ABSTRACT

This chapter highlights certain notable qualities of the 1992 elections and the early months of the Clinton administration; with respect to minorities in the United States (US). It focuses on African Americans/blacks and Latinos/Hispanics, the two largest "minority" groups, in the context of what the election and subsequent events suggest about the nature of political and social change and the implications of such change for understanding US politics. The chapter discusses the basis of a particular interpretation of the minority situation in the US—that of "two-tiered pluralism." For the first time in several presidential elections, the Democratic candidate made a significant effort to court the Cuban vote in Florida. Although the 1992 presidential election did not overtly stress ethnic/racial issues, certain notable background events did. The congressional elections of 1992 witnessed substantial growth in minority representation; indeed, it is in this context that the "convergence" of the 1990 census with die amended Voting Rights Acts had a significant impact.