Results
On Election Day, Perot finished in third place behind Clinton (the winner) and Bush. Perot received 19,743,821 votes, which accounted for 18.91% of the popular vote. He failed to win any states in the Electoral College because of the relatively even distribution of his support, but did win over 30% of the vote in Maine and 27% in Utah, finishing second in both states. Perot was the first third party candidate since George Wallace in 1968 to finish first in a county, winning in Alaska (divided into boroughs), California, Nevada, Colorado, Kansas, Texas and Maine. He won his largest percentage in Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska and Loving County, Texas with over 40%. According to exit polls, 52% of Perot's supporters were male, 94% were white, 63% were aged between 18 and 44, and about 2/3 had not received a college degree. The income of supporters mirrored the general public. In terms of ideology, 53% identified as moderates, 27% were conservative and 20% were liberal, while two-thirds were either members of the Democratic Party or were politically independent.
Perot's performance satisfied the 5% popular vote threshold for third party candidates, classifying it as successful under the criterion established by scholar Walter Dean Burnham. The legitimacy of this success has been questioned by scholars who dismiss the label of Perot as a typical third party candidate, largely due to the availability of campaign funds and financing of grassroots efforts. Others dispute these claims and point out that Perot forced the other candidates to change their rhetoric on the issues to gain the votes of his supporters, indicating an issues campaign. Exit polls revealed that 35% of voters would have voted for Perot if they believed he could win. Contemporary analysis reveals that Perot could have won the election if the polls prior to the election had shown the candidate with a larger share, preventing the wasted vote mindset. Republicans, including Vice President Dan Quayle, blamed Perot for their defeat, claiming that he won votes that would have otherwise gone to Bush. Polls showed that if Perot had not been in the race, an equal 38% of his supporters would have voted for Bush and Clinton and the remaining 24% would have not voted.
Read more about this topic: Ross Perot Presidential Campaign, 1992
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