United States presidential election in Florida, 1992

United States presidential election in Florida

← 1988 November 3, 1992 1996 →
Nominee George H. W. Bush Bill Clinton Ross Perot Party Republican Democratic Independent Home state Texas Arkansas Texas Running mate Dan Quayle Al Gore Electoral vote 25 0 0 Popular vote 2,173,310 2,072,698 1,053,067 Percentage 40.9% 39.0% 19.8%
County Results   Clinton—50-60%   Clinton—40-50%   Clinton—<40%   Bush—<40%   Bush—40-50%   Bush—50-60%
President before election George H. W. Bush Republican Elected President Bill Clinton Democratic

George H. W. Bush
Republican

Bill Clinton
Democratic

Florida held an election for president of the United States on November 3, 1992. The race was extremely close -- so close in fact that some news networks mistakenly reported that Democratic challenger Bill Clinton had won in the state, although incumbent President George H. W. Bush was eventually declared the winner. Bush received 40.89% of the vote to Clinton's 39.00%. The final result in Florida reflected the reluctance of many Southern states to back Clinton, although Clinton was polling well in other parts of the country.

Bush won by about 100,000 votes, marking the first time it had backed the losing candidate since 1960, when it voted for Richard Nixon over John F. Kennedy. Despite Bush's narrow victory, this election marked the start of Florida's transition from a strong GOP-leaning state into a closely divided swing state for future presidential elections; just four years earlier Bush had carried Florida by 22 points, making it his second-best state in the South. Notably, Clinton flipped the heavily populated South Florida counties of Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade, which had all voted for Bush in 1988, into the Democratic column, and they have remained reliable Democratic bastions in the state ever since, buoying Democratic base support in the state.