The 1992 United States presidential election in Arkansas took place on November 3, 1992, as part of the 1992 United States presidential election. State voters chose six representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
Arkansas was won by incumbent Governor Bill Clinton (D) with 53.21% of the popular vote over incumbent President George H. W. Bush (R-Texas) with 35.48%. Businessman Ross Perot (I-Texas) finished in third, with 10.43% of the popular vote. Clinton thus won his home state by a wide margin of 17.73%, becoming the first Democratic candidate to win the state since Jimmy Carter in 1976. Arkansas and Washington, D.C., which Clinton also won, were the only contests in 1992 in which any candidate received an absolute majority of the popular vote.
Among white voters, 50% supported Clinton, while 40% supported Bush.
Background
The Republican presidential nominee won Arkansas in the 1980, 1984, and 1988 presidential elections. Democratic Governor Bill Clinton was elected to a fifth term in 1990.
Primary
Democratic
Clinton announced his presidential campaign on October 3, 1991, at the Old State House. Polling by Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy one week before the primary showed Jerry Brown had a disapproval rate of 71% among likely Democratic voters while Clinton's was 13%.
Turnout in the Democratic primary was greater than it was in 1980, 1984, and 1988, but lower than in 1976.
Republican
Turnout in the Republican primary declined from 1988, but was still greater than 1976, 1980, and 1984. Three-fourth of the votes in the primary came from Arkansas's 3rd congressional district. Less than 100 votes were cast in 39 of the state's counties.
General election
Results
Clinton carried all but five counties (Benton, Crawford, Pope, Searcy, and Sebastian) in the state. As of the 2024 presidential election, this is the last election in which Baxter County, Carroll County, Newton County, Boone County, and Polk County have voted for a Democratic presidential candidate. This is also the most recent time that Arkansas has voted more Democratic than Maryland.
Arkansas would be one of only three states, along with the District of Columbia, where Clinton's raw vote total exceeded that of Bush and Perot combined, the others being Maryland and New York. This is also the most recent election in which Arkansas trended more Democratic relative to the nation, or swung towards the Democratic party at all. Clinton's 505,823 votes are the most votes received by a Democratic presidential candidate in the state's history.
Democratic U.S. Senator Dale Bumpers won reelection in a concurrent election. The Republicans gained one seat in Arkansas' U.S. House delegation, Arkansas House of Representatives, and Arkansas Senate.
Results by county
Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic
- Arkansas
- Baxter
- Boone
- Calhoun
- Carroll
- Cleburne
- Cleveland
- Columbia
- Craighead
- Crittenden
- Cross
- Drew
- Faulkner
- Franklin
- Garland
- Grant
- Greene
- Hempstead
- Howard
- Independence
- Izard
- Johnson
- Lawrence
- Logan
- Lonoke
- Madison
- Marion
- Miller
- Mississippi
- Montgomery
- Newton
- Ouachita
- Perry
- Pike
- Polk
- Prairie
- Pulaski
- Saline
- Scott
- Sevier
- Sharp
- Stone
- Union
- Van Buren
- Washington
- White
- Yell