Republican Party presidential primaries, 1992

Republican Party presidential primaries, 1992
United States
February 18 to June 9, 1992
 
Nominee George H. W. Bush Pat Buchanan
Home state Texas Virginia
Contests won 51 0
Popular vote 9,199,463 2,899,488
Percentage 72.8% 23.0%
Previous Republican nominee

George H. W. Bush

 Republican nominee

George H. W. Bush

The 1992 Republican presidential primaries were the selection process by which voters of the Republican Party chose its nominee for President of the United States in the 1992 U.S. presidential election. Incumbent President George H.W. Bush was again selected as the nominee through a series of primary elections and caucuses culminating in the 1992 Republican National Convention held from August 17 to August 20, 1992, in Houston, Texas.

Primary race overview

President George H. W. Bush was challenged by conservative commentator Pat Buchanan, and during the early counting of the votes at the New Hampshire primary, it appeared that the President might actually lose. However, Buchanan faded by the end of the evening, and Bush won all the rest of the primaries. Bush's margins in many of the primaries were not as large as expected, and led to the rise of Ross Perot as an independent candidate.

Former Democrat, Republican Louisiana State Representative and former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke also ran in a number of primaries, but he did not receive any delegates. Former Governor Harold Stassen of Minnesota also made a quixotic bid for support in the Minnesota primary, winning enough votes to entitle him to one delegate, but was later denied his single vote by machinations at the Minnesota Republican Party's 1992 state convention.

New Hampshire primary

As Buchanan's candidacy relied heavily on a strong showing in the New Hampshire primary, President Bush made New Hampshire a focal point in his reelection bid. However, New Hampshire still remained a pivotal base for Buchanan's Primary campaign.

Because Bush was widely perceived to have broken his "read my lips" pledge, Buchanan found support in the economically battered and conservative state of New Hampshire. Making Bush's tax-hikes a central theme of his campaign, Buchanan enjoyed healthy grass-roots support despite lagging behind the President in pre-primary polling.

Bush countered the threat posed by Buchanan by touring New Hampshire himself. He memorably told an audience at an Exeter town hall: "Message: I care".[1] Some sources claim that this was the result of Bush mistakenly reading a cue card aloud.[2]

On Primary night, President Bush carried New Hampshire with 53% of the vote, with Buchanan coming in at second-place with 37% of the vote.[3]

The rest of the race

Despite many in the Bush campaign attempting to push Buchanan out of the race, the strong showing made the Buchanan campaign hope for an outpouring of campaign contributions which galvanized the campaign into making efforts to pull out strong showings such as in the Georgia primary.

Despite an impressive showing, Buchanan's campaign never attracted serious opposition to President Bush in most contests. Most of Buchanan's "victories" were larger-than-expected showings that were still considered landslide Bush wins by most in the media.

Still, the fact that Buchanan received more than two million votes nationwide, prognosticated disaster in the fall.

Candidates

Nominee

Primary candidates

Results

Statewide

1992 Republican primary and caucus results
George Bush Pat Buchanan Unpledged David Duke Ross Perot Pat Paulsen Maurice Horton Harold Stassen Jack Fellure
February 18 New Hampshire 53.20% 37.54% - - - 0.35% - 0.12% 0.02%
February 25 South Dakota 69.32% - 30.68% - - - - - -
March 3 Colorado 67.51% 30.03% - - - - - - -
March 3 Georgia 64.30% 35.70% - - - - - - -
March 3 Maryland 70.15% 29.85% - - - - - - -
March 7 South Carolina 66.89% 25.70% - 7.09% - - - - -
March 10 Florida 68.06% 31.94% - - - - - - -
March 10 Louisiana 61.98% 27.03% - 8.85% - 0.88% - - -
March 10 Massachusetts 65.58% 27.73% 3.76% 2.06% - - - - -
March 10 Mississippi 72.26% 16.74% - 10.62% - - - - -
March 10 Oklahoma 69.64% 26.61% - 2.61% - - - - -
March 10 Rhode Island 63.02% 31.77% 2.84% 2.09% - - - - -
March 10 Tennessee 72.55% 22.22% 2.04% 3.14% - - - - -
March 10 Texas 69.78% 23.91% 3.51% 2.54% - - - - -
March 17 Illinois 76.35% 22.49% - - - - 1.16% - -
March 17 Michigan 67.23% 24.96% 5.30% 2.38% - - - - -
March 24 Connecticut 66.71% 21.93% 9.06% 2.31% - - - - -
April 7 Kansas 61.98% 14.77% 16.63% 1.80% - 2.40% - - -
April 7 Minnesota 63.91% 24.18% 3.08% - 2.68% - - 3.07% -
April 7 Wisconsin 75.59% 16.28% 1.81% 2.67% - - - 0.79% -
April 28 Pennsylvania 76.71% 23.16% - - 0.14% - - - -
May 5 D.C. 81.47% 18.53% - - - - - - -
May 5 Delaware ?% ?% - - - - - - -
May 5 Indiana 80.12% 19.88% - - - - - - -
May 5 North Carolina 70.67% 19.54% 9.79% - - - - - -
May 10 Montana 71.64% 11.76% 16.60% - - - - - -
May 12 Nebraska 81.39% 13.46% - 1.46% - - - - -
May 12 West Virginia 80.54% 14.55% - - - - - - 4.91%
May 19 Washington 66.98% 10.24% - 1.16% 19.61% - - - -
May 19 Oregon 67.06% 18.98% - 2.19% - - - - -
May 26 Idaho 63.46% 13.13% 23.41% - - - - - -
May 26 Kentucky 74.54% - 25.46% - - - - - -
May 27 Arkansas 83.08% 11.94% 4.98% - - - - - -
June 2 Alabama 74.31% 7.62% 18.07% - - - - - -
June 2 California 73.62% 26.38% - - - - - - -
June 2 Ohio 83.30% 16.70% - - - - - - -
June 2 New Jersey 77.52% 14.97% - - 7.51% - - - -
June 2 New Mexico 63.84% 9.05% 27.11% - - - - - -
June 9 North Dakota 83.38% - - - 8.06% 8.56% - - -

Nationwide

Popular vote result:[4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Dowd, Maureen (16 January 1992). "THE 1992 CAMPAIGN: REPUBLICANS; Immersing Himself in Nitty-Gritty, Bush Barnstorms New Hampshire". The New York Times.
  2. ↑ NG
  3. ↑ "Past New Hampshire Primary Election Results".
  4. ↑ Our Campaigns - US President - R Primaries Race - Feb 01, 1992
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