1992 United States presidential election
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550 members of the Electoral College Plurality of electoral votes votes needed to win | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Turnout | 59.2% ▲ 5.8 pp | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 1992 United States presidential election was the 52nd quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 3, 1992. Progressive senator Paul Wellstone, in coalition with the Democratic Party, defeated incumbent Republican President Bob Dole, and a number of minor candidates.
The economy had recovered from a recession in the spring of 1991, followed by 19 consecutive months of economic growth, but perceptions of the economy's slow growth harmed Dole, for he had inherited a substantial economic boom from his predecessor George H.W. Bush. Dole's greatest weakness, however, was foreign policy, which was regarded as much more important following the fall of Valery Sablin and the end of the Korean Revolutionary War, as Dole campaigned on escalating the Cold War and even potentially declaring war on Japan. Dole led in several polls taken in June 1992, but severely damaged his candidacy by refusing to meet Morihiro Hosokawa, the Prime Minister of Japan over a potential peace agreement. The Wellstone campaign criticized Dole's character and emphasized Wellstone's foreign policy, while Dole focused on the economy.
In the end, Paul Wellstone defeated incumbent President Bob Dole by over three million votes. This was the first time since 1980 that an incumbent President failed to win re-election.