How did Ross Perot do so well in 1992?

[Cyrusman]

I was too young to really remember but how did he do that well as an Indpeendet candidate? What made him so appealing for so many people?
I just have a hard time picturing a third party candidate generate 19% of the popular vote again.

[darklordoftech]

I think his main issue was his opposition to NAFTA and he didn’t talk much about anything else.

[Cyrusman]

Anyone else?

[Hnv1]

I remember him leading a PV poll at some point. was odd but I guess the incumbent was very unpopular and Clinton was this southern democrat with limited recognition

[Obama-Biden Democrat]

I remember him leading a PV poll at some point. was odd but I guess the incumbent was very unpopular and Clinton was this southern democrat with limited recognition

Ross Perot was a bit of a nut, he said that the Bush campaign was spying on his daughters wedding in July 1992, causing him to drop out. He changed his mind and reentered in October 1992 and had a comeback but he had lost too much momentum.

[tinman64]

As late as the beginning of the Democratic Convention he led in polls in some states such as Colorado and Maine. He left the campaign (briefly) at the end of the DNC.

[kcguy]

I think his main issue was his opposition to NAFTA and he didn’t talk much about anything else.

It seems like balanced budgets were also a major issue of his.

[Tamika Jackson]

Widespread grassroots support

[VPH]

In the early 1990s, the US was in an economic slowdown, which probably propelled Perot's message.

[Hnv1]

I speculate that the end of the Cold War also liberated people a bit to think outside of the regular boundaries. There were a number of outsider parties that did relatively well in the early 90’s

[catographer]

He was the only major candidate who opposed NAFTA I believe. That’s a huge deal: on a very important issue where nearly half of Americans opposed the deal but both the Democrat and Republican supported it, makes sense that an anti-NAFTA candidate could enter to fill that void.

[SInNYC]

His base was:

• Those who think 'America should be run like a business'. Lots of Americans think this even after W and Trump.
• Those who mouth the 'Ds are too far left, Rs are too far right' mantra. Perot fit this, campaigning to the left on social issues and the right on economic issues.  
• Those who wanted an outsider. Bush was perceived as a failure due to the recession and jobless recovery, while Clinton was "slick Willie".
• NAFTA (that giant sucking sound), as others have stated
• Deficits. He didnt propose any real solutions to the Reagan deficits but he at least paid lip service to deficit reduction, while Bush had no credibility on it as the incumbent and voters never consider Ds as deficit cutters.

Clinton was running 3rd and there was even some chatter of Ds losing major party status in future elections for a good chunk of the time before Perot pulled out. But Perot never really regained his status when he got back in.

It would be interesting to see the correlation between Perot and Trump voters.

[Jesus save us]

How do you guys think the 1994 midterms would play out if Perot had won? Obviously the normal pattern of a midterm backlash against the party in power wouldn't be a possibility, unless Perot wound up being seen as closer to one party then the other once he was elected.

Who might he have nominated to the supreme court?