Who won Iowa in the 1988 presidential election?

Dukakis (Democratic) carried Iowa in 1988, winning its 8 electoral votes.

How many electoral votes did Iowa have in 1988?

Iowa cast 8 electoral votes in the 1988 presidential election.

Did Iowa vote for the national winner in 1988?

No. Iowa backed Dukakis, while George H. W. Bush won the presidency nationally.

Cold War RealignmentIA · 8 EV

1988

Iowa: Dukakis carries 8 EV.

Iowa cast its 8 electoral votes for Dukakis (Democratic). National winner: George H. W. Bush (Republican) — Iowa voted against the national winner this cycle.

What happened in Iowa, 1988

In 1988, Iowa awarded its 8 electoral votes to Dukakis of the Democratic party. Nationally the result broke the other way — George H. W. Bush (Republican) won the presidency, leaving Iowa among the states he did not carry.

Dukakis's win closed out Iowa's 5-election run of voting Republican. The region divided — Minnesota and Wisconsin joined Iowa for the Democratic ticket, while Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, and South Dakota did not. Across the 47 presidential elections Iowa has taken part in, it has most often sided with the Republican party (32 times). The vote fell within the Cold War Realignment — Nixon, Reagan, and the Republican South.

In the national count, George H. W. Bush took 426 of the 538 electoral votes, against Michael Dukakis's 111. George H. W. Bush led the national popular vote with 53.37% of the ballots cast.

The 1988 national map

Iowa full history →