Could've Ross Perot won the election if he ran as a Democrat against George H.W. Bush?

  • Yes

    Votes: 22 66.7%
  • No

    Votes: 11 33.3%

  • Total voters
    33
As we may know, Ross Perot was very critical of NAFTA. When George H.W. Bush agreed to the proposal of it, many Democrats were against it. So what happens if Ross Perot decides to run as a Democrat in the primaries in order to gain more support by being in a prominent party during the national elections? Does he win or does he lose? How can he win the primaries and what happens if he does? Does he win against Bush in the presidential election?
 
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It's a possibility. A Democratic Perot would combine his own populist appeal, with a lot of policies that are either traditionally Democratic(eg. pro-choice, pro-gun control), or at least not overly offensive to Democrats, to provide a viable alternative to the GOP during an economic downturn. Being against NAFTA might alienate people who are self-consciously voting as free-traders, but I'm not sure how tangible a category that was in 1992.

Although one thing that is not now widely remembered about Perot is that, after a while, he developed a reputation for being absolutely batshit crazy, with paranoid ramblings about the Bush forces infiltrating his daughter's wedding etc. If he's seen as any sort of a threat to the GOP, they might just run negative ads portraying him as a lunatic, which may seriously undermine his support.
 
Perot would be a hard sell to Democrats at that time. Being a businessman with no experience in political office and having anormal centrist political views aren’t disqualifying factors but certainly don’t offer up any sort of excitement for the Democratic Party.

He seems a poor fit for the Dems. IOTL he’s a current member of the GOP and it seems most of the people who were once Reform are now either GOP or third party. Despite himself, he’s a lot closer to HW than he thinks he is.
 
The poll question is ambiguous. "Could've Ross Perot won the election if he ran as a Democrat against George H.W. Bush?" could mean (1) if the Democrats nominate him, could he beat Bush? or (2) Does Perot have much of a chance of being nominated by the Democrats and then elected?

I was surprised that the poll result was so overwhelmingly "Yes" and suspect it is at least in part because a lot of people are interpreting the question as meaning (1)… Personally I would answer (1) with Yes, (2) with No.
 
The poll question is ambiguous. "Could've Ross Perot won the election if he ran as a Democrat against George H.W. Bush?" could mean (1) if the Democrats nominate him, could he beat Bush? or (2) Does Perot have much of a chance of being nominated by the Democrats and then elected?

I was surprised that the poll result was so overwhelmingly "Yes" and suspect it is at least in part because a lot of people are interpreting the question as meaning (1)… Personally I would answer (1) with Yes, (2) with No.

Me too. Unless he alienates certain Democratic constituencies so much in the election, that they stay home on voting day. I don't see them going over to the GOP, though, especially if we're talking about blacks and other racialized groups.
 
especially if we're talking about blacks and other racialized groups.

And you can put gays and lesbians in there, too, since Perot was publically opposed to lifting the ban on gays in the military. I'm not sure how pivotal their support was for Clinton in '92.
 
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