1988 United States presidential election
The 1988 United States presidential election was the 51st quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8, 1988. The Republican nominee, incumbent Vice President George H. W. Bush, defeated the Democratic nominee, Governor Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts. This was the first presidential election since 1948, and the most recent to date, in which a party won a third consecutive presidential term. This also remains the most recent election in which a candidate won over 400 electoral votes, and the last time a non-incumbent Republican candidate won the popular vote.


1988 United States presidential election
Incumbent president Ronald Reagan was ineligible to seek a third term. Bush entered the Republican primaries as the front-runner, defeating U.S. Senator Bob Dole and televangelist Pat Robertson to win the nomination. He selected U.S. Senator Dan Quayle of Indiana as his running mate. Dukakis won the Democratic primaries after Democratic leaders such as Gary Hart and Ted Kennedy withdrew or declined to run. He selected U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen of Texas as his running mate.


1988 United States presidential election
Bush ran an aggressive campaign concentrated on the strong economy, reducing urban crime, and continuing Reagan's policies. He attacked Dukakis as an elitist "Massachusetts liberal," and Dukakis appeared to fail to respond effectively to Bush's criticism. Despite Dukakis' initial lead in polls, Bush pulled ahead after the Republican National Convention and extended his lead after strong performances in two debates. Bush won a decisive victory over Dukakis, winning the Electoral College and the popular vote by sizable margins.


1988 United States presidential election
As of 2021, no candidate of either party has since equaled or surpassed Bush's share of the electoral or popular vote; only Bush's son George W. Bush in 2004 has won the popular vote in a presidential election for the Republicans since, and no Republican candidate has since won California, Illinois, New Jersey, Maryland, Connecticut, all of Maine, Delaware, or Vermont. Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Maine's 2nd congressional district did not go Republican again until Donald Trump narrowly won them in 2016.


1988 United States presidential election
Nevada did not vote Republican again until Bush's son George W. Bush narrowly won it twice in 2000 and 2004; New Hampshire did not vote Republican again until Bush narrowly won it with a plurality in 2000; and New Mexico did not vote Republican again until Bush won it by a slim margin (also with only a plurality) in 2004. George H. W. Bush became the first sitting vice president to be elected president since Martin Van Buren in 1836.


1988 United States presidential election, Republican Party nomination, Republican candidates
Bush unexpectedly came in third in the Iowa caucus, which he had won in 1980, behind Dole and Robertson. Dole was also leading in the polls of the New Hampshire primary, and the Bush camp responded by running television commercials portraying Dole as a tax raiser, while Governor John H. Sununu campaigned for Bush. Dole did nothing to counter these ads and Bush won, thereby gaining crucial momentum, which he called "Big Mo". Once the multiple-state primaries such as Super Tuesday began, Bush's organizational strength and fundraising lead were impossible for the other candidates to match, and the nomination was his.


1988 United States presidential election, Republican Party nomination, Republican candidates
The Republican Party convention was held in New Orleans, Louisiana. Bush was nominated unanimously and selected U.S. Senator Dan Quayle of Indiana as his running mate. In his acceptance speech, Bush made the pledge "Read my lips: No new taxes," which contributed to his loss in the 1992 election.


1988 United States presidential election, Democratic Party nomination
In the 1984 presidential election the Democrats had nominated Walter Mondale, a traditional New Deal-type liberal, who advocated for those constituencies that Franklin Roosevelt forged into a majority coalition, as their candidate. When Mondale was defeated in a landslide, party leaders became eager to find a new approach to get away from the 1980 and 1984 debacles.


1988 United States presidential election, Democratic Party nomination
After Bush's image was affected by his involvement on the Iran-Contra scandal much more than Reagan's, and after the Democrats won back control of the U.S. Senate in the 1986 congressional elections following an economic downturn, the party's leaders felt optimistic about having a closer race with the GOP in 1988, although probabilities of winning the presidency were still marginal given the climate of prosperity.


1988 United States presidential election, Democratic Party nomination
One goal of the party was to find a new, fresh candidate who could move beyond the traditional New Deal-Great Society ideas of the past and offer a new image of the Democrats to the public. To this end party leaders tried to recruit the New York Governor Mario Cuomo, to be a candidate. Cuomo had impressed many Democrats with his keynote speech at the 1984 Democratic Convention, and they believed he would be a strong candidate. After Cuomo chose not to run, the Democratic frontrunner for most of 1987 was former Colorado Senator Gary Hart. He had made a strong showing in the 1984 presidential primaries and, after Mondale's defeat, had positioned himself as the moderate centrist many Democrats felt their party would need to win.


1988 United States presidential election, Democratic Party nomination
But questions and rumors about extramarital affairs and past debts dogged Hart's campaign. Hart had told New York Times reporters who questioned him about these rumors that, if they followed him around, they would "be bored". In a separate investigation, the Miami Herald had received an anonymous tip from a friend of Donna Rice that Rice was involved with Hart. After his affair emerged, the Herald reporters found Hart's quote in a pre-print of The New York Times magazine. After the Herald's findings were publicized, many other media outlets picked up the story and Hart's ratings in the polls plummeted.


1988 United States presidential election, Democratic Party nomination
On May 8, 1987, a week after the Rice story broke, Hart dropped out of the race. His campaign chair, Representative Patricia Schroeder, tested the waters for about four months after Hart's withdrawal, but decided in September 1987 that she would not run. In December 1987, Hart surprised many pundits by resuming his campaign, but the allegations of adultery had delivered a fatal blow to his candidacy, and he did poorly in the primaries before dropping out again.


1988 United States presidential election, Democratic Party nomination
Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts had been considered a potential candidate, but he ruled himself out of the race in the fall of 1985. Two other politicians mentioned as possible candidates, both from Arkansas, did not join the race: Senator Dale Bumpers and Governor and future President Bill Clinton.


1988 United States presidential election, Democratic Party nomination
Joe Biden's campaign also ended in controversy after he was accused of plagiarizing a speech by Neil Kinnock, then-leader of the British Labour Party. The Dukakis campaign secretly released a video in which Biden was filmed repeating a Kinnock stump speech with only minor modifications. Biden later called his failure to attribute the quotes an oversight, and in related proceedings the Delaware Supreme Court's Board on Professional Responsibility cleared him of a separate plagiarism charge, leveled for plagiarizing an article during his law school. This ultimately led him to drop out of the race.


1988 United States presidential election, Democratic Party nomination
Dukakis later revealed that his campaign had leaked the tape, and two members of his staff resigned. (Biden later ran twice more for the Democratic nomination, unsuccessfully in 2008 and successfully in 2020. He was elected the 47th vice president in 2008, serving two terms under President Barack Obama. In 2021, he became the 46th president, over 33 years after his first campaign for the office ended.)


1988 United States presidential election, Democratic Party nomination
Al Gore, a Senator from Tennessee, also chose to run for the nomination. Turning 40 in 1988, he would have been the youngest man to contest the presidency on a major party ticket since William Jennings Bryan in 1896, and the youngest president ever if elected, younger than John F. Kennedy at election age and Theodore Roosevelt at age of assumption of office. He eventually became the 45th Vice President of the United States under Bill Clinton, then the Democratic presidential nominee in 2000, losing to George W. Bush, George H.W. 's son.


1988 United States presidential election, Democratic Party nomination, Primaries
After Hart withdrew from the race, no clear frontrunner emerged before the primaries and caucuses began. The Iowa caucus was won by Dick Gephardt, who had been sagging heavily in the polls until, three weeks before the vote, he began campaigning as a populist and his numbers surged. Illinois Senator Paul M. Simon finished a surprising second, and Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis finished third. In the New Hampshire primary, Dukakis came in first, Gephardt fell to second, and Simon came in third. In an effort to weaken Gephardt's candidacy, both Dukakis and Gore ran negative television ads against Gephardt. The ads convinced the United Auto Workers, which had endorsed Gephardt, to withdraw their endorsement; this crippled Gephardt, as he relied heavily on the support of labor unions.


1988 United States presidential election, Democratic Party nomination, Primaries
In the Super Tuesday races, Dukakis won six primaries, to Gore's five, Jesse Jackson five and Gephardt one, with Gore and Jackson splitting the Southern states. The next week, Simon won Illinois with Jackson finishing second. 1988 remains the race with the most candidates winning primaries since the McGovern reforms of 1971. Jackson captured 6.9 million votes and won 11 contests: seven primaries (Alabama, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Puerto Rico and Virginia) and four caucuses (Delaware, Michigan, South Carolina and Vermont). He also scored March victories in Alaska's caucuses and Texas's local conventions, despite losing the Texas primary. Briefly, after he won 55% of the vote in the Michigan Democratic caucus, he had more pledged delegates than all the other candidates.


1988 United States presidential election, Democratic Party nomination, Primaries
Jackson's campaign suffered a significant setback less than two weeks later when he was defeated in the Wisconsin primary by Dukakis. Dukakis's win in New York and then in Pennsylvania effectively ended Jackson's hopes for the nomination.


1988 United States presidential election, Democratic Party nomination, Democratic Convention
The Democratic Party Convention was held in Atlanta, Georgia from July 18–21. Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton placed Dukakis's name in nomination, but the nominating speech lasted for so long that some delegates began booing to get him to finish, and he received great cheering when he said, "In closing...".


1988 United States presidential election, Democratic Party nomination, Democratic Convention
Texas State Treasurer Ann Richards, who was elected the state governor two years later, gave a speech attacking George Bush, including the line "Poor George, he can't help it, he was born with a silver foot in his mouth."


1988 United States presidential election, Democratic Party nomination, Democratic Convention
With only Jackson remaining as an active candidate to oppose Dukakis, the tally for president was:


1988 United States presidential election, Democratic Party nomination, Democratic Convention
Jackson's supporters said that since their candidate had finished in second place, he was entitled to the vice-presidential spot. Dukakis disagreed, and instead selected Senator Lloyd Bentsen from Texas. Bentsen's selection led many in the media to dub the ticket the "Boston-Austin" axis, and to compare it to the pairing of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1960 presidential campaign. Like Dukakis and Bentsen, Kennedy and Johnson were from Massachusetts and Texas respectively.


1988 United States presidential election, Other nominations, Libertarian Party
Ron Paul and Andre Marrou formed the ticket for the Libertarian Party. Their campaign called for the adoption of a global policy on military nonintervention, advocated an end to the federal government's involvement with education, and criticized Reagan's "bailout" of the Soviet Union. Paul was a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives, first elected as a Republican from Texas in an April 1976 special election. He protested the War on Drugs in a letter to Drug Czar William Bennett.


1988 United States presidential election, Other nominations, New Alliance Party
Lenora Fulani ran for the New Alliance Party, and focused on issues concerning unemployment, healthcare, and homelessness. The party had full ballot access, meaning Fulani and her running mate, Joyce Dattner, were the first pair of women to receive ballot access in all 50 states. Fulani was the first African American to do so.


1988 United States presidential election, Other nominations, Socialist Party
Willa Kenoyer and Ron Ehrenreich ran for the Socialist Party, advocating a decentralist government approach with policies determined by the needs of the workers.


1988 United States presidential election, Other nominations, Populist Party
David E. Duke stood for the Populist Party. A former leader of the Louisiana Ku Klux Klan, he advocated a mixture of White nationalist and separatist policies with more traditionally conservative positions, such as opposition to most immigration from Latin America and to affirmative action.


1988 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign
During the election, the Bush campaign sought to portray Dukakis as an unreasonable "Massachusetts liberal." Dukakis was attacked for such positions as opposing mandatory recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in schools, and being a "card-carrying member of the ACLU" (a statement Dukakis made early in the primary campaign to appeal to liberal voters). Dukakis responded by saying that he was a "proud liberal" and that the phrase should not be a bad word in America.


1988 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign
Bush pledged to continue Reagan's policies, but also vowed a "kinder and gentler nation" in an attempt to win over more moderate voters. The duties delegated to him during Reagan's second term (mostly because of the President's advanced age, Reagan turning 78 just after he left office) gave him an unusually high level of experience for a vice president.


1988 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign
A graduate of Yale University, Bush derided Dukakis for having "foreign-policy views born in Harvard Yard's boutique." New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd asked, "Wasn't this a case of the pot calling the kettle elite?" Bush said that, unlike Harvard, Yale's reputation was "so diffuse, there isn't a symbol, I don't think, in the Yale situation, any symbolism in it... Harvard boutique to me has the connotation of liberalism and elitism," and said he intended Harvard to represent "a philosophical enclave", not a statement about class.


1988 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign
Columnist Russell Baker wrote, "Voters inclined to loathe and fear elite Ivy League schools rarely make fine distinctions between Yale and Harvard. All they know is that both are full of rich, fancy, stuck-up and possibly dangerous intellectuals who never sit down to supper in their undershirt no matter how hot the weather gets."


1988 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign
Dukakis was badly damaged by the Republicans' campaign commercials, including "Boston Harbor", which attacked his failure to clean up environmental pollution in the harbor, and especially by two commercials that were accused of being racially charged, "Revolving Door" and "Weekend Passes" (also known as "Willie Horton"), that portrayed him as "soft on crime". Dukakis was a strong supporter of Massachusetts's prison furlough program, which had begun before he was governor. As governor, Dukakis vetoed a 1976 plan to bar inmates convicted of first-degree murder from the furlough program. In 1986, the program had resulted in the release of convicted murderer Willie Horton, an African American man who committed a rape and assault in Maryland while out on furlough.


1988 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign
A number of false rumors about Dukakis were reported in the media, including Idaho Republican Senator Steve Symms's claim that Dukakis's wife Kitty had burned an American flag to protest the Vietnam War, as well as the claim that Dukakis himself had been treated for mental illness.


1988 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign, "Dukakis in the tank"
Dukakis attempted to quell criticism that he was ignorant on military matters by staging a photo op in which he rode in an M1 Abrams tank outside a General Dynamics plant in Sterling Heights, Michigan. The move ended up being regarded as a major public relations blunder, with many mocking Dukakis's appearance as he waved to the crowd from the tank. The Bush campaign used the footage in an advertisement, accompanied by a rolling text listing Dukakis's vetoes of military-related bills. The incident remains a commonly cited example of backfired public relations.


1988 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign, Dan Quayle
One reason for Bush's choice of Senator Dan Quayle as his running mate was to appeal to younger Americans identified with the "Reagan Revolution." Quayle's looks were praised by Senator John McCain: "I can't believe a guy that handsome wouldn't have some impact." But Quayle was not a seasoned politician, and made a number of embarrassing statements. The Dukakis team attacked Quayle's credentials, saying he was "dangerously inexperienced to be first-in-line to the presidency."


1988 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign, Dan Quayle
During the Vice Presidential debate, Quayle attempted to dispel such allegations by comparing his experience with that of Eisenhower-era Senator John F. Kennedy, who had also been a young politician when running for the presidency (Kennedy had served 14 years in Congress to Quayle's 12). Quayle said, "I have as much experience in the Congress as Jack Kennedy did when he sought the presidency." "Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy," Dukakis's running mate, Lloyd Bentsen, responded. "Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy."


1988 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign, Dan Quayle
Quayle responded, "That was really uncalled for, Senator," to which Bentsen said, "You are the one that was making the comparison, Senator, and I'm one who knew him well. And frankly I think you are so far apart in the objectives you choose for your country that I did not think the comparison was well-taken."


1988 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign, Dan Quayle
Democrats replayed Quayle's reaction to Bentsen's comment in subsequent ads as an announcer intoned, "Quayle: just a heartbeat away." Despite much press about the Kennedy comments, this did not reduce Bush's lead in the polls. Quayle had sought to use the debate to criticize Dukakis as too liberal rather than go point for point with the more seasoned Bentsen. Bentsen's attempts to defend Dukakis received little recognition, with greater attention on the Kennedy comparison.


1988 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign, Jennifer Fitzgerald and Donna Brazile firing
During the course of the campaign, Dukakis fired his deputy field director Donna Brazile after she spread false rumors that Bush had had an affair with his assistant Jennifer Fitzgerald. Bush and Fitzgerald's relationship was briefly rehashed in the 1992 campaign.


1988 United States presidential election, General election, Presidential debates
Voters were split as to who won the first presidential debate. Bush improved in the second debate. Before the second debate, Dukakis had been suffering from the flu and spent much of the day in bed. His performance was generally seen as poor and played to his reputation of being intellectually cold. Reporter Bernard Shaw opened the debate by asking Dukakis whether he would support the death penalty if Kitty Dukakis were raped and murdered; Dukakis said "no" and discussed the statistical ineffectiveness of capital punishment.


1988 United States presidential election, General election, Presidential debates
Some commentators thought the question itself was unfair, in that it injected an overly emotional element into the discussion of a policy issue, but many observers felt Dukakis's answer lacked the normal emotions one would expect of a person talking about a loved one's rape and murder. Tom Brokaw of NBC reported on his October 14 newscast, "The consensus tonight is that Vice President George Bush won last night's debate and made it all the harder for Governor Michael Dukakis to catch and pass him in the 25 days remaining. In all of the Friday morning quarterbacking, there was common agreement that Dukakis failed to seize the debate and make it his night."


1988 United States presidential election, Results
In the November 8 election, Bush won a majority of the popular vote and the Electoral College. Neither his popular vote percentage (53.4%), his total electoral votes (426), nor his number of states won (40) have been surpassed in any subsequent presidential election. Bush was the last candidate to receive an absolute majority of the popular vote until his son George W. Bush did in 2004.


1988 United States presidential election, Results
Like Reagan in 1980 and 1984, Bush performed very strongly among suburban voters, in areas such as the collar counties of Chicago (winning over 60% in DuPage and Lake counties), Philadelphia (sweeping the Main Line counties), Baltimore, Los Angeles (winning over 60% in the Republican bastions of Orange and San Diego counties) and New York. As of 2020, Bush is the last Republican to win the heavily suburban states of California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, and New Jersey.


1988 United States presidential election, Results
He is also the last Republican candidate to win rural Vermont, which was historically Republican but by this time shifting away from the party, as well as the last Republican candidate to win Maine in its entirety, though Donald Trump won one electoral vote from the state in both 2016 and 2020. Bush lost New York state by just over 4%. Bush is the first Republican to win the presidency without Iowa. In contrast to the suburbs, a solidly Republican constituency, Bush received a significantly lower level of support than Reagan in rural regions. Farm states had fared poorly during the Reagan administration, and Dukakis was the beneficiary.


1988 United States presidential election, Results
In Illinois, Bush lost a number of downstate counties that previously went for Reagan, and he lost Iowa by a wide margin, even losing in traditionally Republican areas. Bush also performed weaker in Missouri's northern counties, narrowly winning that state. In three typically solid Republican states, Kansas, South Dakota, and Montana, the vote was much closer than usual. The rural state of West Virginia, though not an agricultural economy, narrowly flipped back into the Democratic column. As of 2021, this is the only election where Blaine County, Montana (since 1916) and Sargent County, North Dakota (since 1948), did not vote for the winning candidate.


1988 United States presidential election, Results
Bush performed strongest in the South and West. Despite Bentsen's presence on the Democratic ticket, Bush won Texas by 12 points. He lost the states of the Pacific Northwest but narrowly held California in the Republican column for the sixth straight time. As of 2021, this was the last election in which the Republican candidate won the support of a majority or plurality of women voters.


1988 United States presidential election, Results, Electoral results
Source (electoral vote): (a) West Virginia faithless elector Margarette Leach voted for Bentsen as president and Dukakis as vice president in order to make a statement against the U.S. Electoral College. (b) Fulani's running mate varied from state to state. Among the six vice presidential candidates were Joyce Dattner, Harold Moore, and Wynonia Burke.


1988 United States presidential election, Results, Results by state
Bush carried many states and congressional districts that have rarely voted for a Republican since:


1988 United States presidential election, Results, Results by state
As of 2021, 1988 is the last election in which a Republican won a majority of Northern electoral votes and was elected while losing West Virginia.


1988 United States presidential election, Results, Results by state
This is the first time a Republican won a presidential election without carrying Iowa, the second time a Republican was elected without carrying Oregon (after 1868), and the last time a Republican carried any of the contiguous states on the West Coast.


1988 United States presidential election, Results, Results by state
Maine allowed its electoral votes to be split between candidates. Two electoral votes were awarded to the winner of the statewide race and one electoral vote to the winner of each congressional district. Bush won all four votes. This was the last election in which Nebraska awarded its electors in a winner-take-all format before switching to the congressional district method.


1988 United States presidential election, Results, Close states
States with margin of victory less than 5% (195 electoral votes)


1988 United States presidential election, Results, Close states
States with margin of victory between 5% and 10% (70 electoral votes):


1988 United States presidential election, Results, Maps
Results by county, shaded according to winning candidate's percentage of the vote


1988 United States presidential election, Results, Voter demographics
Source: CBS News and The New York Times exit poll from the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research (11,645 surveyed)


1988 United States presidential election in Alabama
The 1988 United States presidential election in Alabama took place on November 8, 1988. All fifty states, and the District of Columbia, were part of the 1988 presidential election. Alabama voters chose nine electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.


1988 United States presidential election in Alabama
Alabama was won by incumbent United States Vice President George H. W. Bush of Texas, who was running against Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis. Bush ran with Indiana Senator Dan Quayle as Vice President, and Dukakis ran with Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen.


1988 United States presidential election in Alabama
Alabama weighed in for this election as 11% more Republican than the national average.


1988 United States presidential election in Alabama, Partisan background
The presidential election of 1988 was a very partisan election, with more than 99 percent of the electorate voting for either the Democratic or Republican parties. The vast majority of counties in Alabama voted for Bush, with the major exception being the Black Belt, which with its predominantly African-American populace voted overwhelmingly Democratic. Macon County had been the most Democratic in the nation in 1980 and 1984, and it was Dukakis’ sixth-best county in the nation with a margin of over four-to-one for the Massachusetts Governor.


1988 United States presidential election in Alabama, Republican victory
Bush won the election in Alabama with a victorious 20 point sweep-out landslide. Alabama remained, in this election, very much a part of the Republican stronghold of the Deep South. The election results in Alabama are reflective of a nationwide political re-consolidation of base for the Republican Party, which took place in the through the 1980s. Through the passage of some very controversial economic programs, spearheaded by then President Ronald Reagan (called, collectively, "Reaganomics"), the mid-to-late 1980s saw a period of economic growth and stability. The hallmark for Reaganomics was, in part, the wide-scale deregulation of corporate interests, and tax cuts for the wealthy.


1988 United States presidential election in Alabama, Republican victory
Dukakis ran on a socially liberal platform, and advocated for higher economic regulation and environmental protection. Bush, alternatively, ran on a campaign of continuing the social and economic policies of former President Reagan – which gained him much support with conservatives and people living in rural areas. Additionally, while the economic programs passed under Reagan, and furthered under Bush and Bill Clinton, may have boosted the economy for a brief period, they are criticized by many analysts as "setting the stage" for economic troubles in the United States after 2007, such as the Great Recession.


1988 United States presidential election in Alaska
The 1988 United States presidential election in Alaska took place on November 8, 1988. All 50 states and the District of Columbia, were part of the 1988 United States presidential election. Alaska voters chose three electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.


1988 United States presidential election in Alaska
Alaska was won by incumbent United States Vice President George H. W. Bush of Texas, who was running against Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis. Bush ran with Indiana Senator Dan Quayle as Vice President, and Dukakis ran with Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen.


1988 United States presidential election in Alaska
Bush won the election in Alaska with a resounding 23 point sweep-out landslide. Alaska has sent Republican electors to the Electoral College during every election in its history – except in 1964, where electors were sent for Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson. The election results in Alaska are reflective of a nationwide reconsolidation of base for the Republican Party, which took place throughout the 1980s. Through the passage of some very controversial economic programs, spearheaded by then President Ronald Reagan (called, collectively, "Reaganomics"), the mid-to-late 1980s saw a period of economic growth and stability. The hallmark for Reaganomics was, in part, the wide-scale deregulation of corporate interests, and tax cuts for the wealthy.


1988 United States presidential election in Alaska
Dukakis ran on a socially liberal platform and advocated for higher economic regulation and environmental protection. Bush, alternatively, ran on a campaign of continuing Reagan's social and economic policies, which gained him much support with social conservatives and people living in rural areas. Additionally, while the economic programs passed under Reagan and furthered under Bush and Bill Clinton may have boosted the economy for a brief period, they are criticized by many analysts as "setting the stage" for economic troubles in the United States after 2007, such as the Great Recession.


1988 United States presidential election in Alaska
The election was rather multi-partisan for Alaska, with nearly 5% of the votes going to third-party candidates. Leading the third-party turnout in Alaska, and with one of their best turnouts nationwide, Texas Congressman Ron Paul with running-mate and Alaska Legislator Andre Marrou were able to pull nearly 3% of votes in the state on the Libertarian Party ticket.


1988 United States presidential election in Alaska
Alaska weighed in for this election as 16% more Republican than the national average.


1988 United States presidential election in Arizona
The 1988 United States presidential election in Arizona  took place on November 8, 1988. All fifty states and the District of Columbia, were part of the 1988 United States presidential election. State voters chose seven electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.


1988 United States presidential election in Arizona
Arizona was won by incumbent United States Vice President George H. W. Bush of Texas, who was running against Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis. Bush ran with Indiana Senator Dan Quayle as Vice President, and Dukakis ran with Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen.


1988 United States presidential election in Arizona
Arizona weighed in for this election as 14 points more Republican than the national average. This is the last election in which Coconino, Pima, and Santa Cruz counties voted for the Republican presidential candidate.


1988 United States presidential election in Arizona, Partisan background
The presidential election of 1988 was a very partisan election for Arizona, with nearly 99% of the electorate voting for either the Democratic or Republican parties. Nearly every county turned out for Bush, with the exception of Native American Apache County and heavily unionized Greenlee County voting primarily for Dukakis.


1988 United States presidential election in Arizona, Partisan background
As of the 2020 presidential election this is the last occasion when the counties of Santa Cruz, Pima and Coconino have given a plurality to a Republican presidential candidate.


1988 United States presidential election in Arizona, Republican victory
Bush won the election in the traditionally conservative and Republican state of Arizona with a solid 21 point margin. The election results in Arizona are reflective of a nationwide political reconsolidation of base for the Republican Party, which took place through the 1980s. Through the passage of some very controversial economic programs, spearheaded by then President Ronald Reagan (called, collectively, "Reaganomics"), the mid-to-late 1980s saw a period of economic growth and stability. The hallmark for Reaganomics was, in part, the wide-scale deregulation of corporate interests, and tax cuts for the wealthy.


1988 United States presidential election in Arizona, Republican victory
Dukakis ran on a notably socially liberal platform, and advocated for higher economic regulation and environmental protection. Bush, alternatively, ran on a campaign of continuing the social and economic policies of former President Reagan  which gained him much support with social conservatives and people living in rural areas. Additionally, while the economic programs passed under Reagan, and furthered under Bush and Clinton, may have boosted the economy for a brief period, they are criticized by many analysts as "setting the stage" for economic troubles in the United States after 2007, such as the Great Recession.


1988 United States presidential election in Arkansas
The 1988 United States presidential election in Arkansas took place on November 8, 1988. All fifty states and the District of Columbia, were part of the 1988 United States presidential election. State voters chose six electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.


1988 United States presidential election in Arkansas
Arkansas was won by incumbent United States Vice President George H. W. Bush of Texas, who was running against Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis. Bush ran with Indiana Senator Dan Quayle as Vice President, and Dukakis ran with Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen.


1988 United States presidential election in Arkansas
Arkansas weighed in for this election as 6% more Republican than the national average.


1988 United States presidential election in Arkansas, Partisan background
The presidential election of 1988 was a very partisan election for Arkansas, with nearly 99% of the electorate voting for either the Democratic or Republican parties. The vast majority of the counties voted primarily Republican, including the highly populated center of Pulaski County. As of the 2020 presidential election this stands as the last election in which Pulaski County and Crittenden County voted for a Republican presidential candidate.


1988 United States presidential election in Arkansas, Partisan background
In typical form for the time, the southeastern portion of the state, including counties such as Desha and Phillips continued to turn out primarily Democratic during this election. This region is part of the Mississippi Delta and of the "Black Belt" and is characterized by dark rich soils and a large, formerly slave African-American population.


1988 United States presidential election in Arkansas, Republican victory
Bush won the election in Arkansas with a solid 14 point landslide. Arkansas continued on in this election as a component of the conservative stronghold of the Deep South. The election results in Arkansas are reflective of a nationwide reconsolidation of base for the Republican Party, which took place through the 1980s. Through the passage of some very controversial economic programs, spearheaded by then President Ronald Reagan (called, collectively, "Reaganomics"), the mid-to-late 1980s saw a period of economic growth and stability. The hallmark for Reaganomics was, in part, the wide-scale deregulation of corporate interests, and tax cuts for the wealthy.


1988 United States presidential election in Arkansas, Republican victory
Dukakis ran on a socially liberal platform, and advocated for higher economic regulation and environmental protection. Bush, alternatively, ran on a campaign of continuing the social and economic policies of former President Reagan - which gained him much support with social conservatives and people living in rural areas. Additionally, while the economic programs passed under Reagan, and furthered under Bush and Clinton, may have boosted the economy for a brief period, they are criticized by many analysts as "setting the stage" for economic troubles in the United States after 2007, such as the Great Recession.


1988 United States presidential election in California
The 1988 United States presidential election in California took place on November 8, 1988, and was part of the 1988 United States presidential election. Voters chose 47 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1988 United States presidential election in California
California voted for the Republican nominee, Vice President George H. W. Bush, over the Democratic nominee, Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis by a margin of 3.57 percent. Bush won forty-four of the state's fifty-eight counties, but the election was kept close by Dukakis’ strong performance in the Bay Area and his victory in Los Angeles, the state's most populated county. Also, Dukakis won at least 31% of the vote in every county and at least 40 percent in forty of them. Much like Vermont in the same year, California was seen by observers as a swing state in this year's presidential election cycle due to fairly close polling.


1988 United States presidential election in California
To date, this is the last presidential election in which the state of California was carried by a Republican candidate. From the next election onwards, California would, like the other two states on the West Coast, transition from being solidly Republican states to voting consistently for Democratic candidates (Oregon and Washington even voted for Dukakis in 1988), forming a "blue wall" of sorts over the next three decades. In fact, this is the only time since 1948 that Oregon and California voted for different candidates.


1988 United States presidential election in California
Bush is also the last Republican to carry the following counties in a presidential election: Imperial, Monterey, Napa, Sacramento, San Benito and Santa Barbara, the last Republican to win any county in the Bay Area (Napa), the last Republican to secure at least one-quarter of the vote in San Francisco, and the last Republican to secure at least 40% of the vote in Los Angeles County.


1988 United States presidential election in California
Bush became the first Republican to win the White House without carrying Sonoma County, a Republican stronghold for most of the 20th century, since Benjamin Harrison in 1888, as well as the first to do so without carrying Los Angeles County, a bellwether county from 1920 to 1984, since Rutherford Hayes in 1876.


1988 United States presidential election in California, Analysis
California voted Republican in 1988 for the ninth time out of ten elections from 1952 on, confirming its status as a Republican electoral bulwark during this period. However, George H. W. Bush won California by only 3.57% even as he won nationally by 7.72%; and Florida displaced it as the state providing the Republican with his biggest raw-vote margin in the nation. Signs of the phenomena that would come to make California a 'Blue Wall' state from 1992 on emerged in this election; for the first time since 1916, Los Angeles County voted for the loser of the national election.


1988 United States presidential election in California, Analysis
Bush was also nearly swept out of the Bay Area, losing populous former Republican strongholds such as Santa Clara, San Mateo, Sonoma, and Marin Counties (as well as Santa Cruz County, the northernmost Central Coast county). While Bush continued to do well in San Diego, Orange, and Ventura Counties (and, to a lesser extent, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Monterey Counties, as well as in relatively thinly populated Napa County), this represented a significant erosion of the Republican Party's traditional base along the length of California's coast. By 2016 and 2020, this process was complete, as every coastal county in the state save Del Norte voted Democratic two elections in a row.


1988 United States presidential election in California, Analysis
On the other hand, in contrast to the 1976, 1968, 1960, and 1948 elections in California, all of which had been close (and which had been won by the Democrat in 1948), Dukakis carried little of inland California, which had traditionally been the Democratic base in the state. Counties that had voted Democratic in all four of those elections, but voted Republican in 1988, included Sacramento, Fresno, Placer, Merced, Shasta, Madera, Amador, Lassen, Plumas, Trinity, and Sierra Counties.


1988 United States presidential election in California, Analysis
Apart from Sacramento, Fresno, and Merced Counties, these have continued to remain as Republican strongholds in the state even as overall it has become increasingly blue in the 21st century. Comparing 1988 directly with what at the time was the most recent close election in California, 1976, Dukakis carried only nine of the 27 counties Carter carried in the state. Three of these (Shasta, Plumas, and Sierra) had even voted for McGovern in the disastrous Democratic defeat of 1972.


1988 United States presidential election in Colorado
The 1988 United States presidential election in Colorado took place on November 8, 1988, as part of the 1988 United States presidential election, which was held throughout all 50 states and D.C. Voters chose eight representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1988 United States presidential election in Colorado
Colorado voted for the Republican nominee, Vice President George H. W. Bush, over the Democratic nominee, Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis, by a margin of 7.78%. Bush took 53.06% of the vote to Dukakis' 45.28%.


1988 United States presidential election in Colorado
While the Republicans held onto Colorado's eight electoral votes, Bush's 53–45 win over Dukakis represented a vastly diminished margin compared to 1984, when Ronald Reagan had won the state in a 63–35 landslide over Walter Mondale. Unlike in the several preceding elections, Colorado voted roughly in line with the nation overall, which Bush won by 7.72%.


1988 United States presidential election in Colorado
Dukakis made substantial inroads by improving on Mondale's vote share in the city of Denver by over 10% (getting the highest vote share of any nominee in the city since Lyndon Johnson in 1964), becoming the first Democrat since 1964 (and only the second since 1936) to carry Boulder County, and comfortably reclaiming Pitkin County, which had supported McGovern in 1972 but had gone on to vote Republican in the next three elections.


1988 United States presidential election in Colorado
These inroads lay the groundwork for Clinton's carrying Colorado for the Democrats for the first time since 1964 in 1992. In 1996, with the receding of the Perot vote, Colorado returned to being a relatively red state, narrowly supporting Bob Dole even as he lost badly nationally. Nevertheless, in contrast with 1972, 1976, 1980, and 1984, Colorado would never again, as of 2020, vote Republican in a presidential election by double digits. After 2004, as of 2020, it has not voted Republican at all.


1988 United States presidential election in Colorado
As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election in which Summit County voted for a Republican presidential candidate.


1988 United States presidential election in Colorado
Bush became the first Republican to win the White House without carrying Boulder County since William Howard Taft in 1908.


1988 United States presidential election in Connecticut
The 1988 United States presidential election in Connecticut took place on November 8, 1988, as part of the 1988 United States presidential election, which was held throughout all 50 states and D.C. Voters chose eight representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1988 United States presidential election in Connecticut
Connecticut voted for the Republican nominee, Vice President George H. W. Bush, over the Democratic nominee, Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis, by a margin of 5.10%. Bush took 51.98% of the vote to Dukakis's 46.87%.


1988 United States presidential election in Connecticut
Although Dukakis won only Hartford County, he took 47-49% of the vote in 5 other counties, making it a close race statewide. He came much closer to winning the state than Walter Mondale, who had lost the state by over 20 points four years earlier. Dukakis's gains reflected liberal New England's drift as a whole toward the Democratic Party, as the Republican Party became increasingly conservative and oriented toward the South. This would be the last time that a Republican presidential candidate would win Connecticut's electoral votes, as the state has gone Democratic in every election since, and also one of the last times that a Republican won a statewide federal election there.


1988 United States presidential election in Connecticut
As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election in which the counties of New Haven, New London, Middlesex and Tolland voted for the Republican candidate. Also, this was the most recent election in which the Republican nominee carried the following municipalities: Andover, Branford, Canaan, Canton, Chester, Clinton, Columbia, Cromwell, Deep River, East Lyme, Farmington, Glastonbury, Groton, Guilford, Hebron, Kent, Norfolk, Norwalk, Old Lyme, Salisbury, Sharon, South Windsor, Stamford, Stonington, Tolland, Vernon, Washington, Waterbury, Waterford, Westport, Wethersfield, Willington, and Woodbridge.


1988 United States presidential election in Delaware
The 1988 United States presidential election in Delaware took place on November 8, 1988, as part of the 1988 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. State voters chose three electors to represent them in the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president, via a popular vote pitting incumbent Republican Vice President George H.W. Bush and his running mate, U.S. Senator from Indiana Dan Quayle, against Democratic challenger Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis and his running mate, U.S. Senator from Texas Lloyd Bentsen.


1988 United States presidential election in Delaware
Also on the ballot were Libertarian Party nominee, U.S. Representative from Texas Ron Paul and his running mate Alaska State Representative Andre Marrou. The left-wing New Alliance Party nominated activist and psychologist Lenora Fulani and her running mate, life coach Joyce Dattner.


1988 United States presidential election in Delaware
Vice President Bush won Delaware by 12.4%, making the Blue Hen state about 4.7% more Republican than the nation--a substantial shift with respect to 1984, when Delaware was just about 1% more Republican than the nation. Like Reagan, Bush performed strongly in Delaware's two southernmost counties, Sussex and Kent, both of which gave him over 60% of the vote. However, he carried Delaware's northernmost and by far most populous county, New Castle County, by 7.8%, slightly more than his national margin (whereas Reagan had carried it in 1984 by a few points less than his national margin).


1988 United States presidential election in Delaware
By 1988, Delaware had become a bellwether state, due to the strong contrast between the industrial city of Wilmington in the north of the state and rural poultry farms in the south. 1988 was the eleventh election in a row in which Delaware voted for the national winner. However, despite New Castle County trending Republican in 1988, it would become powerfully and reliably Democratic from 1992 on, making Delaware part of the Blue Wall. As of 2020, 1988 is the last election in which either Delaware or New Castle County has voted for the Republican nominee.


1988 United States presidential election in Delaware, Partisan background
The presidential election of 1988 was a very partisan election for Delaware, with nearly 99.5% of the electorate voting for either the Democratic or Republican parties, and only 4 political parties on the ballot, statewide.


1988 United States presidential election in Florida
The 1988 United States presidential election in Florida took place on November 8, 1988. All fifty states and the District of Columbia, were part of the 1988 United States presidential election. Florida voters chose twenty-one electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.


1988 United States presidential election in Florida
Florida was won by incumbent United States Vice President George H. W. Bush of Texas, who was running against Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis. Bush ran with Indiana Senator Dan Quayle as Vice President, and Dukakis ran with Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen.


1988 United States presidential election in Florida
Florida weighed in for this election as 14% more Republican than the national average. Bush's 60.87% of the popular vote made it his fifth strongest state in the 1988 election after Utah, New Hampshire, Idaho and South Carolina. This was also the last time Florida was decided by double digits. This is the last time that a Republican won a majority of the vote in Pinellas County.


1988 United States presidential election in Florida, Partisan background
The presidential election of 1988 was a very partisan election for Florida, with more than 99% of the electorate voting for either the Democratic or Republican parties, and only four candidates appearing on the ballot. Bush won every county in the state, with the exception for North Florida’s majority-black Gadsden County, which voted narrowly for Dukakis.


1988 United States presidential election in Florida, Partisan background
As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election in which Miami-Dade County, Broward County, Palm Beach County, Alachua County, and Leon County voted for a Republican presidential candidate.


1988 United States presidential election in Florida, Republican victory
Bush won the election in Florida with a 22-point sweep-out landslide. This is the last election where Florida voted reliably Republican, afterward becoming a regular swing state. The election results in Florida are also reflective of a nationwide reconsolidation of base for the Republican Party, which took place through the 1980s. Through the passage of some very conservative economic programs, spearheaded by then President Ronald Reagan (called, collectively, "Reaganomics"), the mid-to-late 1980s saw a period of economic growth and stability. The hallmark for Reaganomics was, in part, the wide-scale deregulation of businesses, and deep tax cuts.


1988 United States presidential election in Florida, Republican victory
Dukakis ran his campaign on a socially liberal platform, and advocated for higher economic regulation and environmental protection. Bush, alternatively, ran on a campaign of continuing the social and economic policies of former President Reagan – which gained him much support with social conservatives and people living in rural areas.


1988 United States presidential election in Georgia
The 1988 United States presidential election in Georgia took place on November 8, 1988. All 50 states and the District of Columbia, were part of the 1988 United States presidential election. Georgia voters chose 12 electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.


1988 United States presidential election in Georgia
Georgia was won by incumbent United States Vice President George H. W. Bush of Texas, who was running against Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis. Bush ran with Indiana Senator Dan Quayle as Vice President, and Dukakis ran with Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen.


1988 United States presidential election in Georgia
The election was very partisan for Georgia, with more than 99 percent of the electorate voting for either the Democratic or Republican parties, and only four parties represented on the statewide ballot. Only two counties failed to give one of the major party nominees an outright majority: Clarke, which gave Dukakis a narrow plurality, and Bibb, which gave Bush a narrow plurality.


1988 United States presidential election in Georgia
Along with neighboring Tennessee, Georgia was one of only two states where Bush improved on the GOP margin during Ronald Reagan's 49-state landslide from 1984. In fact, Bush won four counties that had voted for Walter Mondale in 1984, out of only seven such counties nationwide.


1988 United States presidential election in Georgia
As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election in which Terrell County, Jefferson County, Bibb County, Muscogee County, Liberty County, Richmond County, Dougherty County, and Clayton County voted for a Republican presidential candidate.


1988 United States presidential election in Georgia
Though the Democrats picked The Omni, in Atlanta as the site of the 1988 National Convention of the U.S. Democratic Party, Georgia weighed in for this election as about 12% more Republican than the national average. This was also the first time that Georgia voted Republican in consecutive elections.


1988 United States presidential election in Georgia, Republican victory
Bush won Georgia by a landslide margin of 20.25%. His 59.75% vote share made it his 11th-best state in the nation, as well as substantially more Republican than the nation. Even though Dukakis improved on Mondale substantially nationwide, he fell well short even of matching his national vote share in most of the South, including Georgia, marking the region's increasing tendency as an electoral bulwark for the Republican Party except when the Democrats nominated a Southerner at the top of the ticket.


1988 United States presidential election in Georgia, Republican victory
Dukakis carried the state's most populous county--Fulton, home of Atlanta--by double digits, and also narrowly carried the Atlanta-area suburb of DeKalb County, the state's second-largest county. However, Bush countered by carrying the next three largest counties by strong, double-digit margins: Cobb and Gwinnett, suburban counties to Atlanta's north, and Chatham, home to Savannah. In particular, he exceeded 70% in both Cobb and Gwinnett. In Chatham, he improved slightly on Reagan's 1984 vote share.


1988 United States presidential election in Georgia, Republican victory
Bush also did well throughout rural Georgia apart from the state's share of the Black Belt, although, despite their large size, Gwinnett and Cobb accounted for his sixth- and 11th-best vote shares out of the state's counties, respectively.


1988 United States presidential election in Georgia, Republican victory
As in 1984, Jimmy Carter's home county of Sumter voted Republican, with Bush in fact improving upon Reagan's vote share.


1988 United States presidential election in Hawaii
The 1988 United States presidential election in Hawaii took place on November 8, 1988. All 50 states and the District of Columbia, were part of the 1988 United States presidential election. Hawaii voters chose 4 electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.


1988 United States presidential election in Hawaii
Hawaii was won by Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis who was running against incumbent United States Vice President George H. W. Bush of Texas. Dukakis ran with Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen as Vice President, and Bush ran with Indiana Senator Dan Quayle.


1988 United States presidential election in Hawaii
The election was very partisan for Hawaii, with 99% of the electorate voting for either the Democratic or Republican parties. All four of the Hawaiian island districts voted in majority for Dukakis.


1988 United States presidential election in Hawaii
Hawaii weighed in for this election as 17% more Democratic than the national average.


1988 United States presidential election in Hawaii, Republican national victory
Dukakis won the election in Hawaii with a solid 10 point landslide. The election results in Hawaii stand out from most in the United States during this election. The nationwide electoral results are largely reflective of a nationwide political reconsolidation of base for the Republican Party, which took place through the 1980s. Through the passage of some very controversial economic programs, spearheaded by then President Ronald Reagan (called, collectively, "Reaganomics"), the mid-to-late 1980s saw a period of economic growth and stability. The hallmark for Reaganomics was, in part, the wide-scale deregulation of corporate interests, and tax cuts for the wealthy.


1988 United States presidential election in Hawaii, Republican national victory
Dukakis ran his campaign on a socially liberal platform, and advocated for higher economic regulation and environmental protection. Bush, alternatively, ran on a campaign of continuing the social and economic policies of former President Reagan - which gained him much support with social conservatives and people living in rural areas. Additionally, while the economic programs passed under Reagan, and furthered under Bush and Clinton, may have boosted the economy for a brief period, they are criticized by many analysts as "setting the stage" for economic troubles in the United States after 2007, such as the Great Recession.


1988 United States presidential election in Idaho
The 1988 United States presidential election in Idaho took place on November 8, 1988. All 50 states and the District of Columbia, were part of the 1988 United States presidential election. State voters chose four electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.


1988 United States presidential election in Idaho
Idaho was won by incumbent United States Vice President George H. W. Bush of Texas, who was running against Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis. Bush ran with Indiana Senator Dan Quayle as Vice President, and Dukakis ran with Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen.


1988 United States presidential election in Idaho
The election was very partisan for Idaho, with over 98% of the electorate voting for either the Democratic or Republican parties, and only four parties appearing on the ballot. All but one county gave either Dukakis or Bush an outright majority; the exception was Bonner County, which gave Bush a very narrow plurality. Bush's best county was Madison County, which gave him 84.87% of its vote--Bush's second-strongest county performance in the nation after the famous Unionist Republican bastion of Jackson County in Kentucky. Dukakis' best county was Shoshone County, where he received 60.49% of the vote.


1988 United States presidential election in Idaho
As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election in which Blaine County voted for a Republican presidential candidate.


1988 United States presidential election in Idaho
Idaho weighed in for this election as 18% more Republican than the national average and with 62.08% of the popular vote. As a result, Idaho became the third-most Republican state in the nation, behind Utah and New Hampshire.


1988 United States presidential election in Idaho, Republican victory
Bush won Idaho by a powerful 26.1% margin; his 62.1% vote share made it his third-best state in the nation, after Utah and New Hampshire. The Mountain West as a whole had begun trending Republican from 1952 on, after having been a swing region that was critical to Democratic victories when they did occur between 1896 and 1948.


1988 United States presidential election in Idaho, Republican victory
However, the realignment was particularly pronounced in Idaho; in 1964, a mere 16 years after having backed Truman over Dewey, Idaho came within less than 2% of voting for Barry Goldwater, far closer than any other state in the region apart from Goldwater's native Arizona and indeed far closer than any other Johnson state anywhere apart from Florida.


1988 United States presidential election in Idaho, Republican victory
In 1988, an election influenced by the 1980s farm crisis, several Mountain States (most notably Colorado and Montana) were shakier than usual in their support for the Republican ticket, but Idaho remained not only in the Republican column, but far more Republican than the nation overall. Bush dominated almost all of rural Idaho, and also scored strong wins in the population centers of Ada County (Boise), Canyon County (Nampa), Bonneville County (Idaho Falls), and Twin Falls County (Twin Falls), in all of which he exceeded 60% of the vote. He also won, albeit less powerfully, the other two of Idaho's six largest counties, Bannock (Pocatello) and Kootenai (Coeur d'Alene).


1988 United States presidential election in Idaho, Republican victory
However, Dukakis did manage to carry a cluster of counties in North Idaho, centered on the Silver Valley, a region historically dominated by mining. This made Dukakis the first Democrat to carry any counties in the Gem State since 1976.


1988 United States presidential election in Illinois
The 1988 United States presidential election in Illinois took place on November 8, 1988. All 50 states and the District of Columbia were part of the 1988 United States presidential election. State voters chose 24 electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.


1988 United States presidential election in Illinois
Illinois was won by incumbent United States Vice President George H. W. Bush of Texas, who was running against Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis. Bush ran with Indiana Senator Dan Quayle as Vice President, and Dukakis ran with Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen.


1988 United States presidential election in Illinois
Illinois weighed in for this election as 5.4% more Democratic than the national average. As of the 2020 presidential election, this was the last time that Illinois voted Republican in a presidential election.


1988 United States presidential election in Illinois, Election information
The primaries and general elections coincided with those for congress, as well as those for state offices.


1988 United States presidential election in Illinois, Election information, Turnout
Turnout during the state-run primaries was 39.82%, with 2,359,737 votes cast.


1988 United States presidential election in Illinois, Election information, Turnout
Turnout during the general election was 71.72%, 4,559,120 votes cast.


1988 United States presidential election in Illinois, Primaries
State-run primaries were held for the Democratic, Republican, parties on March 15.


1988 United States presidential election in Illinois, Primaries, Democratic
The 1988 Illinois Democratic presidential primary was held on March 15, 1988 in the U.S. state of Illinois as one of the Democratic Party's statewide nomination contests ahead of the 1988 presidential election.


1988 United States presidential election in Illinois, Primaries, Republican
The 1988 Illinois Republican presidential primary was held on March 15, 1988 in the U.S. state of Illinois as one of the Republican Party's statewide nomination contests ahead of the 1988 presidential election.


1988 United States presidential election in Illinois, Primaries, Illinois Solidarity
The 1988 Illinois Solidarity presidential primary was held on March 15, 1988 in the U.S. state of Illinois. Lenora Fulani won, running unopposed.


1988 United States presidential election in Illinois, General election
Bush won the election in the rapidly liberalizing state of Illinois with a narrow 2 point margin. Like the neighboring state of Missouri, Bush's performance here was far below that of Reagan's just four years earlier. Bush's loss of many down-state rural counties, combined with Dukakis's stronger than normal performance across much of the state, especially in Cook County, which houses the Chicago area, made the election results in this state much closer than usual. Bush would be the last Republican candidate to carry the state of Illinois in a presidential election (as of the 2020 presidential election).


1988 United States presidential election in Illinois, General election
The election results in Illinois are reflective of a nationwide reconsolidation of base for the Republican Party, which took place through the 1980s. Through the passage of some economic programs, spearheaded by then President Ronald Reagan (called, collectively, "Reaganomics"), the mid-to-late 1980s saw a period of economic growth and stability. The hallmark for Reaganomics was, in part, the wide-scale deregulation of corporate interests, and tax cuts across the board.


1988 United States presidential election in Illinois, General election
Dukakis ran on a socially liberal platform, and advocated for higher economic regulation and environmental protection. Bush, alternatively, ran on a campaign of continuing the social and economic policies of former President Reagan – which gained him much support with social conservatives and people living in rural areas.


1988 United States presidential election in Illinois, General election
The presidential election of 1988 was a very partisan election for Illinois, with more than 99% of the electorate voting for either the Democratic or Republican parties, and only five political parties listed as options on the ballot statewide. As of the 2020 presidential election, 1988 is the most recent election in which Peoria County and Champaign County voted for a Republican Presidential candidate, as well as the last time a Republican candidate won more than 40% of the vote in Cook County, home to Chicago.


1988 United States presidential election in Indiana
The 1988 United States Presidential Election in Indiana took place on November 8, 1988. All 50 states and the District of Columbia, were part of the 1988 United States presidential election. State voters chose twelve electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president of the United States.


1988 United States presidential election in Indiana
Indiana voters chose George H. W. Bush over Michael Dukakis by a 20-point margin. It is the home state of Bush's running mate Dan Quayle. No Democratic candidate has won the state between 1964, with the exception of Barack Obama, who went on to win it in 2008.


1988 United States presidential election in Iowa
The 1988 United States presidential election in Iowa took place on November 8, 1988, as part of the 1988 United States presidential election. Voters chose eight representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1988 United States presidential election in Iowa
Iowa was won by Democratic Governor Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts with 54.71% of the popular vote over Republican Vice President George H.W. Bush's 44.50%, a victory margin of 10.22%. This made it one of 10 states (plus the District of Columbia) to vote for Dukakis, while Bush won a convincing electoral victory nationwide. It was the first time that a Democratic presidential candidate won the popular vote in the state since Lyndon B. Johnson won the state back in 1964.


1988 United States presidential election in Iowa
The farm crisis of the 1980s under the incumbent Republican administration made the Midwest one of the targets for the Dukakis campaign in 1988, which ultimately proved successful in the region with Democrats performing strongly in many farm states. Nowhere was this more evident than in Iowa, which was the second most Democratic state in the nation in 1988 in terms of both vote percentage and victory margin; it was one of just two states (along with Rhode Island) to vote Democratic by a double-digit margin.


1988 United States presidential election in Iowa
This Democratic support was spread widely across the state, with Dukakis winning 75 of the state's 99 counties, whilst counties carried by Bush were concentrated within the state's typically archconservative western fringe. Iowa was also the only state in the nation where Dukakis won by a larger margin than fellow Democrat Bill Clinton would win it by four years later in 1992; Dukakis won 13 Iowa counties which would vote for Bush in 1992.


1988 United States presidential election in Iowa
While Dukakis personally overperformed in Iowa due to the farm crisis, 1988 was also the beginning of a long-term re-alignment of the state toward the Democratic Party, as the historically-Republican state became a Democratic-leaning swing state for a quarter of a century. Iowa had voted Republican in the five preceding elections, and nine of the previous eleven. From 1988 to 2012, Iowa voted Democratic in six of the seven elections that followed (out of the nine total elections overall). Despite this, as of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election in which Marion County, Buena Vista County, Sac County, and Humboldt County voted for a Democratic presidential candidate.


1988 United States presidential election in Iowa
Iowa, with four counties, Texas, with three, and Montana (with Lincoln County) are the only states as of 2020 where there exist counties that voted for Dukakis this election and haven't voted Democratic since 1988.


1988 United States presidential election in Kansas
The 1988 United States presidential election in Kansas took place on November 8, 1988. All fifty states and the District of Columbia, were part of the 1988 United States presidential election. Voters chose seven electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.


1988 United States presidential election in Kansas
Kansas was won by incumbent United States Vice President George H. W. Bush of Texas, who was running against Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis. Bush ran with Indiana Senator Dan Quayle as Vice President, and Dukakis ran with Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen.


1988 United States presidential election in Kansas
Kansas weighed in for this election as 2% more Republican than the national average.


1988 United States presidential election in Kansas, Partisan background
The presidential election of 1988 was a very partisan election for Kansas, with over 98% of the electorate voting for either the Democratic or Republican parties, and only four political parties appearing on the ballot. Voters from every county in Kansas turned out for the Republican Party, except for three, the largest example being Kansas City's Wyandotte County, which voted primarily Democratic. As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last time Douglas County voted for a Republican presidential candidate.


1988 United States presidential election in Kansas, Republican victory
Bush won the election in Kansas with a solid 13 point landslide, although compared to most previous Republican performances in Kansas this was an underwhelming triumph due to the influence of an ongoing drought and farm crisis. The election results in Kansas are reflective of a nationwide reconsolidation of base for the Republican Party, which took place through the 1980s. Through the passage of some very controversial economic programs, spearheaded by then President Ronald Reagan (called, collectively, "Reaganomics"), the mid-to-late 1980s saw a period of economic growth and stability. The hallmark for Reaganomics was, in part, the wide-scale deregulation of corporate interests, and tax cuts for the wealthy.


1988 United States presidential election in Kansas, Republican victory
Dukakis ran on a socially liberal platform, and advocated for higher economic regulation and environmental protection. Bush, contrarily, ran on a campaign of continuing the social and economic policies of former President Reagan – which gained him much support with social conservatives and people living in rural areas. Additionally, while the economic programs passed under Reagan, and furthered under Bush and Bill Clinton, may have boosted the economy for a brief period, they are criticized by many analysts as "setting the stage" for economic troubles in the United States after 2007, such as the Great Recession.


1988 United States presidential election in Kentucky
The 1988 United States presidential election in Kentucky took place on November 8, 1988. All 50 states and the District of Columbia, were part of the 1988 United States presidential election. Kentucky voters chose nine electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.


1988 United States presidential election in Kentucky
Kentucky was won by incumbent United States Vice President George H. W. Bush of Texas, who was running against Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis. Bush ran with Indiana Senator Dan Quayle as Vice President, and Dukakis ran with Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen.


1988 United States presidential election in Kentucky
Kentucky weighed in for this election as 4 points more Republican than the national average. As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last time that Jefferson County voted for a Republican presidential candidate. The 1988 presidential election is also the last time that Kentucky voted for a different presidential candidate from neighbouring West Virginia. This is also the last time that Kentucky voted to the left of Tennessee.


1988 United States presidential election in Kentucky, Partisan background
The presidential election of 1988 was a very partisan election for Kentucky, with more than 99 percent of the electorate voting for either the Democratic or Republican parties, and only five parties appearing on the ballot. The vast majority of counties turned out for Bush, including the highly populated center of Louisville's Jefferson County, the last time that county voted for the Republican candidate. Conversely, several small clumps of counties in the Eastern Coal Field (surrounding Pike County) and in the Jackson Purchase (surrounding McCracken County) regions of the state voted primarily Democratic.


1988 United States presidential election in Kentucky, Republican victory
Bush won the election in Kentucky by a solid 11 point margin. While Kentucky typically votes conservative, the election results in Kentucky are also reflective of a nationwide reconsolidation of base for the Republican Party, which took place through the 1980s. Through the passage of some very controversial economic programs, spearheaded by then President Ronald Reagan (called, collectively, "Reaganomics"), the mid-to-late 1980s saw a period of economic growth and stability. The hallmark for Reaganomics was, in part, the wide-scale deregulation of corporate interests, and tax cuts for the wealthy.


1988 United States presidential election in Kentucky, Republican victory
Dukakis ran on a socially liberal platform, and advocated for higher economic regulation and environmental protection. Bush, alternatively, ran on a campaign of continuing the social and economic policies of former President Reagan - which gained him much support with social conservatives and people living in rural areas. Additionally, while the economic programs passed under Reagan, and furthered under Bush and Clinton, may have boosted the economy for a brief period, they are criticized by many analysts as "setting the stage" for economic troubles in the United States after 2007, such as the Great Recession.


1988 United States presidential election in Louisiana
The 1988 United States presidential election in Louisiana took place on November 8, 1988, as part of the 1988 United States presidential election. State voters chose ten representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1988 United States presidential election in Louisiana
Louisiana strongly voted for the Republican nominee, Vice President George H. W. Bush, over the Democratic nominee, Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis. The margin was 10%, which was nonetheless the best Southern state showing for Dukakis. As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election in which Tensas Parish voted for a Republican presidential candidate.


1988 United States presidential election in Maine
The 1988 United States presidential election in Maine took place on November 8, 1988, as part of the 1988 United States presidential election, which was held throughout all 50 states and D.C.. Voters chose four representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1988 United States presidential election in Maine
Maine voted for the Republican nominee, Vice President George H. W. Bush, over the Democratic nominee, Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis, by a margin of 11.45%. Bush took 55.34% of the vote to Dukakis’ 43.88%.


1988 United States presidential election in Maine
Bush's comfortable win was expected, as the state was at the time Republican-leaning, and the Bush family also had ties to Maine, with Bush owning a house in Kennebunkport, Maine.


1988 United States presidential election in Maine
Like the rest of liberal and secular New England, however, Maine would soon begin to drift to the Democratic Party as the Republican Party became increasingly dominated by conservatives, Southerners, and Evangelical Christians. Consequently, this would be the last time that a Republican would carry the state of Maine in a presidential election as a whole, and in the following two decades it would become regarded as a safe blue state. Maine's Second Congressional District, however, gave its electoral vote to Republican candidate Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020.


1988 United States presidential election in Maine
As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election in which a Republican presidential candidate was able to win every county in the state as well as the last time the counties of Cumberland, Hancock, Knox, Sagadahoc and York voted for a Republican presidential candidate. Despite winning every county in the state this election, Bush would not win a single one during his re-election bid in 1992.


1988 United States presidential election in Maryland
The 1988 United States presidential election in Maryland took place on November 8, 1988, as part of the 1988 United States presidential election. Voters chose 10 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1988 United States presidential election in Maryland
Maryland was won by Vice President George H.W. Bush (R-Texas), with 51.11% of the popular vote, over Massachusetts Governor Mike Dukakis (D-Massachusetts) with 48.20% of the popular vote. Bush ultimately won the national vote, defeating Governor Dukakis. As of the 2020 presidential election this is the last election in which a Republican presidential candidate has won the state of Maryland, as well as Baltimore County and Howard County. Maryland was one of only two states that Bush carried in 1988 that voted for Jimmy Carter in 1980, the other being Carter's home state of Georgia.


1988 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
The 1988 United States presidential election in Massachusetts took place on November 8, 1988, as part of the 1988 United States presidential election, which was held throughout all 50 states and D.C. Voters chose 13 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1988 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
Massachusetts voted for Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis, the state's governor, over Republican Vice President George H. W. Bush. The Commonwealth was both candidates' birth state and 1988 was the most recent cycle in which both major party candidates have shared a birth state.


1988 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
Dukakis, the sitting governor of Massachusetts, won his home state with 53.23% of the vote to Bush's 45.38%, a 7.85% margin of victory. This made it one of ten states (plus the District of Columbia) to vote for Dukakis, while Bush won a convincing electoral victory nationwide.


1988 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
Massachusetts was a solid 16% more Democratic than the national average in 1988.


1988 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
Massachusetts had been a Democratic-leaning state since 1928, and a Democratic stronghold since 1960. Although it was already a Democratic-leaning state, this would be the last time that Republicans would be at all competitive in Massachusetts, as secular liberal New England rejected an increasingly conservative Republican Party dominated by Evangelical Christians. Not only has it continued to vote Democratic in every presidential election that followed, but no Republican since has broken 40% in Massachusetts, or even won a single county in the state.


1988 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
This was also the last time that a Republican presidential nominee won any of the state's 14 counties, namely Barnstable, Plymouth and Worcester Counties. Dukakis won 11 counties in Massachusetts to Bush's three. Dukakis's strongest county was Suffolk County, home to the state's capital and largest city, Boston, where he took 64.02% of the vote. Bush's strongest county win was suburban Plymouth County, where he took 54.62% of the vote.


1988 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
Since favorite son presidential nominee John F. Kennedy won the presidency in 1960, Dukakis became the first of three major party nominees from Massachusetts to lose a presidential race. John Kerry (U.S. senator) and Mitt Romney (former governor) lost the 2004 and 2012 presidential elections, respectively.


1988 United States presidential election in Massachusetts, Results, Results by congressional district
Dukakis won 9 of 11 congressional districts, including the 1st district, which simultaneously elected Republican Silvio O. Conte to the House of Representatives. Bush won the 3rd and 5th districts, which simultaneously elected Democrats to the House.


1988 United States presidential election in Michigan
The 1988 United States presidential election in Michigan took place on November 8, 1988. All 50 states and the District of Columbia, were part of the 1988 United States presidential election. Voters chose 20 electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.


1988 United States presidential election in Michigan
Michigan was won by incumbent United States Vice President George H. W. Bush of Texas, who was running against Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis. Bush ran with Indiana Senator Dan Quayle as Vice President, and Dukakis ran with Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen.


1988 United States presidential election in Michigan
Michigan weighed in for this election as 0.17% points more Republican than the national average. This election marks the last time a Republican carried Michigan with a majority of the vote, and it was the last time a Republican presidential candidate won the state until Donald Trump narrowly did so in 2016.


1988 United States presidential election in Michigan, Partisan background
The presidential election of 1988 was a very partisan election for Michigan, with more than 99% of the electorate voting for either the Democratic or Republican parties. Typical for elections in the 1980s, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan turned out mainly Democratic, and the Lower Peninsula turned out mainly Republican, with the notable exception of Detroit's highly populated Wayne County, which voted mainly Democratic. As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election in which Ingham County, Kalamazoo County, and Muskegon County voted for a Republican Presidential candidate.


1988 United States presidential election in Michigan, Republican victory
Bush won the election in Michigan with a solid 7.90% point margin. The election of 1988 was, however, the final election where Michigan was won by the Republican Party until 2016, having consistently voted Democratic since 1992. Bush's victory in this rapidly liberalizing state is reflective of a nationwide reconsolidation of base for the Republican Party, which took place through the 1980s. Through the passage of some economic programs, spearheaded by then President Ronald Reagan (called, collectively, "Reaganomics"), the mid-to-late 1980s saw a period of economic growth and stability. The hallmark for Reaganomics was, in part, the wide-scale deregulation of corporate interests, and large scale tax cuts.


1988 United States presidential election in Michigan, Republican victory
Dukakis ran on a socially liberal platform, and advocated for higher economic regulation and environmental protection. Bush, alternatively, ran on a campaign of continuing the social and economic policies of former President Reagan - which gained him much support with social conservatives and people living in rural areas.


1988 United States presidential election in Minnesota
The 1988 United States presidential election in Minnesota took place on November 8, 1988, as part of the 1988 United States presidential election. Voters chose ten representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1988 United States presidential election in Minnesota
Minnesota was won by Democrat Michael Dukakis, Governor of Massachusetts, with 52.91% of the popular vote over Republican Vice President George H. W. Bush's 45.90%, a victory margin of 7.01%.


1988 United States presidential election in Minnesota
Four years earlier Minnesota had been the only state in the entire country to vote for Democrat Walter Mondale over Republican Ronald Reagan, and this Democratic strength in the state endured in 1988, as Minnesota chose Michael Dukakis by a comfortable margin despite George H.W. Bush winning a convincing victory nationwide. Minnesota has the longest streak of voting Democratic of any state, having not voted Republican since 1972.


1988 United States presidential election in Mississippi
The 1988 United States presidential election in Mississippi took place on November 8, 1988. All fifty states and the District of Columbia, were part of the 1988 United States presidential election. Mississippi voters chose seven electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.


1988 United States presidential election in Mississippi
Mississippi was won by incumbent United States Vice President George H. W. Bush of Texas, who was running against Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis. Bush ran with Indiana Senator Dan Quayle as Vice President, and Dukakis ran with Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen.


1988 United States presidential election in Mississippi
Mississippi weighed in for this election as thirteen percentage points more Republican than the national average.


1988 United States presidential election in Mississippi, Partisan background
The presidential election of 1988 was a very partisan election for Mississippi, with 99 percent of the electorate voting for either the Democratic or Republican parties. Notably, however, George County, in Mississippi's Pine Belt, gave former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke his largest vote share of any county in the country (about 4%). George County also gave third parties in the aggregate their largest vote share of any county in the country.


1988 United States presidential election in Mississippi, Partisan background
As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election in which Adams County, Kemper County, Washington County, and Leflore County voted for the Republican presidential nominee; and the last in which Hinds County, the most populous in the state, gave a Republican an outright majority.


1988 United States presidential election in Mississippi, Republican victory
George Bush carried Mississippi by a landslide 20% margin. Mississippi, along with the rest of the Deep South apart from Louisiana, was amongst the strongest of Bush's regions, a dramatic reversal from 1976 and even 1980, when Reagan carried Mississippi, Alabama, and South Carolina only narrowly. Even though Mississippi has remained reliably red at the presidential level, no Republican has achieved as high a vote share as Bush's 59.9% since 1988.


1988 United States presidential election in Mississippi, Republican victory
Bush carried Hinds County, Mississippi's most populous county, by a double digit margin; he narrowly carried it again in 1992, but it has never voted Republican again, and to the contrary has given Democrats over 70% of its vote in every election from 2012 on. In 1988, however, Dukakis' support in the Magnolia State was largely limited to Mississippi's share of the Black Belt; every county he carried in the state has remained a Democratic stronghold ever since apart from Benton County.


1988 United States presidential election in Missouri
The 1988 United States presidential election in Missouri took place on November 8, 1988. All 50 states and the District of Columbia, were part of the 1988 United States presidential election. Voters chose 11 electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.


1988 United States presidential election in Missouri
Missouri was won by incumbent United States Vice President George H. W. Bush of Texas, who was running against Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis. Bush ran with Indiana Senator Dan Quayle as Vice President, and Dukakis ran with Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen.


1988 United States presidential election in Missouri
Missouri weighed in for this election as 2% more Democratic than the national average.


1988 United States presidential election in Missouri, Partisan background
The presidential election of 1988 was a very partisan election for Missouri, with more than 99% of the electorate voting for either the Democratic or Republican parties, and only three parties total appearing on the ballot. In typical form for the time, the more rural counties in Missouri turned out for the Republican candidate, while the more populated centers of the city of St. Louis (though, notably, not St. Louis County), and Kansas City, voted overwhelmingly Democratic. As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election in which St. Louis County voted for a Republican presidential candidate.


1988 United States presidential election in Missouri, Republican victory
Bush won the election in the battleground state of Missouri by a narrow 4 point margin, far below the margin of victory Reagan achieved just four years earlier. Bush's loss of many northern rural counties, combined with Dukakis's strong performance in the St. Louis city area, resulted in an unusually close result in the state given the national environment.


1988 United States presidential election in Missouri, Republican victory
Through the passage of some controversial economic programs spearheaded by President Ronald Reagan (collectively called "Reaganomics"), the mid-to-late 1980s saw a period of economic growth and stability. The hallmark for Reaganomics was, in part, the wide-scale deregulation of corporate interests, and tax cuts for the wealthy.


1988 United States presidential election in Missouri, Republican victory
Dukakis ran on a socially liberal platform, and advocated for higher economic regulation and environmental protection. Bush ran on a very similar platform to Reagan, boosting his support with social conservatives.


1988 United States presidential election in Missouri, Republican victory
A longtime bellwether state, Missouri voted for the national winner of every presidential election from 1904 to 2004, except 1956.


1988 United States presidential election in Montana
The 1988 United States presidential election in Montana took place on November 8, 1988, and was part of the 1988 United States presidential election. Voters chose four representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president. This was the last election when Montana had four electoral votes: the continuing depopulation of the Great Plains would cause the state to revert to an at-large congressional district for 1992.


1988 United States presidential election in Montana
Montana voted for the Republican nominee, Vice President George H. W. Bush, over the Democratic nominee, Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis.


1988 United States presidential election in Montana
Bush won by a margin of 5.87%, much less than usual in this typically solid Republican state, largely due to the persistent drought and Farm crisis on the Great Plains, a result leaving Montana 1.86% less Republican than the national average. Since 1916 this is the solitary election when Blaine County, one of the most consistent bellwether counties in the nation, has supported a losing presidential candidate.


1988 United States presidential election in Montana
It is also the last time Montana has voted more Democratic than the nation at-large and one of only three since 1952 (along with 1956 and 1972), and the last occasion northwestern Lincoln County has supported a Democratic Presidential nominee, although Bill Clinton would carry the state in 1992 (while also coming close to doing so again in 1996) and Barack Obama nearly did in 2008 as well. As of 2021, Lincoln County is one of only eight counties Dukakis won in 1988 -- the others are in Iowa, with four, and Texas, with three -- that have never backed a Democrat since.


1988 United States presidential election in Nebraska
The 1988 United States presidential election in Nebraska took place on November 8, 1988. All 50 states and the District of Columbia, were part of the 1988 United States presidential election. Voters chose five electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.


1988 United States presidential election in Nebraska
Nebraska was won by incumbent United States Vice President George H. W. Bush of Texas, who was running against Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis. Bush ran with Indiana Senator Dan Quayle as Vice President, and Dukakis ran with Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen. Bush won Nebraska by a powerful 21% margin. His 60.15% vote share made it his seventh-best state in the nation, and one of only seven where he exceeded 60% of the vote. Even in this drought-influenced election, Nebraska remained largely immune to any significant softening of the Republican vote, as occurred in nearby, generally solidly Republican states at the time such as South Dakota, Montana, Colorado, and Kansas.


1988 United States presidential election in Nebraska
The election was very partisan, with more than 99 percent of the electorate voting for either the Democratic or Republican parties, and only four candidates appearing on the ballot. As has been typical ever since the 1950s, nearly every county in Nebraska turned out a majority for the Republican Party.


1988 United States presidential election in Nebraska
However, by carrying Saline County, which had long been the most Democratic county in the state, plus Dakota County and Thurston County in the northeast with their substantial Hispanic and Native American populations, Dukakis became the first Democrat to win any of Nebraska’s counties since Jimmy Carter in 1976, and the two northeastern counties went Democratic for the first time since Lyndon Johnson in 1964.


1988 United States presidential election in Nebraska
Nebraska weighed in for this election as 7% more Republican than the national average. As of 2021, this is the last time Nebraska has voted under a winner-take all system as it would start allocating its electoral votes starting in 1992.


1988 United States presidential election in Nevada
The 1988 United States presidential election in Nevada took place on November 8, 1988. All 50 states and the District of Columbia, were part of the 1988 United States presidential election. State voters chose four electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.


1988 United States presidential election in Nevada
Nevada was won by incumbent United States Vice President George H. W. Bush of Texas, who was running against Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis. Bush ran with Indiana Senator Dan Quayle as Vice President, and Dukakis ran with Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen. Bush carried Nevada with 58.86% of the vote, while Dukakis received 37.92%, a victory margin of 20.94%.


1988 United States presidential election in Nevada
Bush carried Nevada by a landslide margin of 21%, making the state 13.2% more Republican than the nation overall. He carried every county in the state, and both of Nevada's largest counties--Clark and Washoe--weighed in as more Republican than the nation. Only in one county, then-traditionally Democratic White Pine County, did Bush underperform his national vote share, and then only slightly. This was also the only county in which Dukakis cracked 40%, although in no county did he overperform his national vote share (with 'no candidate' garnering 4.9% of the vote in White Pine County).