1992 if dems nominated a liberal?

[Matty]

What if the dems nominated a Dukakis style liberal in 1992?

Would the economic struggles still have carried them over finish line?

Assume Perot still runs.

[McGarnagle]

The liberal Democrat just barely squeaks by - New Jersey and Wisconsin aren't decided until Wednesday morning, by less than 0.5%

They overperform Clinton in NY and MA, but underperform just about everywhere else by 2-3%

Bush wins the south - the northeastern liberal candidate just doesn't have what Bill Clinton had going for him in terms of popularity in the southern states - but the recession (narrowly) clinches it for the Democrat

Ross Perot wins 1 Electoral Vote in Maine

Democratic Ticket 279 ~40%
Bush/Quayle 258 ~38.5%
Perot/Stockdale 1 ~21%

In 2020 I think the more liberal / progressive and less center-leaning the Democrat is, the more it will generally help their candidacy and fire up the base. I do not think the same would have been the case with 1992's electorate, which was more conservative-leaning overall.

[connally68]

Democrats still win, but by much closer margin. Probably like 1960 or 1976 in the electoral college.

[Vittorio]

a Dukakis style liberal

'Moderate Mike' was about as centrist on domestic issues as Clinton.

[Kingpoleon]

281: Tom Harkin/Paul Wellstone - 37.2%
253: George Bush/Dan Quayle - 37.0%
4: Ross Perot/James Stockdale - 23.9%
Others - 1.9%

Assuming Harkin wins and picks Wellstone as his running mate, it looks something like this. Ohio would be very close and, if it flipped, would turn the election to Bush.

[morgankingsley]

Dem - 320
Bush 207
Perot - 11