1988
South Dakota in 1988
The 1988 contest saw South Dakota line up behind Bush, delivering 3 electoral votes to the Republican ticket. That placed South Dakota with the eventual winner: George H. W. Bush went on to take the presidency, and South Dakota was part of his column.
South Dakota stayed in the Republican column for the 6th straight cycle, extending a run that began in 1968. The region divided — North Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Montana joined South Dakota for the Republican ticket, while Minnesota and Iowa did not. Over its 34 recorded presidential cycles, South Dakota has backed the Republican party more than any other — 29 times in all. The vote fell within the Cold War Realignment — Nixon, Reagan, and the Republican South.
Nationally, George H. W. Bush finished with 426 of the 538 electoral votes to Michael Dukakis's 111. George H. W. Bush led the national popular vote with 53.37% of the ballots cast.
South Dakota in nearby cycles
Embed
Drop this map on your site · coming soon
Free iframe with attribution. White-label option in the works.
Get notified →Classroom
All 300 packets, free
60 cycles · K-2 through AP · open download.
Browse packets →Poster
Wall-worthy print · coming soon
Every-election grid and single-state series in the works.
Get notified →Read further
Curated picksNixonland
Rick Perlstein
How politics polarized 1965–1972.
Buy on Amazon →Reagan
H. W. Brands
Single-volume Reagan biography.
Buy on Amazon →Recommendations are editorial.
Free, ad-light, no paywall
Built by one person. Tips fund the next 60 elections of editorial.