Elizabeth H. Dole won with 53.6% of the vote (1,248,664 votes), ahead of Erskine B. Bowles with 45.0% (1,047,983 votes).
The margin between the first two candidates was 8.6 percentage points (200,681 votes). The party margin (Republican share minus Democratic share) was a Republican lead of 8.6 points.
Compared with the previous comparable race in the same area, the party margin moved 12.7 points toward Republicans. The winning party changed.
2,331,181 votes were counted in this race, for 3 candidates or options.
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