In the general election, the Republican nominee, Lieutenant Governor John Mutz, was defeated by Democrat Indiana Secretary of State Evan Bayh by a margin of six percentage points.

On April 28, the Indiana Supreme Court found that Bayh did, in fact, meet all residency requirements set forth in the state's Constitution, ending any threat to the candidate's ballot access.

Ancestral Democrats along the Ohio River in Southern Indiana delivered for Bayh, where he won every county with margins upward of 60%.

He also performed well in Southwestern Indiana, notably in Vigo County, where Bayh was born, as well as where his father, Birch, began his political career.

[5] Republican strength was mostly confined to the Indianapolis suburbs, like the affluent Hamilton County, which gave Mutz his strongest showing.

[6] Bayh ran a conservative campaign that focused on education and economic nationalism, harnessing the discontent over job losses and using it to his advantage.

[7] Bayh's victory in what was otherwise a good year for Indiana Republicans stood testament to his bipartisan appeal, which would allow him to be re-elected governor in 1992 and then to serve two terms in the U.S. Senate.