U.S. presidential election, 1992
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The U.S. presidential election of 1992 featured a three-way battle between Republican George Bush, the incumbent President; Democrat Bill Clinton, the governor of Arkansas; and independent candidate Ross Perot, a Texas businessman. Bush had alienated much of his conservative base by breaking his 1988 pledge against raising taxes, the economy had slowed, and his best strength, foreign policy, was regarded as much less important after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Clinton successfully capitalized on these weaknesses by running as a centrist New Democrat and won the presidency.
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Background
As the 1992 presidential election approached, Americans found themselves in a world transformed in ways almost unimaginable four years earlier. The familiar landmarks of the Cold War — from the Berlin Wall to intercontinental ballistic missiles and bombers on constant high alert — were gone. Eastern Europe was independent, the Soviet Union had dissolved, Germany was united, Arabs and Israelis were engaged in direct negotiations, and the threat of nuclear war was greatly diminished. It was as though one great history volume had closed and another had opened.
Yet at home, Americans were less sanguine — and faced some deep and familiar problems. Once the celebrations and parades following the Gulf War ended, the United States found itself in its deepest recession since the early 1980s. Many of the job losses were occurring among white-collar workers in middle management positions, not solely among blue-collar workers in the manufacturing sector who had been hit hardest in earlier years. Even when the economy began recovering in 1992, its growth was virtually imperceptible until late in the year, and many regions of the country remained mired in recession. Moreover, the federal deficit continued to mount, propelled most strikingly by rising expenditures for health care. Many Americans exhibited profound pessimism about their future, believing that their country was headed in the wrong direction.
Nominations
Republican Party nomination
Despite an early challenge by conservative journalist Pat Buchanan, President George H. W. Bush and Vice President Dan Quayle easily won renomination by the Republican Party. However, the success of the conservative opposition forced Bush to move farther to the right than in 1988, and to incorporate many socially conservative planks in the party platform.
Democratic Party nomination
The early phase of the primary was conducted in 1991 when Bush had high popularity ratings in the wake of the Gulf War. Because of this, many well-known Democrats, such as House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt of Missouri and Governor Mario Cuomo of New York, considered the race unwinnable and did not run for the nomination, leaving the field to several less-well-known candidates.
- Larry Agran, mayor of Irvine, California
- Jerry Brown, former governor of California and candidate for the 1976 and 1980 nominations
- Bill Clinton, governor of Arkansas
- Tom Harkin, U.S. senator from Iowa
- Bob Kerrey, U.S. senator from Nebraska
- Tom Laughlin, film actor and director from California
- Eugene McCarthy, former U.S. senator from Minnesota and candidate for the 1968 and 1972 nominations
- Paul Tsongas, former U.S. senator from Massachusetts
- Douglas Wilder, governor of Virginia
Clinton, a Southerner with experience governing a more conservative state, was able to exit the primaries positioned as a centrist New Democrat. As his vice presidential nominee, he selected Senator Al Gore of Tennessee, who was not only acknowledged as one of the Congress's most passionate advocates of environmental protection legislation, but also a young Southern Democrat who reinforced Clinton's image.
More: 1992 Democratic presidential primary
Other nominations
But the country's deep unease over the direction of the economy also sparked the emergence of a remarkable independent candidate -- wealthy Texas entrepreneur Ross Perot. Perot, who earned a fortune in computers and data processing, tapped into a deep wellspring of frustration over the inability of Washington to deal effectively with economic issues, principally the federal deficit, and his volunteers succeeded in collecting enough signatures to get his name on the ballot in all 50 states. Although Perot squandered even a remote chance of winning the election by dropping out of the presidential contest in July only to reenter in the fall, his presence ensured that economic issues remained at the center of the national debate.
Furthermore, this was the first election where soon-to-be perennial candidate Ralph Nader was seen. Despite the advice of several liberal and environmental groups, Nader did not formally run. Rather, he tried to make an impact in the New Hampshire primaries, urging members of both parties to write-in NONE OF THE ABOVE. As a result, several thousand Democrats and Republicans wrote-in Nader's own name. Ironically, he received more votes from Republicans than Democrats.
General election
Campaign
After Bill Clinton secured the Democratic Nomination in the Spring of 1992, polls showed Ross Perot leading the race, followed by President Bush, with Clinton in third place after a grueling nomination process. However, as the economy continued to grow sour, the President's approval rating continued to slide, as the Democrats began to rally around their nominee. On July 9, 1992, Clinton chose Tennessee Senator and former 1988 Presidential candidate Albert Arnold Gore, Jr. to be his running mate[1]. As Governor Clinton's acceptance speech approached, Ross Perot dropped out of the race, being convinced that with a "revitalized Democratic Party," staying in the race would cause the race to be decided by the U.S House of Representatives[2]. Clinton gave his acceptance on July 17, 1992, promising to bring a "new convenant" to America, and to work to heal the perceived gap that had developed between the rich and the poor during the Reagan/Bush years. The Clinton campaign received the biggest convention "bounce" in history[3] which brought him from 25 percent in the spring behind Bush and Perot up to 55 percent to Bush's 31 percent.
After the convention, Clinton and Gore began a bus tour around the United States, while the Bush/Quayle campaign, in panic mode began to hammer at Clinton's character, in light of accusations of infidelity and dodging the draft. The Bush campaign emphasized its foreign policy successes such as Desert Storm, and the end of the Cold War. Bush also contrasted his military service to Clinton's lack thereof, and criticized his lack of foreign policy expertise. However, as the economy was the main issue, Bush's campaign floundered across the nation, even in Republican bastions[4], and Clinton maintained leads with over 50 percent of the vote nationwide consistently, while Bush typically saw numbers in the upper 30s[5]. As Bush's economic edge had evaporated, his campaign looked to energize its socially conservative base at the 1992 Republican National Convention in Houston, Texas. At the Convention, Bush's primary campaign opponent Pat Buchanan gave his famous "culture war" speech, hammering at Clinton and Gore's social progressiveness, and voicing skepticism on his "New Democrat" brand. After President Bush accepted his renomination, his campaign saw a small bounce in the polls, but this was short lived, as Clinton maintained his lead[6]. The campaign continued with a lopsided lead for Clinton through September[7], until Ross Perot decided to re-enter the race[8] Ross Perot's re-entry in the race was welcome by the Bush campaign, as Fred Steeper, a poll taker for Bush, said, "He'll be important if we accomplish our goal, which is to draw even with Clinton." Initially, Perot's return saw the Texas billionaire's numbers stay low, until he was given the opportunity to participate in two unprecedented three man debates. The race narrowed, as Perot's number's significantly improved as Clinton's number's declined, while Bush's numbers remained more or less the same from earlier in the race [9] as Perot and Bush began to hammer at Clinton on character issues once again.
Results
On November 3, Bill Clinton won election as the 42nd President of the United States by a wide margin in the U.S. Electoral College, receiving 43 percent of the popular vote in the three man race against Bush's 37 percent. It was the first time since 1968 that a candidate won the White House with under 50 percent of the popular vote. The state of Arkansas was the only state in the entire country that gave the majority of its vote to a single candidate; the rest were won by pluralities of the vote.
Independent candidate Ross Perot received 19,741,065 popular votes for President. The billionaire used his own money to advertise extensively, and is the only third-party candidate ever allowed into the nationally televised presidential debates with both major party candidates (Independent John Anderson debated Republican Ronald Reagan in 1980, but without Democrat Jimmy Carter who had refused to appear in a three-man debate). Speaking about the North American Free Trade Agreement, Perot described its effect on American jobs as causing a "giant sucking sound." Perot was ahead in the polls for a period of almost two months - a feat not accomplished by an independent candidate in almost 100 years. Perot lost much of his support when he temporarily withdrew from the election, only to declare himself a candidate again soon after.
Perot's almost 19% of the popular vote made him the most successful third-party presidential candidate in terms of popular vote since Theodore Roosevelt in the 1912 election. Also, Ross Perot's 19% of the popular vote was the highest ever percent of the popular vote for a candidate who did not win any electoral votes. Exit polling indicated that Perot voters would have split their votes fairly evenly between Clinton and Bush had Perot not been in the race [10] , and an analysis by FairVote - Center for Voting and Democracy suggested that, while Bush could have won more electoral votes with Perot out of the race, he would not have gained enough to reverse Clinton's victory. [11] Clinton also led Bush in all polls after the Democratic Convention after Ross Perot's initial exit in two way races, and never lost the lead for the rest of the campaign.[12]
Although he did not win any states, Perot managed to finish ahead of one of the two major party candidates in two states: In Maine, Perot received 30.44% of the vote to Bush's 30.39% (Clinton won Maine with 38.77%); in Utah, Perot received 27.34% of the vote to Clinton's 24.65% (Bush won Utah with 43.36%).
| Presidential candidate | Party | Home state | Popular vote | Electoral vote | Running mate | Running mate's home state | Running mate's electoral vote | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | Pct | |||||||
| William Jefferson Clinton | Democrat, Liberal | Arkansas | 44,908,254 | 42.93% | 370 | Albert Arnold Gore, Jr. | Tennessee | 370 |
| George Herbert Walker Bush | Republican, Conservative, Right To Life | Texas | 39,102,343 | 37.38% | 168 | James Danforth Quayle III | Indiana | 168 |
| Henry Ross Perot | (none) | Texas | 19,741,065 | 18.87% | 0 | James Bond Stockdale | California | 0 |
| Andre V. Marrou | Libertarian | 291,627 | 0.28% | 0 | Nancy Lord | 0 | ||
| James "Bo" Gritz | Populist | 107,014 | 0.10% | 0 | Cy Minett | 0 | ||
| Lenora B. Fulani | New Alliance | 73,714 | 0.07% | 0 | Maria Elizabeth Munoz | 0 | ||
| Total | 104,600,366 | 100% | 538 | 538 | ||||
| Needed to win | 270 | 270 | ||||||
Source: U.S. Office of the Federal Register (electoral votes)
See also
- President of the United States
- U.S. Senate election, 1992
- History of the United States (1988-present)
- Read my lips: No new taxes
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Reference
External link
- Bulk of article text as of January 9, 2003 copied from U.S. State Department (usinfo.state.gov))
References
- Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "U.S._presidential_election,_1992" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._presidential_election,_1992, used under the GNU Free Documentation License
