Historically speaking, New Jersey has a pretty good track record when it comes to picking United States presidents.

In fact, Garden State voters have actually picked 13 of the past 16 presidential elections.

It's also no surprise that as a blue state, New Jersey has a long history of selecting Democratic candidates in the presidential race, and Tuesday's election is no exception, based on preliminary numbers. As of early Wednesday morning, New Jersey results showed Democrat Hillary Clinton ahead of Republican Donald Trump by a margin of 55 percent to 45 percent.

The last time a Republican managed to garner enough votes to win New Jersey was in 1988, when Vice President George H.W. Bush won the presidency. Before that, the Garden State elected GOP candidates in every election since the state voted for President Lyndon Johnson in 1964 and John F. Kennedy in 1960.

Here's a look at how New Jerseyans voted in presidential elections between 1996 and 2012:

  • 1996 - President Bill Clinton received 53.7 percent of the votes to Republican Bob Dole's 35.9 percent.
  • 2000 - Al Gore got 56.1 percent to George W. Bush's 40.3 percent. Nationally, Bush won the presidency that year.
  • 2004 - Democrat John Kerry won 53 percent of the vote to President George W. Bush's 46.2 percent. Nationally, Bush won that election as well.
  • 2008 - Barack Obama garnered 57.3 percent of the votes to Republican John McCain's 41.7 percent.
  • 2012 - President Barack Obama won 58.3 percent to Republican Mitt Romney's 40.5 percent of the votes.

— Reporting by Toniann Antonelli and Sergio Bichao 

More From WPG Talk Radio 95.5 FM