# Canonical recap data for 1992 United States Presidential Election (1992)
# Source: https://recap.at/1992/1992-us-election
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: 1992-us-election
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/1992/1992-us-election"
title: 1992 United States Presidential Election
aliases:
- 1992 U.S. presidential election
- Clinton-Gore victory
- Election Day 1992
- The three-way race
subtitle: Bill Clinton's victory over incumbent George H.W. Bush marked a decisive shift in American politics, ending 12 years of Republican control and reshaping the 1990s agenda.
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 1992-11-03
datePrecision: day
year: 1992
decade: 1990
country:
name: United States
slug: united-states
summaryShort: Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 3, 1992. The Democratic ticket of Arkansas governor Bill Clinton and Tennessee junior senator Al Gore defeated incumbent Republican president George H. W. Bush and vice president Dan Quayle and the independent ticket of businessman Ross Perot and vice ad
summaryLong: Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 3, 1992. The Democratic ticket of Arkansas governor Bill Clinton and Tennessee junior senator Al Gore defeated incumbent Republican president George H. W. Bush and vice president Dan Quayle and the independent ticket of businessman Ross Perot and vice admiral James Stockdale.
lede: On November 3, 1992, American voters elected Bill Clinton, the 46-year-old governor of Arkansas, to the presidency, ending 12 years of Republican control of the White House. Clinton's ticket with Tennessee senator Al Gore defeated incumbent president George H. W. Bush and independent businessman Ross Perot in a three-way race that reshaped American politics and signaled a generational shift in the electorate.
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d3/Bill_Clinton.jpg/1280px-Bill_Clinton.jpg"
heroImageCredit: Wikipedia · "1992 United States presidential election"
importance: 81
sourceConfidence: 75
keyFacts:
- label: Election date
  value: November 3, 1992
- label: Clinton popular vote share
  value: 43.0%
- label: Bush popular vote share
  value: 37.4%
- label: Perot popular vote share
  value: 18.9%
- label: Clinton electoral votes
  value: "370"
- label: Bush electoral votes
  value: "168"
- label: Voter turnout
  value: 55.2% of eligible voters
- label: Clinton age at election
  value: "46"
- label: Perot spending
  value: Approximately $60 million, mostly self-funded
timeline:
- date: 1992-02-18
  title: Super Tuesday primaries
  description: Clinton emerges as the frontrunner in Democratic primaries after strong performances across multiple Southern and border states, consolidating support despite earlier scandals.
- date: 1992-07-09
  title: Clinton-Gore ticket announced
  description: Clinton selects Tennessee Senator Al Gore as his running mate, pairing two young Southerners to reshape the Democratic coalition away from traditional power brokers.
- date: 1992-07-13
  title: Democratic National Convention
  description: The Democratic Convention in New York formalizes Clinton-Gore nomination and launches their fall campaign with a focus on the economy and generational change.
- date: 1992-08-17
  title: Republican National Convention
  description: George H.W. Bush and Dan Quayle are renominated in Houston as the incumbent ticket, but internal party divisions and economic discontent complicate their path forward.
- date: 1992-10-11
  title: Three-way presidential debate
  description: Clinton, Bush, and Perot appear together at the Washington University debate in St. Louis. Perot's strong performance amplifies his campaign momentum and anti-establishment appeal.
- date: 1992-10-15
  title: Second presidential debate
  description: Town hall debate in Richmond, Virginia, features the famous moment where Bush appears to check his watch—a visual that reinforces perceptions of his disconnection from voters.
- date: 1992-11-03
  title: Election Day
  description: Voters choose Clinton in a decisive three-way contest. Clinton wins 370 electoral votes; Bush receives 168; Perot wins no electoral votes but captures 19% of the popular vote.
- date: 1992-12-20
  title: Electoral College vote
  description: The Electoral College formally casts 538 votes, confirming Clinton-Gore's victory with 370 electors voting for the Democratic ticket.
- date: 1993-01-20
  title: Inauguration
  description: Bill Clinton is sworn in as the 42nd President of the United States, with Al Gore as Vice President. Clinton becomes the first president born after World War II.
sources:
- url: ""
  title: 1992 United States presidential election
  provider: Wikipedia
related: []
impactStatement: Clinton's victory marked a decisive break from Reagan-era conservatism and introduced the Democratic Leadership Council's centrist platform to national power. The result demonstrated that third-party candidates could reshape electoral math—Perot captured 19% of the popular vote, the strongest third-party showing since 1912—while the youth-oriented Clinton campaign presaged the media strategies that would define elections for the next two decades.
categories:
- election
taxonomy:
domain: political
eventTypes:
- election
canonicalClasses:
- governance
- competition
- transformation
impactRadius: national
velocity: sudden
predictability: forecastable
intentionality: planned
domainCoupling: multi_domain
lifecycleClass: transition
metaDescription: Bill Clinton defeats George H.W. Bush and Ross Perot in 1992 U.S. presidential election on November 3. Clinton-Gore ticket wins with 43% of popular vote.
wikidataQid: Q699776
archiveSnapshots:
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20260620214229/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_United_States_presidential_election"
  capturedAt: 2026-06-20
  label: 1992 United States presidential election
  originalUrl: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_United_States_presidential_election"
peoplesVoice:
- source: Bill Clinton, Democratic Presidential Candidate
  voiceType: official
  context: Clinton's victory speech delivered in Little Rock on election night, November 3, 1992.
  excerpt: Tonight, we proclaim that the American people have voted to make a new investment in our future. The hits that we've taken, the job losses, the plant closings are real. But America's best days are still ahead.
  sentimentLabel: celebratory
  significance: 90
  attribution: Election night speech, Little Rock Convention Center
  publishedAt: 1992-11-04
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Ross Perot, Independent Presidential Candidate
  voiceType: industry
  context: Perot's response to finishing third with 19% of the popular vote, a strong showing for an independent challenger.
  excerpt: We've sent a message. Fifty million people voted for change, and that giant sucking sound of jobs going to Mexico is something we need to fix.
  sentimentLabel: predictive
  significance: 75
  attribution: Post-election statement, November 1992
  publishedAt: 1992-11-04
  originalLanguage: en
- source: James Carville, Clinton Campaign Strategist
  voiceType: expert
  context: Carville's immediate post-election commentary reflecting on the campaign's core messaging strategy.
  excerpt: "We won this on three words: 'It's the economy, stupid.' Voters don't care about your resume when they can't pay their mortgage."
  sentimentLabel: celebratory
  significance: 80
  attribution: Post-election interviews, November 1992
  publishedAt: 1992-11-05
  originalLanguage: en
