When an incumbent President runs for re-election, there is usually slim competition, which is one of the many reasons that the 1992 U.S. Presidential Election was one of a kind. During the 1992 Election, incumbent Republican President George Bush was running against Democrat Bill Clinton, and Independent candidate Ross Perot.
In 1988 when Bush was first elected President of the United States, he promised to never raise taxes. However, during a budget deficit in 1990, he revoked his promise and raised taxes in order to help the falling economy. This lost the trust of millions of Americans, including those who had previously backed him up. Despite this, Bush still managed to win the Republican nomination in the race that year.
Bill Clinton, the Governor of Arkansas at the time, disliked the advantages given to the wealthy during Reagan revolution and planned to get Reagan democrats and middle-class republicans on his side with his Third Way position. He nearly lost his campaign in January 1992, after media made news of an affair he had been involved in with Gennifer Flowers, a woman from Arkansas. Flowers admitted to the affair shortly after press released the news and within days, the whole country had heard. The same week, Clinton and his wife appeared on an episode of 60 Minutes admitting that they had some marital issues and Clinton admitted to hurting his marriage, putting the scandal to rest. Clinton lost some support, but quickly rebounded, labeling himself the “Comeback Kid”.
Candidates dealing with the repercussions of a falling economy and a sex scandal, made it a good time for a third party bid to step up to the plate. On CNN’S Larry King Live, billionaire businessman Ross Perot, announced that he would run for President if supporters would petition to put him on the ballot in all 50 states. Perot became quite popular and was put in the race, personally financing himself. He hired former operatives from both parties to help run his campaign and polls showed that in May and June of 1992, he was in the lead. It could be said that Perot’s campaign was a distraction for the other candidates as they had many issues going on at the time, and Perot was a way for Americans to shift their focus from these issues.
In July of 1992, Clinton was in the lead and Perot unexpectedly dropped from the race right before the Democratic National Convention. In September, Perot returned to the campaign trail with low support at first. After spending $65 million of his own money, with opposition of the North American Free Trade Agreement, focus on eliminating the budget deficit and national debt, his support began to increase. Creating one of the most powerful third-party movements in U.S. history.
However, after fighting through a dramatic campaign, the scandal, and winning many American’s over, Clinton ended 12 years of Republican Presidency and was elected President. He won 43% of votes, Bush got 37.4% and Perot 18.9%. However, Clinton got 370 Electoral College votes, Bush got 168 and Perot did not receive any.
Work Cited:
Levy, M. (n.d.). United States presidential election of 1992 | United States government. Retrieved February, 2016, from http://www.britannica.com/event/United-States-presidential-election-of-1992
Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia. “Bill Clinton: Campaigns and Elections.” Accessed February 5, 2016. http://millercenter.org/president/biography/clinton-campaigns-and-elections.
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