Distribution of votes in the 1892 US presidential election

The 1892 US presidential election was a rematch of the 1888 election, and the two main candidates were former President Grover Cleveland of the Democratic Party and incumbent President Benjamin Harrison of the Republican Party, with a significant impact also being made by the Populist Party's James B. Weaver. The campaign was fought primarily on economic issues, with much focus on the Republican Paty's 1890 McKinley Tariff (named after future President William McKinley, who had been defeated by Harrison in the race for the Republican candidacy in 1892). This tariff raised duties on foreign imports to almost fifty percent, in an attempt to protect US industry. While this move was supported by many Republicans, it was condemned by the Democrats, and a core part of Cleveland's campaign was to repeal this tariff.

Results

Cleveland swept the south and won 277 electoral votes, giving him a 62 percent share of the vote, despite only taking a 46 percent share of the popular vote. Incumbent President Harrison received 43 percent of the popular vote, however this returned less than one third of the electoral votes. Much of Harrison's support was syphoned off by James Weaver of the Populist Party, who took 8.5 percent of the popular vote and carried five western states. John Bidwell of the emerging Prohibition Party took 2.2 percent of the popular vote, but did not receive any electoral votes.

Cleveland makes history

With this victory, Grover Cleveland became the only US President to ever serve two non-consecutive terms. For this reason, he is listed as being both the 22nd and 24th President of the United States. This means that, officially speaking, the US has had 45 presidents, although only 44 men have served in this role.