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Ross Perot Historical Survey

Ross Perot Survey

Perot ran for President in 1992.  We were all 42 years young, in the prime of our lives. Old enough to understand the political world somewhat, but not so old that we were “slowing down” yet!

The country was coming off 12 years of republicans in the White House: first, Reagan for 8 years and then George Bush (the elder) for 4 years

It is unusual for an incumbant president to be defeated in a second term election.  But that is exactly what happened to Bush when Clinton, the saxophone-playing populist from Arkansas, won the election (even though he did not get a majority of the vote).

Some blame the defeat on Bush promising during the campaign, “Read my lips: No New Taxes.”  Then turning around and giving into a bill that, in fact, did raise taxes.  

Others think that Bill Clinton did a great job of appealing to the “underserved and under represented” with his “I feel your pain” pronouncements and easy, folksy way with the mostly friendly press.

Others, upon reflection, think that Ross Perot, who received a modern record 19% of the popular vote, was the determining factor.  The argument goes that Perot took more votes away from Bush than he did from Clinton.  Some historians agree with this analysis, others do not.

In terms of election drama and substance, I thought that Ross Perot added much to the presidential race.  He was a super successful businessman and knew how to sell his ideas.  The press appeared to do their best to minimize his impact on the outcome of the election but could not erase him completely.

Here are some of Perot’s primary policies:

Trade — He was an America-first guy who derided the NAFTA trade agreement as only being good for globalist business interests.  He claimed it would produce a “giant sucking sound” as our manufacturing jobs went south because Mexico would grossly undercut our wages.  It appears that this is exactly what happened.   

Defending Other Countries — Perot said America “cannot be the policemen of the world any longer”.  He thought that it was just too expensive and that other countries needed to pitch in much more for their own defense.

Too Much Debt — He claimed that we were spending ourselves into a hole.  He, as an experienced businessman, claimed to have answers for this.

Please take the anonymous poll and tell us what you remember.  I’ll publish the results, without names, of course.

 


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1)   Did you vote for Ross Perot in the 1992 presidential election?

 
2)   What do you remember most about Ross Perot, if anything?

 
3)   Did Ross Perot change your view about government policies in any way? How?