Who won Massachusetts in the 1988 presidential election?

Dukakis (Democratic) carried Massachusetts in 1988, winning its 13 electoral votes.

How many electoral votes did Massachusetts have in 1988?

Massachusetts cast 13 electoral votes in the 1988 presidential election.

Did Massachusetts vote for the national winner in 1988?

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

Cold War RealignmentMA · 13 EV

1988

Massachusetts: Dukakis carries 13 EV.

Massachusetts cast its 13 electoral votes for Dukakis (Democratic). National winner: George H. W. Bush (Republican) — Massachusetts voted against the national winner this cycle.

What happened in Massachusetts, 1988

In 1988, Massachusetts awarded its 13 electoral votes to Dukakis of the Democratic party. Nationally the result broke the other way — George H. W. Bush (Republican) won the presidency, leaving Massachusetts among the states he did not carry.

It marked the 2nd consecutive election in which Massachusetts backed the Democratic party, a streak reaching back to 1984. The region divided — Rhode Island and New York joined Massachusetts for the Democratic ticket, while Connecticut, Vermont, and New Hampshire did not. Across the 60 presidential elections Massachusetts has taken part in, it has most often sided with the Democratic party (23 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

Massachusetts full history →