The 1992 United States presidential election in Iowa took place on November 3, 1992, as part of the 1992 United States presidential election. Voters chose seven representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
Iowa was won by Democratic governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas with 43.29% of the popular vote over incumbent Republican President George H. W. Bush's 37.27%, a victory margin of 6.01%. Independent businessman Ross Perot finished in third, with 18.71% of the popular vote. Clinton ultimately won the national vote, defeating incumbent president Bush and Perot. With a margin of victory of 6.02% for Clinton, the state voted 0.46% to the left of the nation at-large and became the closest to the national results. Despite this, Iowa was the only state that swung more Republican than it had been in 1988, swinging rightward by 4.2%.
This was the first of six consecutive elections that Iowa did back the winner of the national popular vote, gave it the longest streak of any state nationwide.
Democratic caucuses
In the presidential caucuses most candidates for the Democratic nomination did not campaign in Iowa because of the presence of Tom Harkin, a longtime U.S. senator representing Iowa.
Harkin was running for president in 1992 as a populist with labor union support who criticized George H. W. Bush for being out of touch with working class Americans. Harkin was an early favorite in a small field of five candidates. Harkin easily won the caucus with 76% of the vote, uncommitted got second place with 11%, Senator Paul Tsongas came in third, with 4%, and Governor Bill Clinton finished fourth, with 2%.
Voter turnout in the caucuses fell from over 120,000 in the 1988 caucus to less than 40,000. Voter turnout would later increase to around 120,000 for the 2000 caucuses. As the race was not contested, these results had little effect on the remaining primaries, and the New Hampshire primary took on added importance.
Tom Harkin won every county by large margins. The delegate totals reflect their final distribution, not their projected allocation immediately following the caucus.
Results
Results by county
Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican
- Adair
- Buena Vista
- Calhoun
- Cherokee
- Delaware
- Franklin
- Hancock
- Humboldt
- Iowa
- Marion
- Sac
- Washington
- Woodbury
Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic
- Bremer
- Henry
- Jefferson
- Van Buren
By congressional district
Clinton won four of five congressional districts, including three that elected Republicans.