An order or command; the wishes of constituents expressed to a representative. Politicians usually like to maintain that they have a mandate for the policies they pursue, which gives the policies the legitimacy that they need. When politicians win elections by big margins they tend to assume they have a mandate, and are sometimes thereby more bold in pursuing their goals than they might otherwise be. During the Clinton administration (1993-2001), some of Bill Clinton's opponents questioned whether Clinton had a mandate from the people because he was elected president in 1992 and 1996 with less than 50 percent of the vote. This was because of a strong showing by a third-party candidate.