George H. W. Bush 1992 presidential campaign

With a coalition victory in the Persian Gulf War and high approval ratings, Bush's re-election initially looked likely; however, he was criticized by many conservatives for breaking his pledge of never raising taxes.^[6] He felt the economy would be the deciding factor in the election and could even overshadow the success of Operation Desert Storm. Early counting of ballots in the New Hampshire primary favored Buchanan,^[7] but the final results gave a victory to Bush.^[8] It was a strong showing by Buchanan, as his score nearly matched Eugene McCarthy's protest vote against Lyndon B. Johnson in 1968.^[9] During the convention, it was speculated that Bush might drop Quayle from the ticket due to his relatively low polling performance,^[10] but Bush was unwilling, asserting that removing his 1988 choice from the 1992 ticket would be an implicit admission that choosing Quayle had been a mistake.^[10]


Meanwhile, Democrats nominated Bill Clinton, the governor of Arkansas as their presidential nominee, with Al Gore, a senator from Tennessee, as his running mate.^[11] Texas billionaire Ross Perot ran as an independent candidate; at one point Perot had a clear lead over the major-party candidates in the polls.^[12] During the campaign, Bush emphasized his foreign policy success, but as the economy went into a recession, his popularity fell. He conducted a whistle stop tour on a train named Spirit of America and participated in a series of three presidential debates.^[13] Clinton won the election, taking 43 percent of the popular vote and 370 electoral votes, while Bush won 37.5 percent of the popular vote and 168 electoral votes. Perot won 19% of the popular vote, one of the highest totals for a third-party candidate in U.S. history, but no electoral votes.^[14] Bush left office with a 56% approval rating and 37% disapproval rating.^[15]