1992

The 1992 presidential election featured a battle between George Herbert Walker Bush, the incumbent President of the United States and former ambassador to the United Nations, and Bill Clinton, Governor from Arkansas. A third party candidate, Texas businessman Ross Perot ran as an independent and was featured in ballots on all 50 states. The Vice Presidential nominees were Al Gore for the Democrats, Dan Quayle for the Republicans, and James Stockdale for the Independents. Early polls following the Democratic nomination of Bill Clinton showed Perot in first place with Bush and Clinton following. After the Democratic nomination of Al Gore as Vice President, Clinton's campaign received a 30 percentage point bounce, putting him from 25% to 55% as opposed to Bush's 31%. Ross Perot created much controversy throughout the race by dropping out of the race in July only to reenter in time for the General Election. The deciding issue of the election ended up being a previous campaign promise of Bush in his 1988 presidential campaign against Michael Dukakis. In '88, Bush stated the following: "Read my Lips. No new Taxes." With the economy in the next few years sinking in to a recession, Bush did, in fact, raise taxes, breaking his pledge with the American people. The Clinton campaign seized this opportunity and released a political advertisement with the exact previously stated quote. Also, in the 1988 election, Bush was regarded as being a leader in foreign policy and one who could strengthen the United States foreign relations due to the tough foreign climate with the Soviet Union and the First Gulf War. In 1992, both main issues of Bush had passed, the Soviet Union having collapsed and the First Gulf war having ended. This, in many ways, left Bush with little leg to stand on against Clinton, who was regarded as a champion for the people. In the end, Clinton was elected in a wide margin of victory due in much part to Ross Perot garnering almost 19% of the popular vote, much of which could have potentially gone to Bush.

[|Election 1992 Wikipedia]