 After the Democratic Convention and Perot 's initial exit , Clinton opened up large leads against the President , polling near ( and often above ) 50 percent of the vote nationwide consistently , while Bush typically saw polling and approval numbers in the upper 30s . The campaign continued with a lopsided lead for Clinton through September , until Ross Perot decided to re @-@ enter the race . Ross Perot 's re @-@ entry in the race was welcome by the Bush campaign , as Fred Steeper , a poll taker for Bush , said , " He 'll be important if we accomplish our goal , which is to draw even with Clinton . " Initially , Perot 's return saw the Texas billionaire 's numbers stay low , until he was given the opportunity to participate in a trio of unprecedented three @-@ man debates . The race narrowed , as Perot 's numbers significantly improved as Clinton 's numbers declined , while Bush 's numbers remained more or less the same from earlier in the race as Perot and Bush began to hammer at Clinton on character issues once again . 
