The 1992 United States presidential election in California took place on November 3, 1992, and was part of the

1992 United States presidential election The 1992 United States presidential election was the 52nd quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 3, 1992. Democratic Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas defeated incumbent Republican President George H. W. Bush, independent ...

. Voters chose 54 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president. California voted for Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton. His victory marked the first time the Golden State had voted for a Democratic presidential nominee since Lyndon B. Johnson’s

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch ...

landslide, and only the second time since

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect. ** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British ...

. Clinton's win in this state reflected the change in its status from a Republican-leaning swing state to a Democratic stronghold. California maintains the largest number of electoral votes in the Electoral College. It was the first occasion that San Diego County had voted for a Democrat since Franklin D. Roosevelt in

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command French Army B, part of the Sixth United States Army Group in Nor ...

, and the last time that any of the following counties have given a plurality to the Democratic nominee: Del Norte, Mariposa, Plumas, Siskiyou, Tehama, and Tuolumne.Sullivan, Robert David
‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’
''America Magazine'' in ''The National Catholic Review''; June 29, 2016

Ross Perot Henry Ross Perot (; June 27, 1930 – July 9, 2019) was an American business magnate, billionaire, politician and philanthropist. He was the founder and chief executive officer of Electronic Data Systems and Perot Systems. He ran an inde ...

gained a plurality in Trinity County, the only time a third-party candidate has carried any county in the state since Progressive Party candidate Robert La Follette Sr. in

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China hol ...

. California had been voting increasingly Democratic despite

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

’s decisive wins in his home state during the

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

and

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

elections. Changing demographics may have played a part in Michael Dukakis only narrowly falling short of winning California in

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

amidst a large national defeat. The

early 1990s recession The early 1990s recession describes the period of economic downturn affecting much of the Western world in the early 1990s. The impacts of the recession contributed in part to the 1992 U.S. presidential election victory of Bill Clinton over incu ...

was blamed on

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...

, causing a rise in unemployment in construction and real estate. This ultimately gave Bill Clinton a double digit victory in California, despite Bush’s victory just four years earlier. California would vote Democratic by comfortable margins in every subsequent presidential election.

Results

By county

References

{{State results of the 1992 U.S. presidential election, state=expanded California

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

United States president