United States presidential election, 1992

Bill Clinton and George H. W. Bush

In the 1992 presidential election, President George H. W. Bush stood for reelection. He had received strong support for the way he had handled foreign relations during his term in office, but the economy had slumped. Bush had the confidence of the Republican Party, which nominated him for reelection after he easily brushed aside a campaign by Pat Buchanan. The Democrats, after a more protracted primary season, nominated young Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton, as their candidate. Wealthy oil-businessman named Ross Perot also ran as an independent bringing together a new Reform Party. The candidates appeared in several live televised Presidential Debates, which included not only the two major party candidates but also the sometimes quirky, but very charismatic, Perot who proved to have a "folksy" delivery that gave him a strong following. Clinton won a majority of the Electoral College despite receiving only a plurality of the popular vote after Perot was able to garner almost 20% of the vote.

Campaign

Bush enjoyed historically high approval ratings after his decisive military victory in Operation Desert Storm in 1991, but that had evaporated by the time of the election. Ironically, the fall of the Berlin Wall and collapse of the Soviet Union under Bush's Presidency hurt him in his reelection campaign in that it resulted in foreign policy not being a prominent issue, with no Soviet threat. The campaign focused almost entirely on domestic concerns and an economy that was believed to still be in a recession.

A prominently placed sign in Clinton’s campaign headquarters read "It’s the economy, stupid!" Bill Clinton ran a different, more youthful campaign, by making frequent appearances on MTV and daytime talk-shows, and took questions from live audiences, which proved to be a comfortable setting for him. He distanced himself from past Democratic Party candidates like George McGovern, Walter Mondale and Michael Dukakis, by running as a centrist. He cited the ticket’s support of the death penalty, a balanced budget, middle class tax cuts and a desire to "end welfare as we know it." Clinton had baggage of avoiding the Vietnam War and past drug use, but the press didn't push those themes and disenchantment with Bush won out.

George H. W. Bush trailed in the polls for the entire campaign. Several of his speeches and political ads focused on the Gulf War, fall of the Berlin Wall and experience to illustrate his success as commander in chief, but his message did little to help his standing.

Bush was widely blamed for a downturn in the economy that did not actually happen. Worse, he was blamed for reneging on his pledge, 'Read my lips - no new taxes'. He agreed to a major tax hike. More moderate and less charismatic than Reagan, Bush had no personal following could do little to find an issue to energize his party or the American people. In the debates he stressed the idea of the American people giving him a Republican Congress to work with, which at the time seemed out of touch as the Democrats enjoyed large leads in both the House and the Senate. His campaign never caught fire. Attempts to paint Clinton as a tax-and-spend liberal governor with no foreign policy experience didn't resonate. Bush never found a way to deal with Perot.

In Ross Perot’s surprisingly strong third-party campaign he ran as a crusading expert--a successful businessman--who was qualified to fix the economy and the corruption caused by huge federal budget deficits. He damaged the Bush campaign by asserting that the economy was worse then it was and giving disenchanted voters who didn't want to support Clinton a protest vote.

Results

Candidates	Party	Popular vote	Percent	Electoral vote
Bill Clinton	Democratic	44, 909, 806	43.0%	370
George H.W. Bush	Republican	39, 104, 550	37.4%	168
H. Ross Perot	Independent	19, 743, 821	18.9%	0
Andre Marrou	Libertarian	290, 087	.28%	0
Other	Other	375, 659	.36%	0

Analysis

The 1992 election was unique for a number of reasons: a perception that economic conditions were worse than they actually were, which harmed incumbent President Bush; a strong third-party candidate in Perot; a backlash against 12 years of a conservative presidency; and, perhaps most importantly, Bill Clinton's ability to unite not only the Democratic Party, but a number of heterogeneous coalitions, much as Franklin Roosevelt, also a consummate politician, did in the New Deal Coalition after 132.

Further reading

• Ceaser, James, and Andrew Busch. Upside Down and Inside Out: The 1992 Elections and American Politics (1993)
• Crotty, William, ed. America's Choice: The Election of

1992 (1993)

• Koch, Jeffrey. "The Perot Candidacy and Attitudes Toward Government and Politics." Political Research Quarterly 1998 51(1): 141-153. 1065-9129, shows that supporting Perot made people more alienated and distrustful of government
• McCann, James A.; Rapoport, Ronald B.; and Stone,

Walter J. "Heeding The Call: An Assessment of Mobilization into H. Ross Perot's 1992 Presidential Campaign." American Journal of Political Science 1999 43(1):1-28.

• Nelson, Michael, ed. The Elections of 1992 (1993)
• Pomper, Gerald, ed. The Election of 1992: Reports and

Interpretations (1993).