Time for Reflection
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“Prezgeek.com ‘92 Q&A”
Hey all, I’ve been getting a few questions about the ’92 election lately, given the name Biden is again being mentioned in Presidential politics, and I thought I’d take a break from my typical format to answer some of these questions directly. So, here we go.
How was the economy?
The economy during the ’92 election was fair, but not great. Economic growth had been stagnant since Reagan left office, and unemployment was six and a half percent in late 1991. The number slowly began to fall but wouldn’t go beneath six percent during the campaign. Fun fact – when Ronald Reagan asked the American people if they were “better off than they were four years ago”, on the average they had been – even though the year of ’79 to ’80 saw job losses, unemployment was lower than it was in 1976. The same could not be said of 1992, with unemployment a percent higher than four years prior.
The message of the Cuomo campaign had to be “better than we would be”, meaning that the Biden Administration had saved the country from a bigger recession, a tough sale.
How did people feel about Biden's withdrawal? A sound decision from a sound man or a sign that the office is in shaky hands?
The decision of President Biden to not run for reelection in 1992 was met with mixed reactions. He was a generally well liked figure, who had just led the country through the Yugoslav War very successfully. But, with his decision not to run frustrated many people. The American public seemed to not understand just how serious Biden’s aneurysm was and could have been. It is difficult to engage in counterfactuals, but Biden has said in recent years that he thought having to campaign and run the country at the same time could have killed him.
So while the general mood was disappointment or frustration, there was of course the partisan reaction from Republican groups who were either gleeful the rather popular sitting President was not running again. Beyond that, there were vitriolic voices who criticized the President for “abandoning his post”, one notable example being California Congressman and later Presidential candidate Bob Dornan.
Did the Supreme Court decisions have any impact on the election?
The four Biden appointments between 1988 and 1992 served as a wake-up call for some on the right, who had “sat out” the 1988 campaign, not supporting the “moderate” ticket of George HW Bush and Lynn Martin. While in some circles Ron Paul, how had been the Libertarian Party candidate in 1988, was being cursed as a spoiler, the Biden Supreme Court appointments made many realize that every election matters, and that just one term can have effects lasting decades.
But according to exit polls, the Supreme Court was rarely on the minds of the actual voters. Far and away the primary reasoning provided by voters for making their choice was “the economy”. For most people, the choice of Justices is usually an idea far removed from the idea of picking a President, it seems. But the “liberal” Biden appointments did lead some on the right wing to think that maybe compromise on a candidate was okay, or at least better than loosing it all.
What ecological considerations had an impact with the voters in 1992?
Following the Exxon Valdez spill, the images of which galvanized the public with an environmental spirit again after a seeming lull during the Reagan years, the Biden Administration accomplished a great deal, the most visible example being the promotion of the Environmental Protection Agency into a Cabinet post as the Department of Environmental Protection. In fact, they may have accomplished a bit too much. By 1992, the American people were placated by the actions taken and the environmental groups had seemingly spent all their political capital.
Where did the African-American community stand in 1992?
As had been the tradition since FDR, the African-American community was far and away supportive of the Democrats in 1992. President Biden had been called ‘the first black President’, due to his extensive outreach efforts and other reasons. William Gray, former Speaker of the House, had been brought into the White House as the first Chairman of the Cabinet. Despite the achievement, under the surface, tensions were rising, as would be seen in the 1993 riots. Urban decay and manufacturing job loss was hurting the African-American community particularly bad. And although the Biden Administration had made some reforms, the War on Drugs still an oversized impact on African-Americans. But in 1992, those frustrations were still just a simmer. 1992 would be of note for the election of two African-American Republicans to the U.S. House, both also former football stars – J.C. Watts from Oklahoma and O.J. Simpson from California.
Did the Biden presidency do anything to speed up the defection of the “Solid South” from the Democratic Party?
People like to talk about how the Democrats lost the white, southern vote in the early ‘90s, I disagree with that narrative. They lost it in 1980 with Reagan, and once Reagan was gone, the Democrats did not do much to win it back. While the Democrats continued to support unions, with the gradual but unstoppable decline of American manufacturing jobs, due to outsourcing and greater automation, the party had less appeal to the general public. The nomination of Cuomo over several DLC and southern candidates did nothing to convince “Middle America” that the Democratic Party cared for them, despite Lloyd Bentsen as running mate.
What role did immigration policy play?
In hindsight, the general lack of focus of Democrats on immigration hurt Democrats, but by 1992 immigration was not a major national focus, but rather limited to the border states where illegal immigration had a noticeable impact.
I hope that answers some of the queries you may have had. Feel free to reach out to prezgeek.com with any further questions!
