1988
The 1988 U.S. presidential election was won by George H. W. Bush (Republican) with 426 of 538 electoral votes, defeating Michael Dukakis (Democratic). Electoral-vote margin: 315 (426 to 111). Popular-vote margin: 7.7 percentage points. Turnout was 52.8%. The cycle falls in the Cold War Realignment era of American electoral history.
Open the what-if calculator → — flip states and re-count. A toy, not history.
George H. W. Bush and the 1988 map
Vice President George H. W. Bush won decisively over Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis by effectively tying himself to Reagan's popular legacy. The campaign is remembered for vicious negative advertising, including the Willie Horton ad attacking Dukakis on crime, and Dukakis's awkward photo in a tank. Dukakis had led in polls after the Democratic convention but faltered in the fall. Bush promised to continue Reaganomics and won the South and much of the Midwest handily.
Reagan legacy; crime (Willie Horton ad); defense; taxes ('Read my lips')
Willie Horton ad pioneered modern negative campaigning; Dukakis tank photo was mocked nationally
This summary was drafted with AI tools and has not yet been checked sentence by sentence. The vote table and the National Archives note on this page come from named sources; where they differ from the summary, rely on them. Tell us about an error.
A West Virginia elector voted for Bentsen as President and Dukakis as Vice President.
National Archives, Electoral College results for 1988, archives.gov, read October 3, 2026. Quoted as published.
States · 51 reporting
State results · 1988
- Washington Dukakis by 29,681 · 1.6 pts
- Illinois Bush by 94,999 · 2.1 pts
- Pennsylvania Bush by 105,143 · 2.3 pts
- Maryland Bush by 49,863 · 2.9 pts
- Vermont Bush by 8,556 · 3.5 pts
MichiganBush won it by 7.9 points; its electoral votes took the total to 278, past the 270 needed.
Line up the states the winner carried from widest margin to narrowest and add up their electoral votes: the tipping point is the state that takes the total past a majority.
Scroll the table sideways for every column.
| State | Electoral votes | George H. W. Bush Rep | Michael Dukakis Dem | Also named | Margin | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 9 EV | 815,576 59.2% | 549,506 39.9% | None | 266,070 19.3 pts | Bush Rep |
| Alaska | 3 EV | 119,251 59.6% | 72,584 36.3% | Ron Paul 5,484 · 2.7% | 46,667 23.3 pts | Bush Rep |
| Arizona | 7 EV | 702,541 60.0% | 454,029 38.7% | Ron Paul 13,351 · 1.1% | 248,512 21.2 pts | Bush Rep |
| Arkansas | 6 EV | 466,578 56.4% | 349,237 42.2% | None | 117,341 14.2 pts | Bush Rep |
| California | 47 EV | 5,054,917 51.1% | 4,702,233 47.6% | None | 352,684 3.6 pts | Bush Rep |
| Colorado | 8 EV | 728,177 53.1% | 621,453 45.3% | Ron Paul 15,482 · 1.1% | 106,724 7.8 pts | Bush Rep |
| Connecticut | 8 EV | 750,241 52.0% | 676,584 46.9% | None | 73,657 5.1 pts | Bush Rep |
| Delaware | 3 EV | 139,639 55.9% | 108,647 43.5% | None | 30,992 12.4 pts | Bush Rep |
| District of Columbia1 | 3 EV | 27,590 14.3% | 159,407 82.6% | None | 131,817 68.3 pts | Dukakis Dem |
| Florida | 21 EV | 2,618,885 60.9% | 1,656,701 38.5% | None | 962,184 22.4 pts | Bush Rep |
| Georgia | 12 EV | 1,081,331 59.8% | 714,792 39.5% | None | 366,539 20.3 pts | Bush Rep |
| Hawaii | 4 EV | 158,625 44.8% | 192,364 54.3% | None | 33,739 9.5 pts | Dukakis Dem |
| Idaho | 4 EV | 253,881 62.1% | 147,272 36.0% | Ron Paul 5,313 · 1.3% | 106,609 26.1 pts | Bush Rep |
| Illinois | 24 EV | 2,310,939 50.7% | 2,215,940 48.6% | None | 94,999 2.1 pts | Bush Rep |
| Indiana | 12 EV | 1,297,763 59.8% | 860,643 39.7% | None | 437,120 20.2 pts | Bush Rep |
| Iowa | 8 EV | 545,355 44.5% | 670,557 54.7% | None | 125,202 10.2 pts | Dukakis Dem |
| Kansas2 | 7 EV | 554,049 55.8% | 422,636 42.6% | None | 131,413 13.2 pts | Bush Rep |
| Kentucky | 9 EV | 734,281 55.5% | 580,368 43.9% | None | 153,913 11.6 pts | Bush Rep |
| Louisiana | 10 EV | 883,702 54.3% | 717,460 44.1% | David Duke 18,612 · 1.1% | 166,242 10.2 pts | Bush Rep |
| Maine | 4 EV | 307,131 55.3% | 243,569 43.9% | None | 63,562 11.5 pts | Bush Rep |
| Maryland | 10 EV | 876,167 51.1% | 826,304 48.2% | None | 49,863 2.9 pts | Bush Rep |
| Massachusetts | 13 EV | 1,194,635 45.4% | 1,401,415 53.2% | None | 206,780 7.9 pts | Dukakis Dem |
| Michigan | 20 EV | 1,965,486 53.6% | 1,675,783 45.7% | None | 289,703 7.9 pts | Bush Rep |
| Minnesota | 10 EV | 962,337 45.9% | 1,109,471 52.9% | None | 147,134 7.0 pts | Dukakis Dem |
| Mississippi | 7 EV | 557,890 59.9% | 363,921 39.1% | None | 193,969 20.8 pts | Bush Rep |
| Missouri | 11 EV | 1,084,953 51.8% | 1,001,619 47.9% | None | 83,334 4.0 pts | Bush Rep |
| Montana | 4 EV | 190,412 52.1% | 168,936 46.2% | Ron Paul 5,047 · 1.4% | 21,476 5.9 pts | Bush Rep |
| Nebraska | 5 EV | 397,956 60.2% | 259,235 39.2% | None | 138,721 21.0 pts | Bush Rep |
| Nevada | 4 EV | 206,040 60.0% | 132,738 38.7% | Ron Paul 3,520 · 1.0% | 73,302 21.4 pts | Bush Rep |
| New Hampshire | 4 EV | 281,537 62.5% | 163,696 36.3% | None | 117,841 26.2 pts | Bush Rep |
| New Jersey | 16 EV | 1,743,192 56.2% | 1,320,352 42.6% | None | 422,840 13.6 pts | Bush Rep |
| New Mexico | 5 EV | 270,341 51.9% | 244,497 46.9% | None | 25,844 5.0 pts | Bush Rep |
| New York | 36 EV | 3,081,871 47.5% | 3,347,882 51.6% | None | 266,011 4.1 pts | Dukakis Dem |
| North Carolina | 13 EV | 1,237,258 58.0% | 890,167 41.7% | None | 347,091 16.3 pts | Bush Rep |
| North Dakota | 3 EV | 166,559 56.0% | 127,739 43.0% | None | 38,820 13.1 pts | Bush Rep |
| Ohio | 23 EV | 2,416,549 55.0% | 1,939,629 44.1% | None | 476,920 10.9 pts | Bush Rep |
| Oklahoma | 8 EV | 678,367 57.9% | 483,423 41.3% | None | 194,944 16.6 pts | Bush Rep |
| Oregon | 7 EV | 560,126 46.6% | 616,206 51.3% | Ron Paul 14,811 · 1.2% | 56,080 4.7 pts | Dukakis Dem |
| Pennsylvania | 25 EV | 2,300,087 50.7% | 2,194,944 48.4% | None | 105,143 2.3 pts | Bush Rep |
| Rhode Island | 4 EV | 177,761 43.9% | 225,123 55.6% | None | 47,362 11.7 pts | Dukakis Dem |
| South Carolina | 8 EV | 606,443 61.5% | 370,554 37.6% | None | 235,889 23.9 pts | Bush Rep |
| South Dakota | 3 EV | 165,415 52.8% | 145,560 46.5% | None | 19,855 6.3 pts | Bush Rep |
| Tennessee | 11 EV | 947,233 57.9% | 679,794 41.5% | None | 267,439 16.3 pts | Bush Rep |
| Texas | 29 EV | 3,036,829 56.0% | 2,352,748 43.3% | None | 684,081 12.6 pts | Bush Rep |
| Utah | 5 EV | 428,442 66.2% | 207,343 32.0% | Ron Paul 7,473 · 1.2% | 221,099 34.2 pts | Bush Rep |
| Vermont | 3 EV | 124,331 51.1% | 115,775 47.6% | None | 8,556 3.5 pts | Bush Rep |
| Virginia | 12 EV | 1,309,162 59.7% | 859,799 39.2% | None | 449,363 20.5 pts | Bush Rep |
| Washington | 10 EV | 903,835 48.5% | 933,516 50.0% | None | 29,681 1.6 pts | Dukakis Dem |
| West Virginia | 6 EV Dukakis 5, Bentsen 1 (cast by one elector) | 310,065 47.5% | 341,016 52.2% | None | 30,951 4.7 pts | Dukakis Dem |
| Wisconsin | 11 EV | 1,047,499 47.8% | 1,126,794 51.4% | None | 79,295 3.6 pts | Dukakis Dem |
| Wyoming | 3 EV | 106,867 60.5% | 67,113 38.0% | Ron Paul 2,026 · 1.1% | 39,754 22.5 pts | Bush Rep |
Shares are of each state’s total vote for president. “Not named”: the figures do not give that candidate a line of their own in that state — for example under 1% of the vote, not on the ballot there, or counted on an unnamed line (see the state’s note). Margin is the leader’s lead over the second-placed candidate.
Notes on the figures
- District of Columbia The source reports 3,064 votes under the label 'Independent' on one line with no candidate name, so the people they went to cannot be shown separately; they are counted in 'Other candidates'.
- Kansas The source reports 16,359 votes under the label 'Independent' on one line with no candidate name, so the people they went to cannot be shown separately; they are counted in 'Other candidates'.
SourceMIT Election Data and Science Lab, U.S. President 1976–2024 . How these figures were compiled
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