Why was there such a large vote for Ross Perot in 1992?

[ChickenGuy]

Give a non-American a history lesson.


Popular Vote


Bill Clinton - 44,909,806

George H.W. Bush - 39,104,550

Ross Perot - 19,743,821


I don't know enough about that election, and I wasn't interested in politics at the time as a teenager.


What was his appeal? What attracted him to Americans? What did he offer that the other two parties didn't?

 

[MoltenRock III]

He was a populist that explained things rather simply, albeit incorrectly, but many average Americans thought he was a plain spoken person.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OKYVH2Gaec[/ame]

 

[mbamike]

Perot was a plain-spoken business man who presented himself as getting the job done. He spent his own money to get some of his employees out of Iraq rather than depend on the government to do it. He highlighted just how incompetent the federal government is and state he would run the government like he runs his business.

Also, there were a good number of Republicans upset with daddy Bush because he did not go in and capture Saddam Hussein when he had a chance. Daddy Bush appeared to be incompetent also.

What hurt Perot was that he pulled out of the race only to get back in again a week or so later. There was something about his daughter being kidnapped that caused him to withdraw. Anyways, this made him look a bit flaky under pressure and made some voters re-consider voting for him.

 

[White Eagle]

Like above, plain spoken. Once he said "If you want to talk to me, I'm all ears." Look at his picture!

He was likeable to those 19m.

 

[1091MAC]

I remember him saying that he wanted to have a 50 cent a gallon gas tax to use to find sources for alternative fuel so that the US could break its dependance on foreign oil. He was laughed at because people said that Americans would never pay $2.50 a gallon for gasoline.

He also warned that illegal immigration would also be a huge problem in the near future and that the U.S. needed to do something to either decrease it or eliminate it.

And like the youtube shows, he wanted to keep more jobs in the U.S.

I wish I had voted for him.

 

[White Eagle]

I remember him saying that he wanted to have a 50 cent a gallon gas tax to use to find sources for alternative fuel so that the US could break its dependance on foreign oil. He was laughed at because people said that Americans would never pay $2.50 a gallon for gasoline.

He also warned that illegal immigration would also be a huge problem in the near future and that the U.S. needed to do something to either decrease it or eliminate it.

And like the youtube shows, he wanted to keep more jobs in the U.S.

I wish I had voted for him.

Sounds like we fucked up, huh!

 

[Kulindahr]

I remember him saying that he wanted to have a 50 cent a gallon gas tax to use to find sources for alternative fuel so that the US could break its dependance on foreign oil. He was laughed at because people said that Americans would never pay $2.50 a gallon for gasoline.

He also warned that illegal immigration would also be a huge problem in the near future and that the U.S. needed to do something to either decrease it or eliminate it.

And like the youtube shows, he wanted to keep more jobs in the U.S.

I wish I had voted for him.

He saw very clearly on a lot of issues and communicated that very clearly -- these are two good examples.

 

[CoolBlue71]

Part of the answer is this: 1992 Ross Perot was allowed into the debates. Hence, the change in 1996 was no surprise. One should note that Perot talked responsibility about the deficit and what it would mean to the generation of young adults coming up at the time (those born at the end of the 1960s/early 1970s voting for the first time).

Nabbing nearly 19% of the popular vote, against incumbent George Bush and winning Democratic challenger Bill Clinton, was not pleasing to the Republican and Democratic parties which, for all their purported differences, conspire to protect their two-party monopoly from any viable challenge (as was represented by Ross Perot who was stronger prior to quitting the race before returning; he finished third in every state but Utah, retained by Bush, and Maine, a pickup for Clinton in a state that hasn't voted for a R since Bush held in 1988).

Last time a candidate outside the two major parties won any Electoral College votes was 1968 American Independent George Wallace. He carried his home state of Alabama and the adjacent southern states of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Georgia.

 

[frankfrank]

Another forgotten factor that caused him to crash (temporarily quitting was the main one), was the debate with the VICE-Presidential candidates, which showcased Perot's choice James Stockdale. Stockdale came off as a complete buffoon - I think the first words I remember from his mouth were "Who am I? What am I doing here?" then, later in the debate, he couldn't answer a question because "I didn't have my hearing aid turned on," etc. (These quotes, if not accurate, are close.)

I don't remember most of his answers, but it seems I remember they were either rambling non-sequiturs, or didn't really make a point.

In retrospect, Sarah Palin gives Stockdale a LOT of credibility, in comparison.

I also remember something about Perot wanting a massive police sweep of some neighborhood of south Dallas to intercept drugs which may be hiding in people's residences, and he didn't want something "inconvenient" like The Constitution to get in his way.

Things like that, are why I would NOT vote for Perot, but he was more spot-on about economics than probably any other candidate who has run in recent decades. He also struck me as a power-hungry megalomaniac who aspired for the U. S. to be an absolute totalitarian police state. He was right about that "giant sucking sound" - our jobs going to Mexico. The huge migration to China wasn't in full force yet.

Now, hasn't Obama also said something about The constitution being "inconvenient"? Grrr

 

[josher]

Because the elder Bush said while campaigning for the presidency in 1988, "Read my lips! No new taxes."

And then after he waqs elected, he signed a bill raising taxes.

Many conservatives then rebelled aginst him.