remanded the case to the Florida Supreme Court for modification before the optional "safe harbor" deadline, which the Supreme Court decided the Florida court had said the state intended to meet. With only two hours remaining until the December 12 deadline, the Supreme Court's order effectively ended the recount, and the previously certified total held.
====Legislative action====
Even if the Supreme Court had decided differently in ''Bush v. Gore'', the Florida Legislature had been meeting in Special Session since December 8 with the purpose of selecting of a slate of electors on December 12 should the dispute still be ongoing.<ref>{{cite news|title=Florida legislature to appoint electors during special session Friday|url=http://staugustine.com/stories/120700/sta_120700002b.shtml#.WFQR2lMrKpo|access-date=December 16, 2016|work=The St. Augustine Record|date=December 7, 2000|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220183518/http://staugustine.com/stories/120700/sta_120700002b.shtml#.WFQR2lMrKpo|archive-date=December 20, 2016|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=FLORIDA LEGISLATURE–SPECIAL SESSION A–2000 (Dec) HISTORY OF HOUSE BILLS|url=http://www.leg.state.fl.us/data/session/2001a/citator/Final/hsehist.pdf|access-date=December 16, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220174725/http://www.leg.state.fl.us/data/session/2001a/citator/Final/hsehist.pdf|archive-date=December 20, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> Had the recount gone forward, it would have awarded those electors to Bush, based on the state-certified vote, and Gore's likely last recourse would have been to contest the electors in the United States Congress. The electors would then have been rejected only if both houses agreed to do so.<ref>{{cite web|title=U.S. Electoral College Frequently Asked Questions|url=https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/faq.html#contestvotes|website=archives.gov|access-date=December 16, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081218002735/http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/faq.html#contestvotes|archive-date=December 18, 2008|url-status=live}}</ref>
====Media recounts====
From the beginning of the controversy, politicians, litigants, and the press focused exclusively on undervotes, in particular incompletely punched [[Chad (paper)#2000 United States presidential election controversy|hanging chads]]. Undervotes were the subject of much media coverage, most of the lawsuits, and the Florida Supreme Court ruling.<ref name="freemanbleifuss" /> After the election, recounts by various U.S. news media organizations continued to focus on undervotes. Results of reviews of these ballots indicated that Bush would have won if certain recounting methods had been used (including the one Gore favored at the time of the Supreme Court decision), but that Gore might have won under other standards and scenarios.<ref name=amstat>{{cite journal|journal=The American Statistician|date=February 2003|volume=57|number=1|pages=1–14|publisher=American Statistical Association|doi=10.1198/0003130031144|title=Statistical Practice: Reliability of the Uncertified Ballots in the 2000 Presidential Election in Florida|first1=Kirk|last1=Wolter|first2=Diana|last2=Jergovic|first3=Whitney|last3=Moore|first4=Joe|last4=Murphy|first5=Colm|last5=O'Muircheartaigh|url=http://www.amstat.org/misc/PresidentialElectionBallots.pdf|jstor=3087271|s2cid=120778921|access-date=June 12, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160318154912/http://www.amstat.org/misc/PresidentialElectionBallots.pdf|archive-date=March 18, 2016}}</ref>
Later, a larger consortium of news organizations, including ''USA Today'', ''The Miami Herald'', Knight Ridder, ''The [[Tampa Tribune]]'', and five other newspapers conducted a full recount of all machine-rejected ballots, including both undervotes and overvotes. It found that Bush won under stricter standards and Gore won under looser standards.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2001-05-10-recountmain.htm|title=Florida voter errors cost Gore the election | work=USA Today | date=May 11, 2001 | access-date=May 26, 2010}}</ref>
Finally, the [[National Opinion Research Center]] at the [[University of Chicago]], sponsored by a consortium of major U.S. news organizations, conducted the [[Florida Ballot Project]], a comprehensive review of ballots collected from the entire state, not just the disputed counties that were recounted.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.norc.uchicago.edu/fl/index.asp|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011217183836/http://www.norc.uchicago.edu/fl/index.asp|archive-date=December 17, 2001 |title=Florida Ballots Project |publisher=National Opinion Research Center|access-date=May 28, 2010}}</ref> Based on the NORC review, the media group concluded that if the disputes over the validity of all the ballots in question had been consistently resolved and any uniform standard applied, Gore would have won Florida by 60 to 171 votes.<ref name="NORC">{{cite web|url=http://electionstudies.org/florida2000/data/data_files.htm|work=2000 Florida Ballots Project|title=Data Files – NORC Files, Media Group Files|access-date=November 16, 2016|publisher=American National Election Studies|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170509232004/http://www.electionstudies.org/florida2000/data/data_files.htm|archive-date=May 9, 2017}}</ref><ref name="Keating">{{cite web|last=Keating|first=Dan|title=Democracy Counts: ''The Media Consortium Florida Ballot Review''|url=https://www.scribd.com/document/104548804/20040526-KeatingPaper |quote=Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Boston Marriott Copley Place, Sheraton Boston & Hynes Convention Center, Boston, Massachusetts|date= August 28, 2002| page=8 }}</ref> The standards chosen for the NORC study ranged from a "most restrictive" standard to a "most inclusive" standard.<ref name="battle" /> An analysis of the NORC data by [[University of Pennsylvania]] researcher Steven F. Freeman and journalist [[Joel Bleifuss]] concluded that, no matter the standard used, after a recount of all uncounted votes, Gore would have been the victor.<ref name="freemanbleifuss">{{Cite book |last1=Freeman |first1=Steven Fred |title=Was the 2004 presidential election stolen? exit polls, election fraud, and the official count |last2=Bleifuss |first2=Joel |date=2006 |publisher=Seven Stories Press |isbn=978-1-58322-687-2 |edition=1 |___location=New York |pages=41–47, 68-83}}</ref>
According to factcheck.org, "Nobody can say for sure who might have won. A full, official recount of all votes statewide could have gone either way, but one was never conducted."<ref name="factcheck">{{cite web |url=https://www.factcheck.org/2008/01/the-florida-recount-of-2000/ |title=The Florida Recount of 2000 |date=January 22, 2008 |website=Factcheck.org |first=Brooks |last=Jackson |access-date=January 1, 2023}}</ref> CNN and PBS reported that, had the recount continued with its existing standards, Bush would likely have still tallied more votes, but variations of those standards (or of which precincts were recounted) could have swung the election either way. They also concluded that had a full recount of all undervotes and overvotes taken place, Gore would have won, though his legal team never pursued such an option.<ref name="factcheck" /><ref name="CNN2015">{{cite news |url=https://www.cnn.com/2015/10/31/politics/bush-gore-2000-election-results-studies/index.html |title=So, who really won? What the Bush v. Gore studies showed |work=[[CNN]] |first1=Wade |last1=Payson-Denney |date=October 31, 2015 |access-date=January 18, 2023}}</ref><ref name="PBS">{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/media-jan-june01-recount_04-03|title=Media Recount: Bush Won the 2000 Election|work=[[PBS]]|date= April 3, 2001|access-date=January 18, 2023}}</ref> The post-controversy recounts revealed that "if a manual recount had been limited to undervotes, it would have produced an inaccurate picture of the electorate's position."<ref name="battle" />
===National results===
Though Gore came in second in the electoral vote, he received 543,895 more popular votes than Bush,<ref name="el2000"/> making him the first person since [[Grover Cleveland]] in [[1888 United States presidential election|1888]] to win the popular vote but lose in the Electoral College.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38656271|work=BBC News|title=Who is boycotting the Trump inauguration?|date=January 20, 2017|access-date=April 18, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170118095753/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38656271|archive-date=January 18, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> Gore failed to win the popular vote in his home state, [[Tennessee]], which both he and his father had represented in the Senate, making him the first major-party presidential candidate to have lost his home state since [[George McGovern]] lost [[South Dakota]] in [[1972 United States presidential election|1972]]. Furthermore, Gore lost [[West Virginia]], a state that had voted Republican only once in the previous six presidential elections. This was the first time since 1948 that Democrats won the popular vote in three consecutive elections.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/compare.php?year=1980&fips=54&f=1&off=0&elect=0&type=state|title=Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections - Compare Data|work=uselectionatlas.org|access-date=November 6, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141225052846/http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/compare.php?year=1980&fips=54&f=1&off=0&elect=0&type=state|archive-date=December 25, 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> This is one of only four U.S. presidential elections in which the winner did not carry any of the three Rust Belt states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin; the others were [[2004 United States presidential election|2004]], [[1916 United States presidential election|1916]] and [[1884 United States presidential election|1884]]. The 2000 election was also a rare instance in which the party controlling the White House lost a presidential election when the U.S. economy was not in a recession, the [[1968 United States presidential election|1968 election]] being the most recent one.
Before the election, the possibility that different candidates would win the popular vote and the Electoral College had been noted, but usually with the expectation of Gore winning the Electoral College and Bush the popular vote.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Leinsdorf|first=Joshua|date=November 4, 2000|title=American Voters Pull Together To Make Tough Choices|url=http://www.leinsdorf.com/newhampshireprimary.htm|access-date=December 30, 2020|website=Institute of Election Analysis|archive-date=January 25, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125225825/http://www.leinsdorf.com/newhampshireprimary.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Ramsey|first=Ross|date=November 6, 2000|title=Excess Stomach Acid|url=https://www.texastribune.org/2000/11/06/excess-stomach-acid/|access-date=December 30, 2020|website=[[The Texas Tribune]]|language=en|archive-date=February 28, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210228222145/https://www.texastribune.org/2000/11/06/excess-stomach-acid/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=November 2, 2000|title=Anything Can Happen|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/anything-can-happen/|access-date=December 30, 2020|website=[[CBS News]]|language=en-US|archive-date=January 25, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125230259/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/anything-can-happen/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Devlin|first=Ron|date=November 7, 2000|title=Old buttons pin down history of the presidency|url=https://www.mcall.com/news/mc-xpm-2000-11-07-3333849-story.html|access-date=December 30, 2020|website=[[The Morning Call]]|language=en-US|archive-date=March 27, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220327171613/https://www.mcall.com/news/mc-xpm-2000-11-07-3333849-story.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=November 7, 2000|title=War on the Electoral College|url=https://slate.com/human-interest/2000/11/war-on-the-electoral-college.html|access-date=December 30, 2020|website=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]|language=en|archive-date=October 17, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211017063054/https://slate.com/human-interest/2000/11/war-on-the-electoral-college.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The idea that Bush could win the Electoral College and Gore the popular vote was not considered likely.
{{multiple image
| align = right
| footer_align = center
| width = 200
| image1 = 06.ElectionProtest.USSC.WDC.11December2000 (22179863008).jpg
| alt1 =
| caption1 =
| image2 = 56.ElectionProtest.USSC.WDC.11December2000 (21752049743).jpg
| alt2 =
| caption2 =
| footer = Bush–Cheney and Gore–Lieberman supporters protest
}}
This was the first time since 1928 when a non-incumbent Republican candidate won West Virginia. The [[United States Electoral College|Electoral College]] results were the closest since [[1876 United States presidential election|1876]], making this election the second-closest Electoral College result in history and the third-closest popular vote victory. Gore's 266 electoral votes are the highest for a losing nominee. The 537-vote margin in Florida is the closest for a tipping point state in history.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Brownfield|first=Tony|date=November 3, 2020|title=The Five Closest Presidential Elections|url=https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2020/11/the-five-closest-u-s-presidential-elections/|access-date=December 30, 2020|website=Saturday Evening Post|language=en-US|archive-date=January 6, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210106183616/https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2020/11/the-five-closest-u-s-presidential-elections/|url-status=live}}</ref> Bush was the first winning Republican since [[William McKinley]] to win with under 300 electoral votes. He was also the first son of a former president to be elected president himself since [[John Quincy Adams]] in 1824.
Bush was the first Republican in American history to win the presidency without carrying Vermont, Illinois, or New Mexico, as well as the second Republican to win the presidency without carrying California after [[James A. Garfield]] in [[1880 United States presidential election|1880]], and Pennsylvania, Maine, Michigan, and Connecticut after [[Richard Nixon]] in [[1968 United States presidential election|1968]], as well as the first winning Republican not to receive any electoral votes from California as Garfield received one electoral vote in 1880. Bush was the first Republican to win without New Jersey or Delaware since 1888. As of 2024, Bush is the last Republican nominee to win New Hampshire. This marked the first time since Iowa entered the union in 1846 in which the state voted for a Democratic presidential candidate in four elections in a row and the last time until 2020 that Iowa did not vote for the overall winner. This election was the first time since 1976 that New Jersey, Connecticut, Vermont, Maine, Illinois, New Mexico, Michigan, and California voted for the losing candidate, as well as the first since 1980 that Maryland did so, the first since 1948 that Delaware did so, and the first since 1968 that Pennsylvania did so.
There were only two counties in the nation that had voted Republican in [[United States Presidential Election, 1996|1996]] and flipped to the Democratic column in 2000: [[Charles County, Maryland]], and [[Orange County, Florida]], both rapidly diversifying counties.<ref>{{cite web|title = The 2016 Streak Breakers|date = October 6, 2016|publisher = Sabato Crystal Ball|access-date = 2017-09-15|url = http://www.centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/articles/the-2016-streak-breakers/|archive-date = August 1, 2023|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230801171732/https://www.centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/articles/the-2016-streak-breakers/|url-status = live}}</ref>
This was the last time until [[2024 United States presidential election|2024]] in which an incumbent vice president ran for [[President of the United States|president]]. This was also the last time a Republican received an electoral vote from New England until [[2016 United States presidential election in Maine|2016]]. This and the [[2004 United States presidential election|2004 presidential election]] were the only ones between [[1980 United States presidential election|1980]] and [[2024 United States presidential election|2024]] in which the winner received fewer than 300 electoral votes (less than 55% of the total).
{{start U.S. presidential ticket box|pv_footnote=|ev_footnote=}}
{{U.S. presidential ticket box row|name=[[George W. Bush]]|party=[[United States Republican Party|Republican]]|state=[[Texas]]|pv=50,456,002|pv_pct=47.87%|ev=271|vp_name=[[Dick Cheney]]|vp_state=[[Wyoming]]}}
{{U.S. presidential ticket box row|name=[[Al Gore]]|party=[[United States Democratic Party|Democratic]]|state=[[Tennessee]]|pv=50,999,897|pv_pct=48.38%|ev=266|vp_name=[[Joe Lieberman]]|vp_state=[[Connecticut]]}}
{{U.S. presidential ticket box row|name=[[Ralph Nader]]|party=[[Green Party (United States)|Green]]|state=[[Connecticut]]|pv=2,882,955|pv_pct=2.74%|ev=0|vp_name=[[Winona LaDuke]]|vp_state=[[Minnesota]]}}
{{U.S. presidential ticket box row|name=[[Pat Buchanan]]|party=[[Reform Party of the United States of America|Reform]]|state=[[Virginia]]|pv=448,895|pv_pct=0.43%|ev=0|vp_name=[[Ezola Foster]]|vp_state=[[California]]}}
{{U.S. presidential ticket box row|name=[[Harry Browne]]|party=[[Libertarian Party (United States)|Libertarian]]|state=[[Tennessee]]|pv=384,431|pv_pct=0.36%|ev=0|vp_name=[[Art Olivier]]|vp_state=[[California]]}}
{{U.S. presidential ticket box row|name=[[Howard Phillips (activist)|Howard Phillips]]|party=[[Constitution Party (United States)|Constitution]]|state=[[Virginia]]|pv=98,020|pv_pct=0.09%|ev=0|vp_name=Curtis Frazier|vp_state=[[Missouri]]|}}
{{U.S. presidential ticket box row|name=[[John Hagelin]]|party=[[United States Natural Law Party|Natural Law]]|state=[[Iowa]]|pv=83,714|pv_pct=0.08%|ev=0|vp_name=[[Nat Goldhaber]]|vp_state=[[California]]|}}
{{U.S. presidential ticket box other|pv=51,186|pv_pct=0.05%}}
{{U.S. presidential ticket box row|name=''([[Undervote]])''{{refn|group=lower-alpha|name=abstention|One [[faithless elector]] from [[Washington, D.C.]], [[Barbara Lett-Simmons]], cast a blank ballot in [[protest]] of the District's lack of voting representation in the [[Congress of the United States|United States Congress]]. Washington, D.C. has a [[Delegate (United States Congress)|non-voting delegate]] to Congress. She had been expected to vote for Gore/Lieberman.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Being Counted, Baltimore SUN, Today Section, 2/5/01, re: Barbara Lett-Simmons vote as a D. C. Elector, MSA SC 2221-31- |url=https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc2200/sc2221/000031/000008/html/lett_simmons.html |access-date=2025-01-14 |website=msa.maryland.gov |quote=Lett-Simmons sat a while, crafting her sentence of protest. Finally, she wrote: "This blank ballot is cast for all the colonists of the District of Columbia."}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Dizikes |first=Peter |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=122191 |title=Electoral College Puts Bush Over the Top - ABC News |website=Abcnews.go.com |date=January 6, 2006 |access-date=August 18, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305144835/http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=122191 |archive-date=March 5, 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref>}}|party=—|state=—|pv={{Data missing|date=January 2025}}|pv_pct=—|ev=1|vp_name=''(Undervote)''<ref group=lower-alpha name=abstention/>|vp_state=—}}
{{end U.S. presidential ticket box|pv=105,421,423|ev=538|to_win=270}}
: Source: {{cite web|url=http://www.fec.gov/pubrec/fe2000/ptables.xlw|title=2000 Presidential Electoral and Popular Vote|format=Excel 4.0|publisher=Federal Election Commission.}}
{{bar box
|title=Popular vote
|titlebar=#ddd
|width=600px
|barwidth=410px
|bars=
{{bar percent|'''Gore'''|{{party color|Democratic Party (United States)}}|48.38}}
{{bar percent|Bush|{{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}|47.87}}
{{bar percent|Nader|{{party color|Green Party (United States)}}|2.74}}
{{bar percent|Buchanan|{{party color|Reform Party (United States)}}|0.43}}
{{bar percent|Browne|{{party color|Libertarian Party (United States)}}|0.36}}
{{bar percent|Others|#777777|0.22}}
}}
{{bar box
|title=Electoral vote
|titlebar=#ddd
|width=600px
|barwidth=410px
|bars=
{{bar percent|'''Bush'''|{{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}|50.37}}
{{bar percent|Gore|{{party color|Democratic Party (United States)}}|49.44}}
{{bar percent|Abstention|#777777|0.19}}
}}
[[File:ElectoralCollege2000-Large.png|upright=2.95|thumb|left]]
<gallery perrow="3" widths="500px" heights="317px">
File:2000 United States presidential election results map by county.svg|Results by county,{{refn|group=lower-alpha|Alaska and Louisiana do not have counties. Alaska's [[List of boroughs and census areas in Alaska|boroughs and census areas]] and Louisiana's [[List of parishes in Louisiana|parishes]] are pictured.}} shaded according to winning candidate's percentage of the vote
File:2000 United States presidential election by congressional district.svg|Results by congressional district, shaded according to winning candidate's percentage of the vote
File:Nader2000percentagebycounty.svg|Vote share by county for Green Party candidate Ralph Nader. Darker shades indicate a stronger Green performance.
File:2000prescountymap2.PNG|Election results by county
File:2000 Presidential Election, Results by Congressional District.png|Election results by congressional district
Image:1996-2000 United States Presidential swing by county margin.svg|Change in vote margins at the county level from the 1996 election to the 2000 election
</gallery>
===Results by state===
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%; line-height:1.2"
|+ Legend
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
|colspan=2| States/districts won by [[Al Gore|Gore]]/[[Joe Lieberman|Lieberman]]
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
|colspan=2| States/districts won by [[George W. Bush|Bush]]/[[Dick Cheney|Cheney]]
|-
| † || At-large results (For states that split electoral votes)
|}<div style="overflow:auto">
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:90%; line-height:1.2"
|-
! colspan=2 |
! style="text-align:center;" colspan="3"| George W. Bush<br />Republican
! style="text-align:center;" colspan="3"| Al Gore<br />Democratic
! style="text-align:center;" colspan="3"| Ralph Nader<br />Green
! style="text-align:center;" colspan="3"| Pat Buchanan<br />Reform
! style="text-align:center;" colspan="3"| Harry Browne<br />Libertarian
! style="text-align:center;" colspan="3"| Howard Phillips<br />Constitution
! style="text-align:center;" colspan="3"| John Hagelin<br />Natural Law
! style="text-align:center;" colspan="3"| Others
! style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Margin
! style="text-align:center;" colspan="1"|Margin<br />swing{{Efn|Percentage point difference in margin from the [[1996 United States presidential election|1996 election]]}}
! style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| State total
|-
! align=center | State
! style="text-align:center;" data-sort-type="number" | {{abbr|EV|electoral votes}}
! style="text-align:center;" data-sort- type="number"| #
! style="text-align:center;" data-sort- type="number"| %
! style="text-align:center;" data-sort-type="number" | {{abbr|EV|electoral votes}}
! style="text-align:center;" data-sort- type="number"| #
! style="text-align:center;" data-sort- type="number"| %
! style="text-align:center;" data-sort-type="number" | {{abbr|EV|electoral votes}}
! style="text-align:center;" data-sort- type="number"| #
! style="text-align:center;" data-sort- type="number"| %
! style="text-align:center;" data-sort-type="number" | {{abbr|EV|electoral votes}}
! style="text-align:center;" data-sort- type="number"| #
! style="text-align:center;" data-sort- type="number"| %
! style="text-align:center;" data-sort-type="number" | {{abbr|EV|electoral votes}}
! style="text-align:center;" data-sort- type="number"| #
! style="text-align:center;" data-sort- type="number"| %
! style="text-align:center;" data-sort-type="number" | {{abbr|EV|electoral votes}}
! style="text-align:center;" data-sort- type="number"| #
! style="text-align:center;" data-sort- type="number"| %
! style="text-align:center;" data-sort-type="number" | {{abbr|EV|electoral votes}}
! style="text-align:center;" data-sort- type="number"| #
! style="text-align:center;" data-sort- type="number"| %
! style="text-align:center;" data-sort-type="number" | {{abbr|EV|electoral votes}}
! style="text-align:center;" data-sort- type="number"| #
! style="text-align:center;" data-sort- type="number"| %
! style="text-align:center;" data-sort-type="number" | {{abbr|EV|electoral votes}}
! style="text-align:center;" data-sort- type="number"| #
! style="text-align:center;" data-sort- type="number"| %
! style="text-align:center;" data-sort- type="number"| %
! style="text-align:center;" data-sort-type="number" | #
!
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| scope="row" | [[2000 United States presidential election in Alabama|Alabama]]
| 9
| 941,173
| 56.48%
| 9
| 692,611
| 41.57%
| –
| 18,323
| 1.10%
| –
| 6,351
| 0.38%
| –
| 5,893
| 0.35%
| –
| 775
| 0.05%
| –
| 447
| 0.03%
| –
| 699
| 0.04%
| –
| 248,562
| 14.92%
| 7.96%
| 1,666,272
| AL
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| scope="row" | [[2000 United States presidential election in Alaska|Alaska]]
| 3
| 167,398
| 58.62%
| 3
| 79,004
| 27.67%
| –
| 28,747
| 10.07%
| –
| 5,192
| 1.82%
| –
| 2,636
| 0.92%
| –
| 596
| 0.21%
| –
| 919
| 0.32%
| –
| 1,068
| 0.37%
| –
| 88,394
| 30.95%
| 13.42%
| 285,560
| AK
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| scope="row" | [[2000 United States presidential election in Arizona|Arizona]]*
| 8
| 781,652
| 51.02%
| 8
| 685,341
| 44.73%
| –
| 45,645
| 2.98%
| –
| 12,373
| 0.81%
| –
| –
| –
| –
| 110
| 0.01%
| –
| 1,120
| 0.07%
| –
| 5,775
| 0.38%
| –
| 96,311
| 6.29%
| 8.52%
| 1,532,016
| AZ
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| scope="row" | [[2000 United States presidential election in Arkansas|Arkansas]]
| 6
| 472,940
| 51.31%
| 6
| 422,768
| 45.86%
| –
| 13,421
| 1.46%
| –
| 7,358
| 0.80%
| –
| 2,781
| 0.30%
| –
| 1,415
| 0.15%
| –
| 1,098
| 0.12%
| –
| –
| –
| –
| 50,172
| 5.44%
| 22.38%
| 921,781
| AR
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
| scope="row" | [[2000 United States presidential election in California|California]]
| 54
| 4,567,429
| 41.65%
| –
| 5,861,203
| 53.45%
| 54
| 418,707
| 3.82%
| –
| 44,987
| 0.41%
| –
| 45,520
| 0.42%
| –
| 17,042
| 0.16%
| –
| 10,934
| 0.10%
| –
| 34
| 0.00%
| –
| −1,293,774
| −11.80%
| 1.09%
| 10,965,856
| CA
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| scope="row" | [[2000 United States presidential election in Colorado|Colorado]]
| 8
| 883,748
| 50.75%
| 8
| 738,227
| 42.39%
| –
| 91,434
| 5.25%
| –
| 10,465
| 0.60%
| –
| 12,799
| 0.73%
| –
| 1,319
| 0.08%
| –
| 2,240
| 0.13%
| –
| 1,136
| 0.07%
| –
| 145,521
| 8.36%
| 6.99%
| 1,741,368
| CO
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
| scope="row" | [[2000 United States presidential election in Connecticut|Connecticut]]
| 8
| 561,094
| 38.44%
| –
| 816,015
| 55.91%
| 8
| 64,452
| 4.42%
| –
| 4,731
| 0.32%
| –
| 3,484
| 0.24%
| –
| 9,695
| 0.66%
| –
| 40
| 0.00%
| –
| 14
| 0.00%
| –
| −254,921
| −17.47%
| 0.67%
| 1,459,525
| CT
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
| scope="row" | [[2000 United States presidential election in Delaware|Delaware]]
| 3
| 137,288
| 41.90%
| –
| 180,068
| 54.96%
| 3
| 8,307
| 2.54%
| –
| 777
| 0.24%
| –
| 774
| 0.24%
| –
| 208
| 0.06%
| –
| 107
| 0.03%
| –
| 93
| 0.03%
| –
| −42,780
| −13.06%
| 2.16%
| 327,622
| DE
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
| scope="row" | [[2000 United States presidential election in the District of Columbia|D.C.]]
| 3
| 18,073
| 8.95%
| –
| 171,923
| 85.16%
| 2
| 10,576
| 5.24%
| –
| –
| –
| –
| 669
| 0.33%
| –
| –
| –
| –
| –
| –
| –
| 653
| 0.32%
| 1
| −153,850
| −76.20%
| −0.35%
| 201,894
| DC
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| scope="row" | [[2000 United States presidential election in Florida|Florida]]
| 25
| 2,912,790
| 48.85%
| 25
| 2,912,253
| 48.84%
| –
| 97,488
| 1.63%
| –
| 17,484
| 0.29%
| –
| 16,415
| 0.28%
| –
| 1,371
| 0.02%
| –
| 2,281
| 0.04%
| –
| 3,028
| 0.05%
| –
| 537
| 0.01%
| 5.71%
| 5,963,110
| FL
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| scope="row" | [[2000 United States presidential election in Georgia|Georgia]]
| 13
| 1,419,720
| 54.67%
| 13
| 1,116,230
| 42.98%
| –
| 13,432
| 0.52%
| –
| 10,926
| 0.42%
| –
| 36,332
| 1.40%
| –
| 140
| 0.01%
| –
| –
| –
| –
| 24
| 0.00%
| –
| 303,490
| 11.69%
| 10.52%
| 2,596,804
| GA
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
| scope="row" | [[2000 United States presidential election in Hawaii|Hawaii]]
| 4
| 137,845
| 37.46%
| –
| 205,286
| 55.79%
| 4
| 21,623
| 5.88%
| –
| 1,071
| 0.29%
| –
| 1,477
| 0.40%
| –
| 343
| 0.09%
| –
| 306
| 0.08%
| –
| –
| –
| –
| −67,441
| −18.33%
| 6.96%
| 367,951
| HI
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| scope="row" | [[2000 United States presidential election in Idaho|Idaho]]
| 4
| 336,937
| 67.17%
| 4
| 138,637
| 27.64%
| –
| 12,292
| 2.45%
| –
| 7,615
| 1.52%
| –
| 3,488
| 0.70%
| –
| 1,469
| 0.29%
| –
| 1,177
| 0.23%
| –
| 6
| 0.00%
| –
| 198,300
| 39.53%
| 21.00%
| 501,621
| ID
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
| scope="row" | [[2000 United States presidential election in Illinois|Illinois]]
| 22
| 2,019,421
| 42.58%
| –
| 2,589,026
| 54.60%
| 22
| 103,759
| 2.19%
| –
| 16,106
| 0.34%
| –
| 11,623
| 0.25%
| –
| 57
| 0.00%
| –
| 2,127
| 0.04%
| –
| 4
| 0.00%
| –
| −569,605
| −12.01%
| 5.50%
| 4,742,123
| IL
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| scope="row" | [[2000 United States presidential election in Indiana|Indiana]]
| 12
| 1,245,836
| 56.65%
| 12
| 901,980
| 41.01%
| –
| 18,531
| 0.84%
| –
| 16,959
| 0.77%
| –
| 15,530
| 0.71%
| –
| 200
| 0.01%
| –
| 167
| 0.01%
| –
| 99
| 0.00%
| –
| 343,856
| 15.63%
| 10.05%
| 2,199,302
| IN
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
| scope="row" | [[2000 United States presidential election in Iowa|Iowa]]
| 7
| 634,373
| 48.22%
| –
| 638,517
| 48.54%
| 7
| 29,374
| 2.23%
| –
| 5,731
| 0.44%
| –
| 3,209
| 0.24%
| –
| 613
| 0.05%
| –
| 2,281
| 0.17%
| –
| 1,465
| 0.11%
| –
| −4,144
| −0.31%
| 10.03%
| 1,315,563
| IA
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| scope="row" | [[2000 United States presidential election in Kansas|Kansas]]
| 6
| 622,332
| 58.04%
| 6
| 399,276
| 37.24%
| –
| 36,086
| 3.37%
| –
| 7,370
| 0.69%
| –
| 4,525
| 0.42%
| –
| 1,254
| 0.12%
| –
| 1,375
| 0.13%
| –
| –
| –
| –
| 223,056
| 20.80%
| 2.59%
| 1,072,218
| KS
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| scope="row" | [[2000 United States presidential election in Kentucky|Kentucky]]
| 8
| 872,492
| 56.50%
| 8
| 638,898
| 41.37%
| –
| 23,192
| 1.50%
| –
| 4,173
| 0.27%
| –
| 2,896
| 0.19%
| –
| 923
| 0.06%
| –
| 1,533
| 0.10%
| –
| 80
| 0.01%
| –
| 233,594
| 15.13%
| 16.09%
| 1,544,187
| KY
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| scope="row" | [[2000 United States presidential election in Louisiana|Louisiana]]
| 9
| 927,871
| 52.55%
| 9
| 792,344
| 44.88%
| –
| 20,473
| 1.16%
| –
| 14,356
| 0.81%
| –
| 2,951
| 0.17%
| –
| 5,483
| 0.31%
| –
| 1,075
| 0.06%
| –
| 1,103
| 0.06%
| –
| 135,527
| 7.68%
| 19.75%
| 1,765,656
| LA
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
| scope="row" | [[2000 United States presidential election in Maine|Maine]]<sup>†</sup>
| 2
| 286,616
| 43.97%
| –
| 319,951
| 49.09%
| 2
| 37,127
| 5.70%
| –
| 4,443
| 0.68%
| –
| 3,074
| 0.47%
| –
| 579
| 0.09%
| –
| –
| –
| –
| 27
| 0.00%
| –
| −33,335
| −5.11%
| 15.75%
| 651,817
| ME
|-style="background:{{Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading}}; font-style:italic"
|scope="row" | {{abbrlink|ME-1|Maine's 1st congressional district}}
| 1
| 148,618
| 42.59%
| –
| 176,293
| 50.52%
| 1
| 20,297
| 5.82%
| –
| 1,994
| 0.57%
| –
| 1,479
| 0.42%
| –
| 253
| 0.07%
| –
| –
| –
| –
| 17
| 0.00%
| –
| −27,675
| −7.93%
| 12.37%
| 348,951
| {{nowrap|ME-1}}
|-style="background:{{Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading}}; font-style:italic"
|scope="row" | {{abbrlink|ME-2|Maine's 2nd congressional district}}
| 1
| 137,998
| 45.56%
| –
| 143,658
| 47.43%
| 1
| 16,830
| 5.56%
| –
| 2,449
| 0.81%
| –
| 1,595
| 0.53%
| –
| 326
| 0.11%
| –
| –
| –
| –
| 10
| 0.00%
| –
| −5,660
| −1.87%
| 19.63%
| 302,866
| {{nowrap|ME-2}}
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
| scope="row" | [[2000 United States presidential election in Maryland|Maryland]]
| 10
| 813,797
| 40.18%
| –
| 1,145,782
| 56.57%
| 10
| 53,768
| 2.65%
| –
| 4,248
| 0.21%
| –
| 5,310
| 0.26%
| –
| 919
| 0.05%
| –
| 176
| 0.01%
| –
| 1,480
| 0.07%
| –
| −331,985
| −16.39%
| −0.41%
| 2,025,480
| MD
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
| scope="row" | [[2000 United States presidential election in Massachusetts|Massachusetts]]
| 12
| 878,502
| 32.50%
| –
| 1,616,487
| 59.80%
| 12
| 173,564
| 6.42%
| –
| 11,149
| 0.41%
| –
| 16,366
| 0.61%
| –
| –
| –
| –
| 2,884
| 0.11%
| –
| 4,032
| 0.15%
| –
| −737,985
| −27.30%
| 6.09%
| 2,702,984
| MA
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
| scope="row" | [[2000 United States presidential election in Michigan|Michigan]]
| 18
| 1,953,139
| 46.15%
| –
| 2,170,418
| 51.28%
| 18
| 84,165
| 1.99%
| –
| 1,851
| 0.04%
| –
| 16,711
| 0.39%
| –
| 3,791
| 0.09%
| –
| 2,426
| 0.06%
| –
| –
| –
| –
| −217,279
| −5.13%
| 8.08%
| 4,232,501
| MI
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
| scope="row" | [[2000 United States presidential election in Minnesota|Minnesota]]
| 10
| 1,109,659
| 45.50%
| –
| 1,168,266
| 47.91%
| 10
| 126,696
| 5.20%
| –
| 22,166
| 0.91%
| –
| 5,282
| 0.22%
| –
| 3,272
| 0.13%
| –
| 2,294
| 0.09%
| –
| 1,050
| 0.04%
| –
| −58,607
| −2.40%
| 13.74%
| 2,438,685
| MN
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| scope="row" | [[2000 United States presidential election in Mississippi|Mississippi]]
| 7
| 572,844
| 57.62%
| 7
| 404,614
| 40.70%
| –
| 8,122
| 0.82%
| –
| 2,265
| 0.23%
| –
| 2,009
| 0.20%
| –
| 3,267
| 0.33%
| –
| 450
| 0.05%
| –
| 613
| 0.06%
| –
| 168,230
| 16.92%
| 11.79%
| 994,184
| MS
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| scope="row" | [[2000 United States presidential election in Missouri|Missouri]]
| 11
| 1,189,924
| 50.42%
| 11
| 1,111,138
| 47.08%
| –
| 38,515
| 1.63%
| –
| 9,818
| 0.42%
| –
| 7,436
| 0.32%
| –
| 1,957
| 0.08%
| –
| 1,104
| 0.05%
| –
| –
| –
| –
| 78,786
| 3.34%
| 9.64%
| 2,359,892
| MO
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| scope="row" | [[2000 United States presidential election in Montana|Montana]]
| 3
| 240,178
| 58.44%
| 3
| 137,126
| 33.36%
| –
| 24,437
| 5.95%
| –
| 5,697
| 1.39%
| –
| 1,718
| 0.42%
| –
| 1,155
| 0.28%
| –
| 675
| 0.16%
| –
| 11
| 0.00%
| –
| 103,052
| 25.07%
| 22.19%
| 410,997
| MT
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| scope="row" | [[2000 United States presidential election in Nebraska|Nebraska]]<sup>†</sup>
| 2
| 433,862
| 62.25%
| 2
| 231,780
| 33.25%
| –
| 24,540
| 3.52%
| –
| 3,646
| 0.52%
| –
| 2,245
| 0.32%
| –
| 468
| 0.07%
| –
| 478
| 0.07%
| –
| –
| –
| –
| 202,082
| 28.99%
| 10.29%
| 697,019
| NE
|-style="background:{{Republican Party (US)/meta/shading}}; font-style:italic"
|scope="row" | {{abbrlink|NE-1|Nebraska's 1st congressional district}}
| 1
| 142,562
| 58.90%
| 1
| 86,946
| 35.92%
| –
| 10,085
| 4.17%
| –
| 1,324
| 0.55%
| –
| 754
| 0.31%
| –
| 167
| 0.07%
| –
| 185
| 0.08%
| –
| –
| –
| –
| 55,616
| 22.98%
| 11.28%
| 242,023
| {{nowrap|NE-1}}
|-style="background:{{Republican Party (US)/meta/shading}}; font-style:italic"
|scope="row" | {{abbrlink|NE-2|Nebraska's 2nd congressional district}}
| 1
| 131,485
| 56.92%
| 1
| 88,975
| 38.52%
| –
| 8,495
| 3.68%
| –
| 845
| 0.37%
| –
| 925
| 0.40%
| –
| 146
| 0.06%
| –
| 141
| 0.06%
| –
| –
| –
| –
| 42,510
| 18.40%
| 3.90%
| 231,012
| {{nowrap|NE-2}}
|-style="background:{{Republican Party (US)/meta/shading}}; font-style:italic"
|scope="row" | {{abbrlink|NE-3|Nebraska's 3rd congressional district}}
| 1
| 159,815
| 71.35%
| 1
| 55,859
| 24.94%
| –
| 5,960
| 2.66%
| –
| 1,477
| 0.66%
| –
| 566
| 0.25%
| –
| 155
| 0.07%
| –
| 152
| 0.07%
| –
| –
| –
| –
| 103,956
| 46.41%
| 16.31%
| 223,984
| {{nowrap|NE-3}}
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| scope="row" | [[2000 United States presidential election in Nevada|Nevada]]
| 4
| 301,575
| 49.52%
| 4
| 279,978
| 45.98%
| –
| 15,008
| 2.46%
| –
| 4,747
| 0.78%
| –
| 3,311
| 0.54%
| –
| 621
| 0.10%
| –
| 415
| 0.07%
| –
| 3,315
| 0.54%
| –
| 21,597
| 3.55%
| 4.57%
| 608,970
| NV
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| scope="row" | [[2000 United States presidential election in New Hampshire|New Hampshire]]
| 4
| 273,559
| 48.07%
| 4
| 266,348
| 46.80%
| –
| 22,198
| 3.90%
| –
| 2,615
| 0.46%
| –
| 2,757
| 0.48%
| –
| 328
| 0.06%
| –
| 55
| 0.01%
| –
| 1,221
| 0.21%
| –
| 7,211
| 1.27%
| 11.22%
| 569,081
| NH
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
| scope="row" | [[2000 United States presidential election in New Jersey|New Jersey]]
| 15
| 1,284,173
| 40.29%
| –
| 1,788,850
| 56.13%
| 15
| 94,554
| 2.97%
| –
| 6,989
| 0.22%
| –
| 6,312
| 0.20%
| –
| 1,409
| 0.04%
| –
| 2,215
| 0.07%
| –
| 2,724
| 0.09%
| –
| −504,677
| −15.83%
| 2.03%
| 3,187,226
| NJ
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
| scope="row" | [[2000 United States presidential election in New Mexico|New Mexico]]
| 5
| 286,417
| 47.85%
| –
| 286,783
| 47.91%
| 5
| 21,251
| 3.55%
| –
| 1,392
| 0.23%
| –
| 2,058
| 0.34%
| –
| 343
| 0.06%
| –
| 361
| 0.06%
| –
| –
| –
| –
| −366
| −0.06%
| 7.26%
| 598,605
| NM
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
| scope="row" | [[2000 United States presidential election in New York|New York]]
| 33
| 2,403,374
| 35.23%
| –
| 4,107,697
| 60.21%
| 33
| 244,030
| 3.58%
| –
| 31,599
| 0.46%
| –
| 7,649
| 0.11%
| –
| 1,498
| 0.02%
| –
| 24,361
| 0.36%
| –
| 1,791
| 0.03%
| –
| −1,704,323
| −24.98%
| 3.88%
| 6,821,999
| NY
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| scope="row" | [[2000 United States presidential election in North Carolina|North Carolina]]
| 14
| 1,631,163
| 56.03%
| 14
| 1,257,692
| 43.20%
| –
| –
| –
| –
| 8,874
| 0.30%
| –
| 12,307
| 0.42%
| –
| –
| –
| –
| –
| –
| –
| 1,226
| 0.04%
| –
| 373,471
| 12.83%
| 8.14%
| 2,911,262
| NC
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| scope="row" | [[2000 United States presidential election in North Dakota|North Dakota]]
| 3
| 174,852
| 60.66%
| 3
| 95,284
| 33.06%
| –
| 9,486
| 3.29%
| –
| 7,288
| 2.53%
| –
| 660
| 0.23%
| –
| 373
| 0.13%
| –
| 313
| 0.11%
| –
| –
| –
| –
| 79,568
| 27.60%
| 20.79%
| 288,256
| ND
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| scope="row" | [[2000 United States presidential election in Ohio|Ohio]]
| 21
| 2,351,209
| 49.97%
| 21
| 2,186,190
| 46.46%
| –
| 117,857
| 2.50%
| –
| 26,724
| 0.57%
| –
| 13,475
| 0.29%
| –
| 3,823
| 0.08%
| –
| 6,169
| 0.13%
| –
| 10
| 0.00%
| –
| 165,019
| 3.51%
| 9.87%
| 4,705,457
| OH
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| scope="row" | [[2000 United States presidential election in Oklahoma|Oklahoma]]
| 8
| 744,337
| 60.31%
| 8
| 474,276
| 38.43%
| –
| –
| –
| –
| 9,014
| 0.73%
| –
| 6,602
| 0.53%
| –
| –
| –
| –
| –
| –
| –
| –
| –
| –
| 270,061
| 21.88%
| 14.07%
| 1,234,229
| OK
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
| scope="row" | [[2000 United States presidential election in Oregon|Oregon]]
| 7
| 713,577
| 46.52%
| –
| 720,342
| 46.96%
| 7
| 77,357
| 5.04%
| –
| 7,063
| 0.46%
| –
| 7,447
| 0.49%
| –
| 2,189
| 0.14%
| –
| 2,574
| 0.17%
| –
| 3,419
| 0.22%
| –
| −6,765
| −0.44%
| 7.65%
| 1,533,968
| OR
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
| scope="row" | [[2000 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania|Pennsylvania]]
| 23
| 2,281,127
| 46.43%
| –
| 2,485,967
| 50.60%
| 23
| 103,392
| 2.10%
| –
| 16,023
| 0.33%
| –
| 11,248
| 0.23%
| –
| 14,428
| 0.29%
| –
| –
| –
| –
| 934
| 0.02%
| –
| −204,840
| −4.17%
| 5.03%
| 4,913,119
| PA
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
| scope="row" | [[2000 United States presidential election in Rhode Island|Rhode Island]]
| 4
| 130,555
| 31.91%
| –
| 249,508
| 60.99%
| 4
| 25,052
| 6.12%
| –
| 2,273
| 0.56%
| –
| 742
| 0.18%
| –
| 97
| 0.02%
| –
| 271
| 0.07%
| –
| 614
| 0.15%
| –
| −118,953
| −29.08%
| 3.81%
| 409,112
| RI
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| scope="row" | [[2000 United States presidential election in South Carolina|South Carolina]]
| 8
| 785,937
| 56.84%
| 8
| 565,561
| 40.90%
| –
| 20,200
| 1.46%
| –
| 3,519
| 0.25%
| –
| 4,876
| 0.35%
| –
| 1,682
| 0.12%
| –
| 942
| 0.07%
| –
| –
| –
| –
| 220,376
| 15.94%
| 10.11%
| 1,382,717
| SC
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| scope="row" | [[2000 United States presidential election in South Dakota|South Dakota]]
| 3
| 190,700
| 60.30%
| 3
| 118,804
| 37.56%
| –
| –
| –
| –
| 3,322
| 1.05%
| –
| 1,662
| 0.53%
| –
| 1,781
| 0.56%
| –
| –
| –
| –
| –
| –
| –
| 71,896
| 22.73%
| 19.27%
| 316,269
| SD
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| scope="row" | [[2000 United States presidential election in Tennessee|Tennessee]]
| 11
| 1,061,949
| 51.15%
| 11
| 981,720
| 47.28%
| –
| 19,781
| 0.95%
| –
| 4,250
| 0.20%
| –
| 4,284
| 0.21%
| –
| 1,015
| 0.05%
| –
| 613
| 0.03%
| –
| 2,569
| 0.12%
| –
| 80,229
| 3.86%
| 6.27%
| 2,076,181
| TN
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| scope="row" | [[2000 United States presidential election in Texas|Texas]]
| 32
| 3,799,639
| 59.30%
| 32
| 2,433,746
| 37.98%
| –
| 137,994
| 2.15%
| –
| 12,394
| 0.19%
| –
| 23,160
| 0.36%
| –
| 567
| 0.01%
| –
| –
| –
| –
| 137
| 0.00%
| –
| 1,365,893
| 21.32%
| 16.39%
| 6,407,637
| TX
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| scope="row" | [[2000 United States presidential election in Utah|Utah]]
| 5
| 515,096
| 66.83%
| 5
| 203,053
| 26.34%
| –
| 35,850
| 4.65%
| –
| 9,319
| 1.21%
| –
| 3,616
| 0.47%
| –
| 2,709
| 0.35%
| –
| 763
| 0.10%
| –
| 348
| 0.05%
| –
| 312,043
| 40.49%
| 19.42%
| 770,754
| UT
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
| scope="row" | [[2000 United States presidential election in Vermont|Vermont]]
| 3
| 119,775
| 40.70%
| –
| 149,022
| 50.63%
| 3
| 20,374
| 6.92%
| –
| 2,192
| 0.74%
| –
| 784
| 0.27%
| –
| 153
| 0.05%
| –
| 219
| 0.07%
| –
| 1,789
| 0.61%
| –
| −29,247
| −9.94%
| 12.32%
| 294,308
| VT
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| scope="row" | [[2000 United States presidential election in Virginia|Virginia]]
| 13
| 1,437,490
| 52.47%
| 13
| 1,217,290
| 44.44%
| –
| 59,398
| 2.17%
| –
| 5,455
| 0.20%
| –
| 15,198
| 0.55%
| –
| 1,809
| 0.07%
| –
| 171
| 0.01%
| –
| 2,636
| 0.10%
| –
| 220,200
| 8.04%
| 6.09%
| 2,739,447
| VA
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
| scope="row" | [[2000 United States presidential election in Washington (state)|Washington]]
| 11
| 1,108,864
| 44.58%
| –
| 1,247,652
| 50.16%
| 11
| 103,002
| 4.14%
| –
| 7,171
| 0.29%
| –
| 13,135
| 0.53%
| –
| 1,989
| 0.08%
| –
| 2,927
| 0.12%
| –
| 2,693
| 0.11%
| –
| −138,788
| −5.58%
| 6.96%
| 2,487,433
| WA
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| scope="row" | [[2000 United States presidential election in West Virginia|West Virginia]]
| 5
| 336,475
| 51.92%
| 5
| 295,497
| 45.59%
| –
| 10,680
| 1.65%
| –
| 3,169
| 0.49%
| –
| 1,912
| 0.30%
| –
| 23
| 0.00%
| –
| 367
| 0.06%
| –
| 1
| 0.00%
| –
| 40,978
| 6.32%
| 21.07%
| 648,124
| WV
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
| scope="row" | [[2000 United States presidential election in Wisconsin|Wisconsin]]
| 11
| 1,237,279
| 47.61%
| –
| 1,242,987
| 47.83%
| 11
| 94,070
| 3.62%
| –
| 11,471
| 0.44%
| –
| 6,640
| 0.26%
| –
| 2,042
| 0.08%
| –
| 853
| 0.03%
| –
| 3,265
| 0.13%
| –
| −5,708
| −0.22%
| 10.11%
| 2,598,607
| WI
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| scope="row" | [[2000 United States presidential election in Wyoming|Wyoming]]
| 3
| 147,947
| 67.76%
| 3
| 60,481
| 27.70%
| –
| 4,625
| 2.12%
| –
| 2,724
| 1.25%
| –
| 1,443
| 0.66%
| –
| 720
| 0.33%
| –
| 411
| 0.19%
| –
| –
| –
| –
| 87,466
| 40.06%
| 27.09%
| 218,351
| WY
|- class="sortbottom"
! scope="row" | Totals<sup>†</sup>
! 538
! 50,456,002
! 47.86%
! 271
! 50,999,897
! 48.38%
! 266
! 2,882,955
! 2.74%
! –
! 448,895
! 0.43%
! –
! 384,431*
! 0.36%*
! –
! 98,020
! 0.09%
! –
! 83,714
! 0.08%
! –
! 51,186
! 0.05%
! –
! −543,895
! −0.52%
! 8.00%
! 105,405,100
! US
|}</div>
<sup>†</sup>Maine and Nebraska each allow for their electoral votes to be split between candidates. In both states, two electoral votes are awarded to the winner of the statewide race and one electoral vote is awarded to the winner of each congressional district. The votes for each candidate are only singly counted in the column totals.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.maine.gov/sos/cec/elec/2000g/gen00p-c.htm|title=Maine General Election Tabulations, President of the United States by Congressional District|date=November 7, 2000|access-date=September 24, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120906013952/http://www.maine.gov/sos/cec/elec/2000g/gen00p-c.htm|archive-date=September 6, 2012|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=nebraska>{{cite web|url=http://www.sos.ne.gov/elec/prev_elec/2000/pdf/pres_cong_dist.pdf|title=Nebraska Statewide General Election 2000 Results - President by Congressional District|publisher=Nebraska Secretary of State|access-date=September 24, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924104003/http://www.sos.ne.gov/elec/prev_elec/2000/pdf/pres_cong_dist.pdf|archive-date=September 24, 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>
<nowiki>*</nowiki>The [[Libertarian Party of Arizona]] had ballot access but opted to supplant Browne with [[L. Neil Smith]]. In Arizona, Smith received 5,775 votes, or 0.38% of the Arizona vote. Adding Smith's 5,775 votes to Browne's 384,431 votes nationwide, the total votes cast for president for the Libertarian Party in 2000 was 390,206, or 0.37% of the national vote.
====States that flipped from Democratic to Republican====
* [[Arizona]]
* [[Arkansas]]
* [[Florida]]
* [[Kentucky]]
* [[Louisiana]]
* [[Missouri]]
* [[Nevada]]
* [[New Hampshire]]
* [[Ohio]]
* [[Tennessee]]
* [[West Virginia]]
====Close states====
{{legend|#1560BD|[[Al Gore]]|border=1px #AAAAAA solid}}
{{legend|#E32636|[[George W. Bush]]|border=1px #AAAAAA solid}}
States where the margin of victory was less than 1% (55 electoral votes):<ref>{{Cite web|last=Sheppard|first=Mike|title=How close were U.S. Presidential Elections?|url=http://www.mit.edu/~mi22295/elections.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120825102042/http://www.mit.edu/~mi22295/elections.html#2000|archive-date=August 25, 2012|access-date=24 December 2020|website=[[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]]|via=[[Wayback Machine]]}}</ref>
# <span style="color:red;">'''Florida, 0.009% (537 votes)'''</span> ''(tipping point state)''
# <span style="color:blue;">'''New Mexico, 0.061% (366 votes)'''</span>
# <span style="color:blue;">'''Wisconsin, 0.22% (5,708 votes)'''</span>
# <span style="color:blue;">'''Iowa, 0.31% (4,144 votes)'''</span>
# <span style="color:blue;">'''Oregon, 0.44% (6,765 votes)'''</span>
States where the margin of victory was more than 1% but less than 5% (84 electoral votes):
# <span style="color:red;">'''New Hampshire, 1.27% (7,211 votes)'''</span>
# <span style="color:blue;">'''Maine's 2nd Congressional District, 1.87% (5,660 votes)'''</span>
# <span style="color:blue;">'''Minnesota, 2.41% (58,607 votes)'''</span>
# <span style="color:red;">'''Missouri, 3.34% (78,786 votes)'''</span>
# <span style="color:red;">'''Ohio, 3.51% (165,019 votes)'''</span>
# <span style="color:red;">'''Nevada, 3.54% (21,597 votes)'''</span>
# <span style="color:red;">'''Tennessee, 3.87% (80,229 votes)'''</span>
# <span style="color:blue;">'''Pennsylvania, 4.17% (204,840 votes)'''</span>
States where the margin of victory was more than 5% but less than 10% (84 electoral votes):
# <span style="color:blue;">'''Maine, 5.12% (33,335 votes)'''</span>
# <span style="color:blue;">'''Michigan, 5.14% (217,279 votes)'''</span>
# <span style="color:red;">'''Arkansas, 5.45% (50,172 votes)'''</span>
# <span style="color:blue;">'''Washington, 5.57% (138,788 votes)'''</span>
# <span style="color:red;">'''Arizona, 6.28% (96,311 votes)'''</span>
# <span style="color:red;">'''West Virginia, 6.33% (40,978 votes)'''</span>
# <span style="color:red;">'''Louisiana, 7.67% (135,527 votes)'''</span>
# <span style="color:blue;">'''Maine's 1st Congressional District, 7.93% (27,675 votes)'''</span>
# <span style="color:red;">'''Virginia, 8.03% (220,200 votes)'''</span>
# <span style="color:red;">'''Colorado, 8.36% (145,518 votes)'''</span>
# <span style="color:blue;">'''Vermont, 9.93% (29,247 votes)'''</span>
==== Statistics ====
<ref>[http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/data.php?year=2000&datatype=national&def=1&f=0&off=0&elect=0 2000 Presidential General Election Data - National], Uselectionatlas.org.</ref>
Counties with highest percent of vote (Republican)
# '''<span style="color:red;">[[Glasscock County, Texas]] 92.47%</span>'''
# '''<span style="color:red;">[[Ochiltree County, Texas]] 90.72%</span>'''
# '''<span style="color:red;">[[Hansford County, Texas]] 89.75%</span>'''
# '''<span style="color:red;">[[Harding County, South Dakota]] 88.92%</span>'''
# '''<span style="color:red;">[[Carter County, Montana]] 88.84% </span>'''
Counties with highest percent of vote (Democratic)
# '''<span style="color:blue;">[[Macon County, Alabama]] 86.80%</span>'''
# '''<span style="color:blue;">[[The Bronx|Bronx County, New York]] 86.28%</span>'''
# '''<span style="color:blue;">[[Oglala Lakota County, South Dakota|Shannon County, South Dakota]] 85.36%</span>'''
# '''<span style="color:blue;">[[Washington, D.C.]] 85.16%</span>'''
# '''<span style="color:blue;">[[Baltimore|City of Baltimore, Maryland]] 82.52%</span>'''
Counties with highest percent of vote (other)
# '''<span style="color:green;">[[San Miguel County, Colorado]] 17.20%</span>'''
# '''<span style="color:green;">[[Missoula County, Montana]] 15.03%</span>'''
# '''<span style="color:green;">[[Grand County, Utah]] 14.94%</span>'''
# '''<span style="color:green;">[[Mendocino County, California]] 14.68%</span>'''
# '''<span style="color:green;">[[Hampshire County, Massachusetts]] 14.59%</span>'''
==Voter demographics==
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:right"
|+ The 2000 presidential vote by demographic subgroup
|-
!scope="col"| Demographic subgroup
! {{party shading/Democratic}}|Gore
! {{party shading/Republican}}|Bush
! {{party shading/Independent}}|Other
! % of<br />total vote
|-
!scope="row"| Total vote
| style="background:#b0ceff;"| 48
| style="background:#fff3f3;"| 48
| 4
| 100
|-
! colspan=5|Ideology
|-
!scope="row"| [[Modern liberalism in the United States|Liberals]]
| style="background:#b0ceff;"| 81
| style="background:#fff3f3;"| 13
| 6
| 20
|-
!scope="row"| [[Moderates]]
| style="background:#b0ceff;"| 53
| style="background:#fff3f3;"| 45
| 2
| 50
|-
!scope="row"| [[Conservatism in the United States|Conservatives]]
| style="background:#f0f0ff;"| 17
| style="background:#ffb6b6;"| 82
| 1
| 29
|-
! colspan=5|Party
|-
!scope="row"| [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrats]]
| style="background:#b0ceff;"| 87
| style="background:#fff3f3;"| 11
| 2
| 39
|-
!scope="row"| [[Republican Party (United States)|Republicans]]
| style="background:#f0f0ff;"| 8
| style="background:#ffb6b6;"| 91
| 1
| 35
|-
!scope="row"| [[Independent (voter)|Independents]]
| style="background:#f0f0ff;"| 46
| style="background:#ffb6b6;"| 48
| 6
| 26
|-
! colspan=5|Gender
|-
!scope="row"| Men
| style="background:#f0f0ff;"| 43
| style="background:#ffb6b6;"| 54
| 3
| 48
|-
!scope="row"| Women
| style="background:#b0ceff;"| 54
| style="background:#fff3f3;"| 44
| 2
| 52
|-
! colspan=5|Race
|-
!scope="row"| [[White American|White]]
| style="background:#f0f0ff;"| 42
| style="background:#ffb6b6;"| 55
| 3
| 81
|-
!scope="row"| [[African American|Black]]
| style="background:#b0ceff;"| 90
| style="background:#fff3f3;"| 9
| 1
| 10
|-
!scope="row"| [[Asian American|Asian]]
| style="background:#b0ceff;"| 55
| style="background:#fff3f3;"| 41
| 4
| 2
|-
!scope="row"| [[Hispanic and Latino Americans|Hispanic]]
| style="background:#b0ceff;"| 62
| style="background:#fff3f3;"| 35
| 3
| 7
|-
! colspan=5|Age
|-
!scope="row"| 18–24 years old
| style="background:#d0c0d7;"| 47
| style="background:#d0c0d7;"| 47
| 6
| 9
|-
!scope="row"| 25–29 years old
| style="background:#b0ceff;"| 49
| style="background:#fff3f3;"| 46
| 5
| 8
|-
!scope="row"| 30–49 years old
| style="background:#f0f0ff;"| 48
| style="background:#ffb6b6;"| 50
| 2
| 45
|-
!scope="row"| 50–64 years old
| style="background:#b0ceff;"| 50
| style="background:#fff3f3;"| 48
| 2
| 24
|-
!scope="row"| 65 and older
| style="background:#b0ceff;"| 51
| style="background:#fff3f3;"| 47
| 2
| 14
|-
! colspan=5|Sexual orientation
|-
!scope="row"| [[LGBT|Gay, lesbian, or bisexual]]
| style="background:#b0ceff;"| 71
| style="background:#fff3f3;"| 25
| 4
| 4
|-
!scope="row"| [[Heterosexuality|Heterosexual]]
| style="background:#f0f0ff;"| 47
| style="background:#ffb6b6;"| 50
| 3
| 96
|-
! colspan=5|Family income
|-
!scope="row"| Under $15,000
| style="background:#b0ceff;"| 58
| style="background:#fff3f3;"| 38
| 4
| 7
|-
!scope="row"| $15,000–30,000
| style="background:#b0ceff;"| 54
| style="background:#fff3f3;"| 42
| 4
| 16
|-
!scope="row"| $30,000–50,000
| style="background:#b0ceff;"| 49
| style="background:#fff3f3;"| 48
| 3
| 24
|-
!scope="row"| $50,000–75,000
| style="background:#f0f0ff;"| 46
| style="background:#ffb6b6;"| 51
| 3
| 25
|-
!scope="row"| $75,000–100,000
| style="background:#f0f0ff;"| 46
| style="background:#ffb6b6;"| 52
| 2
| 13
|-
!scope="row"| Over $100,000
| style="background:#f0f0ff;"| 43
| style="background:#ffb6b6;"| 55
| 2
| 15
|-
! colspan=5|Region
|-
!scope="row"| [[Northeastern United States|East]]
| style="background:#b0ceff;"| 56
| style="background:#fff3f3;"| 40
| 4
| 23
|-
!scope="row"| [[Midwestern United States|Midwest]]
| style="background:#f0f0ff;"| 48
| style="background:#ffb6b6;"| 49
| 3
| 26
|-
!scope="row"| [[Southern United States|South]]
| style="background:#f0f0ff;"| 43
| style="background:#ffb6b6;"| 56
| 1
| 31
|-
!scope="row"| [[Western United States|West]]
| style="background:#b0ceff;"| 49
| style="background:#fff3f3;"| 47
| 4
| 20
|-
! colspan=5|Union households
|-
!scope="row"| [[Labor unions in the United States|Union]]
| style="background:#b0ceff;"| 59
| style="background:#fff3f3;"| 37
| 4
| 26
|-
!scope="row"| Non-union
| style="background:#f0f0ff;"| 45
| style="background:#ffb6b6;"| 53
| 2
| 74
|}
'''Source:''' [[Voter News Service]] exit poll from the [[Roper Center for Public Opinion Research]] (<small>13,225 surveyed</small>)<ref>{{cite news|url=https://ropercenter.cornell.edu/polls/us-elections/how-groups-voted/how-groups-voted-2000/|title=How Groups Voted in 2000|website=ropercenter.cornell.edu|access-date=February 1, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180213193326/https://ropercenter.cornell.edu/polls/us-elections/how-groups-voted/how-groups-voted-2000/|archive-date=February 13, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>
==Aftermath==
After Florida was decided and Gore conceded, [[Governor of Texas|Texas Governor]] [[George W. Bush]] became the [[President-elect of the United States|president-elect]] and began forming his [[United States presidential transition|transition]] committee.<ref>{{cite news|title=Bush, now president-elect, signals will to bridge partisan gaps|author=Ian Christopher McCaleb|date=December 13, 2000|url=http://archives.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/12/13/election.wrap/|publisher=[[CNN.com]]|access-date=February 10, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090212155920/http://archives.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/12/13/election.wrap/|archive-date=February 12, 2009|df=mdy-all}}</ref> In a speech on December 13, in the Texas House of Representatives chamber,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.c-spanarchives.org/library/index.php?main_page=product_video_info&products_id=161267-1|title=Bush Acceptance—December 13, 2000|access-date=November 8, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081116145327/http://www.c-spanarchives.org/library/index.php?main_page=product_video_info&products_id=161267-1|archive-date=November 16, 2008|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Bush said he was reaching across party lines to bridge a divided America, saying, "the President of the United States is the President of every single American, of every race, and every background". During the transition period, Clinton staffers, upset by Gore's loss, reportedly vandalized White House furnishings, including removing the W keys from computer keyboards and stealing items, including several antique doorknobs. Approximately $15,000 in damage was reported.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-jun-12-na-clinton12-story.html|title=Clinton Transition Left $15,000 Damage, GAO Says|first=Michelle|last=Munn|date=June 12, 2002|website=Los Angeles Times}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2000/transcripts/121300/bush.html |title=George W. Bush statement—December 13, 2000 |work=CNN |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081212032134/http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2000/transcripts/121300/bush.html |archive-date=December 12, 2008}}</ref> This election was one of only four U.S. presidential elections held since the Democrats and Republicans became the two major parties in which the winner did not carry any of the three [[Rust Belt]] states of [[2000 United States presidential election in Michigan|Michigan]], [[2000 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania|Pennsylvania]], and [[2000 United States presidential election in Wisconsin|Wisconsin]]; the others were [[1884 United States presidential election|1884]], [[1916 United States presidential election|1916]], and [[2004 United States presidential election|2004]], when Bush was reelected.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/17/politics/blue-wall-states-harris-trump-analysis/index.html|title=Why these three states are the most consistent tipping point in American politics|publisher=CNN|last=Brownstein|first=Ronald|date=September 16, 2024|accessdate=September 16, 2024}}</ref>
===Post-recount===
On January 6, 2001, [[2001 United States Electoral College vote count|a joint session of Congress]] met to count the [[United States Electoral College|electoral votes]]. Twenty members of the [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]], most of them members of the all-Democratic [[Congressional Black Caucus]], rose one by one to file objections to the electoral votes of Florida. But pursuant to the [[Electoral Count Act]], any such objection had to be sponsored by both a representative and a [[United States Senate|senator]]. No senator co-sponsored these objections, deferring to the Supreme Court's ruling. Therefore, Gore, who presided in his capacity as [[Vice President of the United States|President of the Senate]], ruled each of these objections out of order.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/collection.action?collectionCode=CREC&browsePath=2001%2F01%2F01-06\%2F7&isCollapsed=false&leafLevelBrowse=false&ycord=482 |title=FDsys - Browse CREC |website=Gpo.gov |date=January 6, 2001 |access-date=August 18, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170701123721/https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/collection.action?collectionCode=CREC&browsePath=2001%2F01%2F01-06%5C%2F7&isCollapsed=false&leafLevelBrowse=false&ycord=482 |archive-date=July 1, 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref> Subsequently, Congress counted the electoral votes from all 50 states and the District of Columbia.<ref>{{cite news |last=Mitchell |first=Alison |title=Over Some Objections, Congress Certifies Electoral Vote (Published 2001) |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/07/us/over-some-objections-congress-certifies-electoral-vote.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110207100228/http://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/07/us/over-some-objections-congress-certifies-electoral-vote.html |archive-date=2011-02-07 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |work=The New York Times |access-date=January 30, 2021 |date=January 7, 2001}}</ref> Gore was the last incumbent vice president until [[Kamala Harris]] to certify his opponent's Electoral College victory in a presidential election.
Bush took the oath of office on January 20, 2001. He served for the next eight years. Gore has not, as of 2024, considered another presidential run, endorsing [[Howard Dean]]'s candidacy during the 2004 Democratic primary and remaining neutral in the Democratic primaries of 2008, 2016 and 2020.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://prospect.org/article/new-new-gore|title=The New New Gore|last=Klein|first=Ezra|date=March 19, 2006 |work=The American Prospect |access-date=February 5, 2019 |language=en-US |issn=1049-7285|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190207015859/https://prospect.org/article/new-new-gore|archive-date=February 7, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Gore speaks: I still may endorse |url=https://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/05/06/gore-speaks-i-still-may-endorse/ |access-date=February 8, 2021 |language=en |archive-date=February 9, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210209013331/https://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/05/06/gore-speaks-i-still-may-endorse/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Wright |first=David |date=May 23, 2016 |title=Al Gore: No endorsement yet for Clinton, Sanders |url=https://www.cnn.com/2016/05/23/politics/al-gore-no-endorsement-democrat/index.html |access-date=February 8, 2021 |website=CNN Digital |language=en |archive-date=February 14, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210214105403/https://www.cnn.com/2016/05/23/politics/al-gore-no-endorsement-democrat/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Astor |first=Maggie |date=April 22, 2020 |title=Al Gore Endorses Joe Biden for President: 'This Is Not Complicated' |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/22/us/politics/al-gore-endorse-joe-biden.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200422175027/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/22/us/politics/al-gore-endorse-joe-biden.html |archive-date=2020-04-22 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |access-date=February 8, 2021 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Oshin |first=Olafimihan |date=2022-07-24 |title=Al Gore knocks notion of another presidential run: 'I'm a recovering politician' |url=https://thehill.com/homenews/sunday-talk-shows/3572206-al-gore-knocks-notion-of-another-presidential-run-im-a-recovering-politician/ |access-date=2023-05-01 |website=The Hill |language=en-US |archive-date=October 15, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221015104342/https://thehill.com/homenews/sunday-talk-shows/3572206-al-gore-knocks-notion-of-another-presidential-run-im-a-recovering-politician/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
The first independent recount of undervotes was conducted by the ''Miami Herald'' and ''USA Today''. The commission found that under most scenarios for completion of the initiated recounts, Bush would have won the election, but Gore would have won using the most generous standards for undervotes.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/media-jan-june01-recount_04-03|title=Media Recount: Bush Won The 2000 election|publisher=PBS|access-date=September 17, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171003021106/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/media-jan-june01-recount_04-03/|archive-date=October 3, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>
Ultimately, a media consortium—comprising ''The New York Times'', ''The Washington Post'', ''The Wall Street Journal'', Tribune Co. (parent of the ''Los Angeles Times''), Associated Press, CNN, ''The Palm Beach Post'' and the ''St. Petersburg Times''<ref name="fair2002">{{cite web|url=http://fair.org/extra-online-articles/who-won-the-election-who-cares/|title=Who Won the Election? Who Cares?|publisher=Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting|access-date=October 30, 2012|date=January 2002|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121208152442/http://fair.org/extra-online-articles/who-won-the-election-who-cares/|archive-date=December 8, 2012|url-status=live}}</ref>—hired [[National Opinion Research Center|NORC]] at the [[University of Chicago]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.norc.uchicago.edu/fl/index.asp|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011217183836/http://www.norc.uchicago.edu/fl/index.asp|archive-date=December 17, 2001 |title=Florida Ballots Project |publisher=National Opinion Research Center|access-date=May 28, 2010}}</ref> to examine 175,010 ballots collected from the entire state, not just the disputed counties that were recounted; these ballots contained undervotes (ballots with no machine-detected choice made for president) and overvotes (ballots with more than one choice marked). Their goal was to determine the reliability and accuracy of the systems used for the voting process. Based on the NORC review, the media group concluded that if the disputes over all the ballots in question had been resolved by applying statewide any of five standards that would have met Florida's legal standard for recounts, the electoral result would have been reversed and Gore would have won by 60 to 171 votes. (Any analysis of NORC data requires, for each punch ballot, at least two of the three ballot reviewers' codes to agree or instead, for all three to agree.) For all undervotes and overvotes statewide, these five standards are:<ref name="battle"/><ref>Wolter, K.M., Jergovic, D., Moore, W., Murphy, J. and O'Muirheartaigh, C. 2003. "Reliability of the Uncertified Ballots in the 2000 Presidential Election in Florida". ''American Statistician''. '''57'''(1):1–14.</ref><ref name="freemanbleifuss" />
* Prevailing standard – accepts at least one detached corner of a chad and all affirmative marks on optical scan ballots.
* County-by-county standard – applies each county's own standards independently.
* Two-corner standard – accepts at least two detached corners of a chad and all affirmative marks on optical scan ballots.
* Most restrictive standard – accepts only so-called perfect ballots that machines somehow missed and did not count, or ballots with unambiguous expressions of voter intent.
* Most inclusive standard – applies uniform criteria of "dimple or better" on punch marks and all affirmative marks on optical scan ballots.
Such a statewide review including all uncounted votes was a tangible possibility, as Leon County Circuit Court Judge [[Terry Lewis (Florida judge)|Terry Lewis]], whom the Florida Supreme Court had assigned to oversee the statewide recount, had scheduled a hearing for December 13 (mooted by the U.S. Supreme Court's final ruling on the 12th) to consider the question of including overvotes as well as undervotes. Subsequent statements by Lewis and internal court documents support the likelihood of including overvotes in the recount.<ref name="newsweek2001">[https://web.archive.org/web/20081030111614/http://www.newsweek.com/id/76207/page/1 "The Final Word? New Documents Raise Questions About News Media's Findings On The 2000 Presidential Election"] (archived from [http://www.newsweek.com/id/76207/page/1 the original] on October 30, 2008)</ref> [[Florida State University]] professor of public policy Lance deHaven-Smith observed that, even considering only undervotes, "under any of the five most reasonable interpretations of the Florida Supreme Court ruling, Gore does, in fact, more than make up the deficit".<ref name="battle">{{cite book|editor-last=deHaven-Smith|editor-first=Lance |pages=8, 15-16, 37–41|publisher=University Press of Florida|year=2005|___location=Gainesville, Florida, United States |title=The Battle for Florida: An Annotated Compendium of Materials from the 2000 Presidential Election}}</ref> [[Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting]]'s analysis of the NORC study and media coverage of it supports these interpretations and criticizes the coverage of the study by media outlets such as ''[[The New York Times]]'' and the other media consortium members.<ref name="fair2002"/>
Further, according to sociologists [[Christopher Uggen]] and Jeff Manza, the 2000 election might have gone to Gore if the disenfranchised population of Florida had voted. Florida law disenfranchises convicted felons, requiring individual applications to regain suffrage. In a 2002 ''American Sociological Review'' article, Uggen and Manza found that the released felon vote could have altered the outcome of seven senatorial races between 1978 and 2000, and the 2000 presidential election.<ref>{{cite web|title= Florida's ex-convicts seek right to vote|url= https://www.chicagotribune.com/2004/07/20/floridas-ex-convicts-seek-right-to-vote/|website= tribunedigital-chicagotribune|date= July 20, 2004|access-date= February 23, 2016|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160304181347/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2004-07-20/news/0407200186_1_felons-civil-rights-re-elect|archive-date= March 4, 2016|url-status= live}}</ref> Matt Ford noted their study concluded, "if the state's 827,000 disenfranchised felons had voted at the same rate as other Floridians, Democratic candidate Al Gore would have won Florida—and the presidency—by more than 80,000 votes."<ref name="restore">[https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/02/maryland-felon-voting/462000/ Matt Ford, "Restoring Voting Rights for Felons in Maryland"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170421090255/https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/02/maryland-felon-voting/462000/ |date=April 21, 2017 }}, ''The Atlantic,'' February 9, 2016, accessed March 23, 2016</ref> The effect of Florida's law is such that in 2014, purportedly "[m]ore than one in ten Floridians—and nearly one in four African-American Floridians—are shut out of the polls because of felony convictions."<ref>Brent Staples, "Florida Leads the Pack – in Felon Disenfranchisement", ''New York Times'', November 7, 2014, accessed March 23, 2016</ref>
===Voting machines===
Because the 2000 presidential election was so close in Florida, the federal government and state governments pushed for [[election reform]] to be prepared by the [[2004 United States presidential election|2004 presidential election]]. Many of Florida's 2000 election night problems stemmed from [[usability]] and ballot design factors with voting systems, including the potentially confusing "[[butterfly ballot]]." Many voters had difficulties with the paper-based [[voting machine#Punch card|punch card]] voting machines and were either unable to understand the voting process or unable to perform it. This resulted in an unusual number of [[overvote]]s (voting for more candidates than is allowed) and [[undervote]]s (voting for fewer than the minimum candidates, including none at all). Many undervotes were caused by voter error, unmaintained punch card voting booths, or errors having to do merely with the characteristics of punch card ballots (resulting in hanging, dimpled, or pregnant [[Chad (paper)|chads]]).
Post-election analyses of Florida voting data found higher rates of ballot spoilage in Florida counties with larger numbers of African Americans, especially in Duval County, with its "caterpillar ballot", in which the presidential section stretched across multiple pages.<ref>"[https://www.usccr.gov/files/pubs/vote2000/report/appendix/lichtman/ltrpt.htm]", Dr. Allan J. Lichtman, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, June, 2001</ref><ref>"[http://www.hamilton.edu/news/florida/Klinkner%20Analysis.pdf]", Philip A. Klinkner, Whose Votes Don't Count?: An Analysis of Spoiled Ballots in the 2000 Florida Election, June, 2001</ref><ref>"[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D57mZejswkI]", Dr. Allan J. Lichtman, 2000: When the wrong man was elected President, August, 2024</ref>
A proposed solution to these problems was the installation of modern [[electronic voting]] machines. The 2000 presidential election spurred the debate about election and voting reform but did not end it.
In the aftermath of the election, the [[Help America Vote Act]] (HAVA) was passed to help states upgrade their election technology in the hopes of preventing similar problems in future elections. But the electronic voting systems that many states purchased to comply with HAVA actually caused problems in the 2004 presidential election.<ref name="freemanbleifuss" />
===Exit polling and declaration of vote winners===
The [[Voter News Service]]'s reputation was damaged by its treatment of Florida's presidential vote in 2000. Breaking its own guidelines,{{citation needed|date=February 2017}} VNS called the state as a win for Gore 12 minutes before polls closed in the [[Florida Panhandle]]. Although most of the state is in the [[Eastern Time Zone]], counties in the Panhandle, in the [[Central Time Zone]], had not yet closed their polls. Discrepancies between the results of exit polls and the actual vote count caused the VNS to change its call twice, first from Gore to Bush and then to "too close to call." Due in part to this (and other polling inaccuracies) the VNS was disbanded in 2003.<ref>{{cite news |title=News Outlets Disband Voter News Service |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/media-jan-june03-vns_01-13 |access-date=9 February 2022 |agency=PBS |date=13 January 2003 |archive-date=February 9, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220209161359/https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/media-jan-june03-vns_01-13 |url-status=live }}</ref>
According to Bush adviser [[Karl Rove]], exit polls early in the afternoon on election day showed Gore winning by three percentage points, but when the networks called the state for Gore, Bush led by about 75,000 votes in raw tallies from the [[Florida Secretary of State]].
Charges of media bias were leveled against the networks by Republicans, who claimed that the networks called states more quickly for Al Gore than for George W. Bush. Congress held hearings on this matter,<ref>{{Cite web |title=House Hearing, 107th Congress — Election Night Coverage by the Networks |url=https://www.congress.gov/event/107th-congress/house-event/LC16582/text |access-date=January 20, 2021 |website=Congress.gov |archive-date=March 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220327171607/https://www.congress.gov/event/107th-congress/house-event/LC16582/text |url-status=live }}</ref> at which the networks claimed to have no intentional bias in their election night reporting. A study of the calls made on election night 2000 indicated that states carried by Gore were called more quickly than states won by Bush;<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Mixon|first1=J. Wilson|last2=Sen|first2=Amit|last3=Stephenson|first3=E. Frank|date=2004|title=Are the Networks Biased? "Calling" States in the 2000 Presidential Election|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/30025921|journal=Public Choice|volume=118|issue=1/2|pages=53–59|doi=10.1023/B:PUCH.0000013793.82613.60|jstor=30025921|s2cid=51066655|issn=0048-5829|access-date=March 3, 2021|archive-date=February 21, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210221001104/https://www.jstor.org/stable/30025921|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}</ref> however, notable states carried by Bush, such as New Hampshire and Florida, were very close, and close states won by Gore, such as Iowa, Oregon, New Mexico and Wisconsin, were called late as well.<ref>[[Joseph Uscinski]]. 2007. "Too Close to Call? Uncertainty and Bias in Election Night Reporting" ''Social Science Quarterly'' vol. '''88''',(1).</ref>
The early call of Florida for Gore has been alleged to have cost Bush several close states, including Iowa, New Mexico, Oregon, and Wisconsin.<ref>{{Cite web |date=14 February 2001 |title=Election Night Coverage by the Networks |url=https://www.congress.gov/107/chrg/CHRG-107hhrg71490/CHRG-107hhrg71490.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331185052/https://www.congress.gov/107/chrg/CHRG-107hhrg71490/CHRG-107hhrg71490.pdf |archive-date=31 March 2022 |access-date=1 June 2024 |website=[[United States Congress]] |pages=29, 139}}</ref> In each of these states, Gore won by less than 10,000 votes, and the polls closed after the networks called Florida for Gore. Because the Florida call was widely seen as an indicator that Gore had won the election, researcher John Lott said it was possible that the call depressed Republican turnout in these states during the final hours of voting, giving Gore the slim margin by which he carried each of them.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lott Jr. |first=John |date=June 2005 |title=The Impact of Early Media Election Calls on Republican Voting Rates in Florida's Western Panhandle Counties in 2000 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/30026690 |journal=[[Public Choice (journal)|Public Choice]] |volume=123 |issue=3/4 |pages=349–361 |doi=10.1007/s11127-005-7166-1 |jstor=30026690 |access-date=June 1, 2024 |archive-date=June 1, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240601000030/https://www.jstor.org/stable/30026690 |url-status=live }}</ref> Lott's survey assumed that the turnout in the Panhandle counties, which was 65%, would have equaled the statewide average of 68% if the state had not been called for Gore while the polls were still open. But the relatively smaller turnout percentage in the Panhandle has been attributed to the surge in the black vote elsewhere in Florida to 16% of the total, from 10% of the total in 1996.<ref name="crow">{{cite book|title =Oh, Waiter! One Order of Crow!|url =https://archive.org/details/ohwaiteroneorder00gree|url-access =registration|first=Jeff|last=Greenfield |year=2001|publisher =G. P. Putnam's Sons| ___location=New York |pages=[https://archive.org/details/ohwaiteroneorder00gree/page/94 94–96]|isbn =9780399147760}}</ref> Research by Henry Brady and David Collier strongly disputed Lott's findings.<ref name="Brady, Henry E. 2004">Brady, Henry E.; Collier, David (2004). Rethinking Social Inquiry: Diverse Tools, Shared Standards. Rowman & Littlefield. {{ISBN|9780742511255}}.</ref> Brady and Collier sharply criticized Lott's methodology and claimed that when all relevant factors are accounted for, Bush was likely cost only between 28 and 56 votes.<ref name="Brady, Henry E. 2004"/>
===Ralph Nader spoiler controversy===
{{Further|Ralph Nader presidential campaign, 2000#The spoiler controversy}}
Many Gore supporters claimed that Green Party nominee [[Ralph Nader]] acted as a [[spoiler effect|spoiler]] in the election, under the presumption that Nader voters would have voted for Gore had Nader not been in the race.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.thenation.com/article/tweedledee-indeed/|title=Tweedledee, Indeed|journal=The Nation|first=Eric|last=Alterman|date=March 22, 2001|access-date=December 16, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170210111434/https://www.thenation.com/article/tweedledee-indeed/|archive-date=February 10, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> Nader received 2.74% of the popular vote nationwide, including 97,000 votes in Florida (by comparison, there were 111,251 [[overvotes]])<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/2001-05-10-overvotetable.htm |work=USA Today |title=Overvote county summary |date=May 10, 2001 |access-date=September 17, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120630154726/http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/2001-05-10-overvotetable.htm |archive-date=June 30, 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1= Herron |first1= Michael C. |last2= Lewis |first2= Jeffrey B. |title= Did Ralph Nader spoil Al Gore's Presidential bid? A ballot-level study of Green and Reform Party voters in the 2000 Presidential election |journal= [[Quarterly Journal of Political Science]] |volume= 2 |issue= 3 |pages= 205–226 |doi= 10.1561/100.00005039 |date= August 2007 |url= http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/polisci/faculty/lewis/pdf/greenreform9.pdf |access-date= March 16, 2017 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170316125745/http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/polisci/faculty/lewis/pdf/greenreform9.pdf |archive-date= March 16, 2017 |url-status= dead }}</ref> and 22,000 in New Hampshire, where Bush beat Gore by 7,000 votes. Winning either state would have made Gore president. [[Tom Tomorrow|Dan Perkins]] agreed and said that the margin in Florida was small enough that Democrats could blame any number of third-party candidates for the defeat, including [[Workers World Party]] candidate [[Monica Moorehead]], who received 1,500 votes.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archive.salon.com/comics/tomo/2000/11/13/tomo/index.html|title=This Modern World |work=Salon.com Comics |access-date=May 23, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060315015827/http://archive.salon.com/comics/tomo/2000/11/13/tomo/index.html|archive-date=March 15, 2006 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
Nader's reputation was hurt by this perception, which may have hindered his goals as an activist. For example, ''[[Mother Jones (magazine)|Mother Jones]]'' wrote about the so-called "rank-and-file liberals" who saw Nader negatively after the election and pointed out that [[Public Citizen]], the organization Nader founded in 1971, suffered a drop in contributions. ''Mother Jones'' also cited a Public Citizen letter sent out to people interested in Nader's relation with the organization at that time, with the disclaimer: "Although Ralph Nader was our founder, he has not held an official position in the organization since 1980 and does not serve on the board. Public Citizen—and the other groups that Mr. Nader founded—act independently."<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2001/07/nader.html |title=Nader Unrepentant |magazine=Mother Jones |date=July 27, 2013 |access-date=August 18, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090211230846/http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2001/07/nader.html |archive-date=February 11, 2009 |url-status=live }}</ref>
===Press influence on race===
In their 2007 book ''The Nightly News Nightmare: Network Television's Coverage of US Presidential Elections, 1988–2004'', professors Stephen J. Farnsworth and S. Robert Lichter said that most media outlets influenced the outcome of the election through the use of [[horse race journalism]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/nightlynewsnight0000farn |url-access=registration |author1=Farnsworth, S.J.|author2=Lichter, S.R.|title=The Nightly News Nightmare: Network Television's Coverage of US Presidential Elections, 1988–2004|pages=[https://archive.org/details/nightlynewsnight0000farn/page/n174 159]–160|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|year=2007|isbn=9780742553774}}</ref> Some liberal supporters of Al Gore argued that the media had a bias against Gore and in favor of Bush. Peter Hart and Jim Naureckas, two commentators for [[Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting]] (FAIR), called the media "serial exaggerators" and took the view that several media outlets were constantly exaggerating criticism of Gore:<ref name=ipqvzww>{{cite news|title=Serial Exaggerators: Media's double standard on political lying|first1=Peter|last1=Hart|first2=Jim|last2=Naureckas|date=January 1, 2001|url=http://fair.org/extra/serial-exaggerators/|publisher=FAIR|access-date=December 4, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220045744/http://fair.org/extra/serial-exaggerators/|archive-date=December 20, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> they further argued that the media falsely claimed Gore lied when he claimed he spoke in an overcrowded science class in Sarasota, Florida,<ref name=ipqvzww/> and that the media gave Bush a pass on certain issues, such as Bush allegedly exaggerating how much money he signed into the annual Texas state budget to help the uninsured during his second debate with Gore in October 2000.<ref name=ipqvzww/> In the April 2000 issue of ''[[Washington Monthly]]'', columnist [[Robert Parry (journalist)|Robert Parry]] wrote that media outlets exaggerated Gore's supposed claim that he "discovered" the [[Love Canal]] neighborhood in [[Niagara Falls, New York]] during a campaign speech in Concord, New Hampshire on November 30, 1999,<ref name=kqvz/> when he had only claimed he "found" it after it was already evacuated in 1978 because of chemical contamination.<ref name=kqvz>{{cite magazine|title=He's No Pinocchio: How the press exaggerated Al Gores exaggerations|first=Robert|last=Parry|date=April 2000|url=http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2000/0004.parry.html|magazine=Washington Monthly|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131115051407/http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2000/0004.parry.html|archive-date=November 15, 2013|df=mdy-all}}</ref> ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' columnist [[Eric Boehlert]] also alleged media outlets exaggerated criticism of Gore as early as July 22, 1999,<ref name=ipqkva>[[Eric Boehlert|Boehlert, Eric]], (December 6, 2001), "The Press v. Al Gore", ''[[Rolling Stone]]''</ref> when Gore, known for being an environmentalist, had a friend release 500 million gallons of water into a drought-stricken river to help keep his boat afloat for a photo shoot;<ref name=ipqkva/> Boehlert claimed that media outlets exaggerated the actual number of gallons that were released, as they claimed it was 4 billion.<ref name=ipqkva/>
===Effects on future elections and the Supreme Court===
A number of subsequent articles have characterized the election in 2000, and the Supreme Court's decision in ''Bush v. Gore'', as damaging the reputation of the Supreme Court, increasing the view of judges as partisan, and decreasing Americans' trust in the integrity of elections.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/opinion/ct-xpm-2012-07-02-ct-oped-0702-krauthammer-20120702-17-story.html | title=Why Roberts did it | website=[[Chicago Tribune]] | date=July 2, 2012 | access-date=July 4, 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190703052113/https://www.chicagotribune.com/opinion/ct-xpm-2012-07-02-ct-oped-0702-krauthammer-20120702-17-story.html | archive-date=July 3, 2019 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Balkin|first=Jack M.|title=Bush v. Gore and the Boundary - Between Law and Politics|url=https://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=4557&context=ylj|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200724141205/https://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F&httpsredir=1&article=4557&context=ylj|archive-date=July 24, 2020|website=digitalcommons.law.yale.edu|access-date=July 30, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1417&context=facpub |title=The Liberal Legacy of Bush v. Gore |date=2006 |last=Cole |first=David |publisher=Georgetown University Law Center |access-date=July 4, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190531023521/https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1417&context=facpub |archive-date=May 31, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web| url=https://theweek.com/articles/488658/legacy-bush-v-gore| title=The legacy of Bush v. Gore| website=[[The Week]]| date=December 9, 2010| access-date=July 4, 2019| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190703052114/https://theweek.com/articles/488658/legacy-bush-v-gore| archive-date=July 3, 2019| url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="slate.com">{{Cite journal|url = https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2010/12/the-real-legacy-of-bush-v-gore.html|title = The real legacy of Bush v. Gore| journal=Slate |date = December 3, 2010|access-date = July 4, 2019|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190703052114/https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2010/12/the-real-legacy-of-bush-v-gore.html|archive-date = July 3, 2019|url-status = live | last1=Hasen | first1=Richard L. }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url = https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/11/just-how-bad-was-bush-v-gore/343247/|title = Just How Bad Was Bush v. Gore?|website = [[The Atlantic]]|date = November 29, 2010|access-date = July 4, 2019|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190703052114/https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/11/just-how-bad-was-bush-v-gore/343247/|archive-date = July 3, 2019|url-status = live}}</ref> The number of lawsuits brought over election issues more than doubled following the 2000 election cycle, an increase Richard L. Hasen of UC Irvine School of Law attributes to the "Florida fiasco".<ref name="slate.com"/>
===Westgate voter intimidation controversy===
In 2012, [[Westgate Resorts]] owner [[David A. Siegel]] admitted to surveying 8,000 Westgate employees nationwide and ensuring that those who supported Gore would not vote. Siegel, whose corporation was also based in Florida, acknowledged that his actions may have illegally blocked votes for Gore and ensured that Bush won the state.<ref>{{cite web|last=Berfield|first=Susan|title=Why Time-Share King David Siegel Thinks He Got Bush Elected|url=http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-08-03/why-time-share-king-david-siegel-thinks-he-got-w-elected|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120805053002/http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-08-03/why-time-share-king-david-siegel-thinks-he-got-w-elected|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 5, 2012|publisher=Business Weed|access-date=April 9, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Goldberg|first=Adam|title=David Siegel, Florida Real Estate Mogul, Claims To Be 'Personally Responsible' For George W. Bush's 2000 Victory|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/31/david-siegel-george-w-bush-election_n_1725152.html|work=The Huffington Post|access-date=9 April 2025|date=2012-07-31}}</ref>
==Analysis of results==
The 2000 presidential election saw an increase in the [[urban-rural political divide]] and caused regional realignments that would evolve in the 21st century. Bush made major gains in most counties, particularly outside urban areas.<ref name="A Detailed Look Back">{{Cite web|url=https://split-ticket.org/2022/07/30/the-one-that-started-it-all-a-look-back-at-the-2000-presidential-election/|title=A Detailed Look Back At The 2000 Presidential Election|first1=Lakshya|last1=Jain|first2=Harrison|last2=Lavelle|website=Split Ticket|date=July 30, 2022|access-date=June 4, 2024}}</ref>
Except in [[2008 United States presidential election|2008]], no major-party ticket has won fewer than 200 electoral voters in any 21st-century election. None has surpassed [[George H.W. Bush]]'s 426 electoral votes and 7.7% popular-vote margin in [[1988 United States presidential election|1988]]. Gore's popular-vote margin of 0.5% remains the lowest of any presidential election since 2000. It has been suggested{{by whom|date=August 2025}} that the 2000 election inaugurated a long-term trend of close and competitive presidential elections.
===Demographic swings===
The demographic swings in the 2000 presidential election foreshadowed realignments that continued to evolve. It was the first election in which whites without college degrees voted significantly more Republican than college-educated whites, though income was still a key dividing line. In [[2016 United States presidential election|2016]], education replaced income as the political dividing line among whites.<ref name="Nate Silver">{{Cite web|url=https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/education-not-income-predicted-who-would-vote-for-trump/|title=Education, Not Income, Predicted Who Would Vote For Trump|date=November 22, 2016|website=FiveThirtyEight|first1=Nate|last1=Silver}}</ref> By [[2024 United States presidential election|2024]], education had replaced income among all voters; Democratic nominee [[Kamala Harris]] won the highest-income voters but lost the election.<ref name="Poorer voters">{{Cite news |last1=Suss |first1=Joel |last2=Xiao |first2=Eva |last3=Burn-Murdoch |first3=John |last4=Murray |first4=Clara |last5=Vincent |first5=Jonathan |date=November 9, 2024 |title=Poorer voters flocked to Trump — and other data points from the election |url=https://www.ft.com/content/6de668c7-64e9-4196-b2c5-9ceca966fe3f |access-date=November 12, 2024 |work=Financial Times |quote=In contrast to 2020, the majority of lower-income households or those earning less than $50,000 a year voted for Trump this election. Conversely, those making more than $100,000 voted for Harris, according to exit polls.}}</ref>
Non-college whites swung toward Bush, which fueled his gains in the South. According to [[Split Ticket (website)|Split Ticket]] estimates, Bush won non-college whites by 17 points and college-educated whites by 9 points, winning whites as a whole by 13 points. Bush also made large gains with Hispanic voters and did even better among them in 2004. For example, Bush gained in [[Miami-Dade County, Florida]], helping him win the state. Bush also nearly won [[New Mexico]].<ref name="A Detailed Look Back"/> Gore did well with African American voters, though it was not enough to win any Southern state. He also marginally improved among white women with college degrees, which foreshadowed increased Democratic strength in that demographic.
These types of swings were later repeated in 2024. That year, Donald Trump made substantial gains with Hispanic voters and won a majority of Hispanic men (54-44%), while Kamala Harris won white women with college degrees 58-41%.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-gains-with-hispanic-men-harris-up-with-white-women-reutersipsos-polls-show-2024-10-25/|title=Trump gains with Hispanic men, Harris up with white women, Reuters/Ipsos polls show|date=October 25, 2024|first1=Jason|last1=Lange|first2=Bo|last2=Erickson|website=Reuters|access-date=November 12, 2024}}</ref>
===States become Republican stronghold===
[[File:RWS.svg|thumb|320px|Red states, along with the year they have been red since. All states colored on this map have been red since at least 2016.]]
The 2000 presidential election marked the permanent realignment of most of the [[Southern United States]] to the Republican Party at the presidential level. In addition to his home state of [[Tennessee]], Gore lost every Southern state despite the closeness of the electoral vote and popular vote.<ref name="Activists and Partisan Realignment">{{cite journal|last1=Miller|first1=Gary|last2=Schofield|first2=Norman|year=2003|title=Activists and Partisan Realignment in the United States|journal=American Political Science Review|volume=97|issue=2|pages=245–260|doi=10.1017/S0003055403000650|s2cid=12885628|issn=1537-5943|quote=By 2000, however, the New Deal party alignment no longer captured patterns of partisan voting. In the intervening 40 years, the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts had triggered an increasingly race-driven distinction between the parties. ... Goldwater won the electoral votes of five states of the Deep South in 1964, four of them states that had voted Democratic for 84 years (Califano 1991, 55). He forged a new identification of the Republican party with racial conservatism, reversing a century-long association of the GOP with racial liberalism. This in turn opened the door for Nixon's "Southern strategy" and the Reagan victories of the eighties.}}</ref> Gore's performance in the South was similar to that of [[Michael Dukakis]] in [[1988 United States presidential election|1988]], even as Gore won the popular vote by 0.5% and Dukakis lost it by 7.7%.<ref name="A Detailed Look Back"/>
No Democratic presidential nominee has won [[Alaska]], [[Idaho]], [[Utah]], [[Wyoming]], [[North Dakota]], [[South Dakota]], [[Nebraska]] (excluding [[Nebraska's 2nd congressional district]]), [[Kansas]], or [[Oklahoma]] since [[1964 United States presidential election|1964]]. None has won [[South Carolina]], [[Alabama]], [[Mississippi]], or [[Texas]] since [[1976 United States presidential election|1976]]. None has won [[Louisiana]], [[Arkansas]], [[Missouri]], [[Tennessee]], [[Kentucky]], or [[West Virginia]] since [[1996 United States presidential election|1996]]. Gore suffered particularly steep losses in [[Appalachia]] and the [[Upland South|Upper South]], which foreshadowed Democrats' 21st-century performance in those regions. For example, Dukakis won West Virginia in 1988, but Gore lost it, and it became one of the nation's most reliably Republican states thereafter.<ref name="A Detailed Look Back"/>
[[Virginia]] has supported the Democratic nominee in every presidential election since 2008.<ref name="The New Dominion">{{cite news|url=https://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/political_commentary/commentary_by_geoffrey_skelley/the_new_dominion_virginia_s_ever_changing_electoral_map|title=The New Dominion: Virginia's Ever-Changing Electoral Map |first= Geoffrey |last= Skelley |date= July 13, 2017 |website= Rasmussen Reports |access-date=June 4, 2024}}</ref> But every winning Republican presidential ticket has carried all the other ten former [[Confederate States of American|Confederate states]] in every 21st-century presidential election.
In [[2008 United States presidential election|2008]], [[Barack Obama]] won Virginia, [[North Carolina]], and [[Florida]], and in [[2012 United States presidential election|2012]] he won Virginia and Florida. In [[2020 United States presidential election|2020]], [[Joe Biden]] won Virginia and [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], the only 21st-century Democratic presidential nominee to win a [[Deep South]] state.
===States become Democratic stronghold===
Gore held up well in the [[Midwestern United States|Midwest]], losing only two states Bill Clinton won in 1996, [[Ohio]] (by 3.51%) and Missouri (by 3.34%). He won [[Wisconsin]] by 0.22% and [[Iowa]] by 0.32%.<ref name="A Detailed Look Back"/> Gore's performance in the Midwest later inspired the phrase "[[Blue wall (United States)|blue wall]]", referring to states that voted for Democratic presidential nominees from 1992 to 2012.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/12/politics/blue-wall-democrats-election/index.html|title=Holding Democratic 'blue wall' was crucial for Obama victory - CNNPolitics.com|first=Paul|last=Steinhauser|website=CNN|date=12 November 2012|access-date=9 May 2017|archive-date=31 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201031184142/https://www.cnn.com/2012/11/12/politics/blue-wall-democrats-election/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
The 2000 presidential election also marked the realignment of much of the [[Western United States]], particularly the [[West Coast of the United States|West Coast]], toward the Democratic Party. The West Coast was competitive at the time, with Gore winning California by 12% and Washington by 5.5%.
Gore narrowly won Oregon (by 0.44%) and New Mexico (by 0.06%), the latter of which was actually closer in raw votes than Florida.<ref name="A Detailed Look Back"/> [[California]] was believed to be competitive at the time and Bush campaigned there, but Gore won it by double digits.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/26/us/2000-campaign-race-california-offensive-bush-producing-results-across-california.html|title=THE 2000 CAMPAIGN: THE RACE IN CALIFORNIA; OFFENSIVE BY BUSH PRODUCING RESULTS ACROSS CALIFORNIA|website=The New York Times|date=October 26, 2000|first1=Todd S.|last1=Purdum}}</ref> Democratic nominees have won Oregon in all 21st-century presidential elections. Bush won Colorado and New Mexico in [[2004 United States presidential election|2004]], the last time a Republican presidential nominee has won either state.<ref name="The New West">{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2023-06-16/columnist-mark-z-barabak-the-new-west|title=A series on political shifts in the West|first1=Mark Z.|website=Los Angeles Times|last1=Barabak|date=November 2023 |access-date=June 4, 2024}}</ref>
Bush won both [[Nevada]] and [[Arizona]]. This election was the last time Nevada voted for the popular-vote loser. It has voted for the popular-vote winner in all subsequent presidential elections, the longest streak of any U.S. state. Arizona stayed Republican except in 2020, when it voted for [[Joe Biden]].
The 2000 presidential election was much less of a realignment in the [[Northeastern United States]]. Bush won [[New Hampshire]] by 1.27% and lost all other northeastern states. This was the last time any [[New England]] state voted Republican, although Donald Trump won [[Maine's 2nd congressional district]] in all three of his runs.
==See also==
{{Portal|United States|Politics|2000s}}
* [[2000 United States gubernatorial elections]]
* [[2000 United States House of Representatives elections]]
* [[2000 United States Senate elections]]
* [[First inauguration of George W. Bush]]
* [[List of close election results]]
* [[National Popular Vote Interstate Compact]]
* [[Ralph Nader's presidential campaigns]]
==Notes==
{{Notelist}}
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==Further reading==
===Books===
* {{cite book |last=Abramson |first=Paul R.<!--|authorlink1=Paul R. Abramson (political scientist)--> |author2=Rohde, David W. |author3=Aldrich, John Herbert |title=Change and Continuity in the 2000 Elections |year=2002 |isbn=1-56802-740-0 |publisher=CQ Press |___location=Washington, D.C. |url=https://archive.org/details/changecontinuity0000abra_a2s3 }}
* {{cite book |last=Brinkley |first=Douglas |author-link=Douglas Brinkley |title=36 Days: The Complete Chronicle of the 2000 Presidential Election Crisis |year=2001 |isbn=0-8050-6850-3 |publisher=Times Books |url=https://archive.org/details/36days00newy }}
* {{cite book |first=Vincent |last=Bugliosi |author-link=Vincent Bugliosi |year=2001 |title=The Betrayal of America: How the Supreme Court Undermined the Constitution and Chose Our President |publisher=Thunder's Mouth Press |isbn=1-56025-355-X|title-link=The Betrayal of America }}
* {{cite book |last=Corrado |first=Anthony |title=Election of 2000: Reports and Interpretations |publisher=Chatham House Publishers |year=2001|display-authors=etal}}
* {{cite book |editor=de La Garza, Rodolfo O.|editor-link=Rodolfo de la Garza|title=Muted Voices: Latinos and the 2000 Elections |year=2004 |isbn=0-7425-3590-8 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |___location=Lanham, MD}}
* {{cite book |last=Denton |first=Robert E. Jr. |title=The 2000 Presidential Campaign: A Communication Perspective |publisher=Praeger |year=2002}}
* {{cite book |first=Alan M. |last=Dershowitz |author-link=Alan M. Dershowitz |year=2001 |title=Supreme Injustice: How the High Court Hijacked Election 2000 |url=https://archive.org/details/supremeinjustice00alan_0 |url-access=registration |isbn=0-19-514827-4 |publisher=Oxford Univ. Press |___location=New York}}
* {{cite book |last=Dover |first=E. D. |title=Missed Opportunity: Gore, Incumbency, and Television in Election 2000 |year=2002 |isbn=0-275-97638-6 |publisher=Praeger |___location=Westport, Conn. |url=https://archive.org/details/missedopportunit00eddo }}
* {{cite book |first=H. |last=Gillman |year=2001 |title=The Votes That Counted: How the Court Decided the 2000 Presidential Election |url=https://archive.org/details/votesthatcounted00gill |url-access=registration |isbn=0-226-29408-0 |publisher=Univ. of Chicago Press |___location=Chicago}}
* {{cite book |last=Jacobson |first=Arthur J.|author2=Rosenfeld, Michel |author-link2=Michel Rosenfeld |title=The Longest Night: Polemics and Perspectives on Election 2000 |year=2002}}
* {{cite book |last=Moore |first=David W. |title=How to Steal an Election: The Inside Story of How George Bush's Brother and FOX Network Miscalled the 2000 Election and Changed the Course of History |year=2006 |isbn=1-56025-929-9 |publisher=Nation Press |___location=New York}}
* {{cite book |first=Greg |last=Palast |author-link=Greg Palast |year=2002 |title=The Best Democracy Money Can Buy |publisher=Pluto Press |isbn=0-7453-1846-0|title-link=The Best Democracy Money Can Buy }}
* {{cite book |last=Posner |first=Richard A. |authorlink=Richard Posner |title=Breaking the Deadlock: The 2000 Election, the Constitution, and the Courts |year=2001 |isbn=0-691-09073-4 |publisher=Princeton Univ. Press |___location=Princeton |url=https://archive.org/details/breakingdeadlock00posn }}
* {{cite book |last=Rakove |first=Jack N. | authorlink = Jack N. Rakove |title=The Unfinished Election of 2000 |year=2002 |isbn=0-465-06837-5 |publisher=Basic Books |___location=New York |url=https://archive.org/details/unfinishedelecti00rako }}
* {{cite book |last=Sabato |first=Larry J. |authorlink=Larry Sabato |title=Overtime! The Election 2000 Thriller |year=2001 |isbn=0-321-10028-X |publisher=Longman |___location=New York |url=https://archive.org/details/overtimeelection00saba }}
* {{cite book |last=Sammon |first=Bill |author-link=Bill Sammon |title=At Any Cost: How Al Gore Tried to Steal the Election |year=2001 |publisher=Regnery Publishing, Inc. |isbn=0-89526-227-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/atanycosthowalgo00samm }}
* {{cite book |editor=Steed, Robert P. |title=The 2000 Presidential Election in the South: Partisanship and Southern Party Systems in the 21st Century |year=2002}}
* {{cite book |last=Toobin |first=Jeffrey |author-link=Jeffrey Toobin |title=Too Close To Call: The Thirty-Six-Day Battle to Decide the 2000 Election |year=2001 |publisher=Random House |isbn=0-375-50708-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/tooclosetocallth00toob }}
===Journal articles===
* {{cite journal |first1=Arthur H. |last1=Miller|first2=Thomas F. |last2=Klobucar |title=The Role of Issues in the 2000 U.S. Presidential Election |journal=Presidential Studies Quarterly |volume=33 |issue=1 |year=2003 |pages=101+ |doi=10.1111/j.1741-5705.2003.tb00018.x}}
* {{cite journal |last=Wattenberg |first=Martin P. | authorlink=Martin Wattenberg (political scientist) |title=The Democrats' Decline in the House during the Clinton Presidency: An Analysis of Partisan Swings |journal=Presidential Studies Quarterly |volume=29 |year=1999 |doi=10.1111/j.0268-2141.2003.00057.x |page=685 |issue=3}}
* {{cite journal |last=Wattier |first=Mark J. |title=The Clinton Factor: The Effects of Clinton's Personal Image in 2000 Presidential Primaries and in the General Election |journal=White House Studies |volume=4 |year=2004}}
* [[Laurence Tribe|Tribe, Laurence H.]]: "''Erog .v Hsub'' and its Disguises: Freeing ''Bush v. Gore'' from its Hall of Mirrors", 115 ''Harvard Law Review'' 170 (November 2001).
* Jowei Chen and [[Jonathan Rodden]] (2013), "[http://dx.doi.org/10.1561/100.00012033 Unintentional Gerrymandering: Political Geography and Electoral Bias in Legislatures]", Quarterly Journal of Political Science: Vol. 8: No. 3, pp 239–269.
==
* Keating, Dan (''[[The Washington Post]]''). [https://www.scribd.com/document/104548804/20040526-KeatingPaper "Democracy Counts, The Florida ballot recount project"], paper prepared for presentation at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Boston, 2002.
* Underhill, Wendy [http://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/election-2000-before-and-after.aspx "Election 2000: Before and After: September 2012"], State Legislatures Magazine, a 2012 retrospective on improvements started by the 2000 election.
==
{{Commons category}}
{{wikiquote}}
* [
* [https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/datagraph.php?year=2000&fips=0&f=1&off=0&elect=0 2000 popular vote by states (with bar graphs)]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120825102042/http://
* [https://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/c2k/pdf/REPFINAL.pdf CBS News Coverage of Election Night 2000: Investigation, Analysis, Recommendations] (231 kB PDF).
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120825102042/http://www.mit.edu/~mi22295/elections.html#2000 Presidential Primaries, Caucuses, and Conventions]
* [https://www.usccr.gov/pubs/vote2000/main.htm Report from United States Commission on Civil Rights]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050525180620/http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/supremecourt/00-949_dec12.fdf Supreme Court Decisions of December 9, 2000]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20121019023115/http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/election/magtimeline.htm Timeline of the 2000 Presidential Election]
* [https://www.c-span.org/video/?165212-1/oh-waiter-one-order-crow ''Booknotes'' interview with Jeff Greenfield on ''Oh, Waiter! One Order of Crow: Inside the Strangest Presidential Election Finish in American History'', July 22, 2001.]
* [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/lcwa/html/elec2000/elec2000-overview.html United States Election 2000 Web Archive] from the U.S. [[Library of Congress]]
* [http://www.countingthevotes.com/2000/ Election of 2000 in Counting the Votes]
{{2000 United States presidential election}}
{{State results of the 2000 U.S. presidential election}}
{{2000 United States elections}}
{{United States presidential elections}}
{{George W. Bush}}
{{Dick Cheney}}
{{Al Gore}}
{{Dan Quayle}}
{{Ralph Nader}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:2000 United States presidential election| ]]
[[Category:
[[Category:
[[Category:Dick Cheney]]
[[Category:Joe Lieberman]]
[[Category:November 2000 in the United States]]
[[Category:Presidency of Bill Clinton]]
[[Category:Presidency of George W. Bush]]
[[Category:Contested elections in the United States]]
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