Billionaire businessman Ross Perot, running as an Independent, finished in third, with 13.70% of the vote, a relatively strong showing for a third party candidate, and his second highest showing in the Southeast, behind only Florida.
Despite being from the South, Bill Clinton became the first Democrat to win the White House without carrying the state of North Carolina since James K. Polk in 1844, and Bush became the first ever Republican to carry the state while losing nationally. As of the 2020 presidential election[update], the 1992 election constitutes the last occasion the following counties have supported a Democratic presidential nominee: Alleghany, Brunswick, Greene, Pamlico, Pender, Rockingham, Sampson and Yancey.[2] This would also be the last election in which North Carolina would vote to the left of neighboring Virginia. Additionally, with Bush and Clinton each winning 50 of North Carolina's 100 counties, this remains the last time that a Republican presidential nominee has failed to win a majority of the state's counties.