United States Presidential Election, 1988

Introduction

This is a revision of the United States presidential election of 1988, the year of Republican George H. W. Bush’s election against Democrat Michael Dukakis.

In the 1988 election of the current timeline, Bush beat Dukakis by a solid majority of over 7.5 percentage points, with Bush winning 40 states. This revised version of history makes this 1988 victory much wider. In this revision, Bush has 58.8% of the popular vote compared to Dukakis’s 39.9%, for a victory margin of almost 19 percentage points, making the popular vote a landslide. Bush wins 47 out of 50 states; the three states he loses are: Hawaii, Minnesota, and Rhode Island. Of course, he also loses the District of Columbia, which always votes heavily for the Democrat up to this point.

I’m doing this because despite Republican President Ronald Reagan’s popularity, George H. W. Bush was a RINO, which Reagan was not. Therefore, I find it fitting that Bush wins by a considerably lesser landslide than Reagan had done in 1980 as well as 1984.

The revised election below is organized state-by-state in alphabetical order, for a total of 50 states plus the District of Columbia.

United States presidential election, 1988 (results estimated)

Alabama

George H. W. Bush (R): 861,708 (64.2%)
Michael Dukakis (D): 462,171 (34.5%)
Other: 17,301 (1.3%)
Total: 1,341,180

Alaska

Bush: 119,885 (60.6%)
Dukakis: 75,601 (38.2%)
Other: 2,475 (1.3%)
Total: 197,961

Arizona

Bush: 551,623 (60.9%)
Dukakis: 343,156 (37.9%)
Other: 11,601 (1.3%)
Total: 906,380

Arkansas

Bush: 578,178 (63.9%)
Dukakis: 314,876 (34.8%)
Other: 11,763 (1.3%)
Total: 904,817

California

Bush: 5,204,542 (56.8%)
Dukakis: 3,841,535 (41.9%)
Other: 120,077 (1.3%)
Total: 9,166,154

Colorado

Bush: 729,758 (59.1%)
Dukakis: 487,822 (39.5%)
Other: 16,162 (1.3%)
Total: 1,233,742

Connecticut

Bush: 750,012 (55.2%)
Dukakis: 589,829 (43.5%)
Other: 17,647 (1.3%)
Total: 1,357,488

Delaware

Bush: 136,996 (56.1%)
Dukakis: 104,011 (42.6%)
Other: 3,150 (1.3%)
Total: 244,157

District of Columbia

Dukakis: 161,337 (80.5%)
Bush: 36,639 (18.3%)
Other: 2,567 (1.3%)
Total: 200,543

Florida

Bush: 2,558,276 (62.8%)
Dukakis: 1,462,047 (35.9%)
Other: 53,365 (1.3%)
Total: 4,073,688

Georgia

Bush: 1,131,843 (66.5%)
Dukakis: 548,391 (32.2%)
Other: 21,786 (1.3%)
Total: 1,702,020

Hawaii

Dukakis: 161,696 (49.7%)
Bush: 159,743 (49.1%)
Other: 4,168 (1.3%)
Total: 325,607

Idaho

Bush: 293,501 (64.3%)
Dukakis: 157,231 (34.4%)
Other: 5,937 (1.3%)
Total: 456,669

Illinois

Bush: 2,975,521 (57%)
Dukakis: 2,174,259 (41.7%)
Other: 66,772 (1.3%)
Total: 5,216,552

Indiana

Bush: 1,357,239 (60.6%)
Dukakis: 851,715 (38.1%)
Other: 28,868 (1.3%)
Total: 2,237,822

Iowa

Bush: 721,593 (57.1%)
Dukakis: 524,749 (41.6%)
Other: 16,288 (1.3%)
Total: 1,262,630

Kansas

Bush: 596,970 (63.4%)
Dukakis: 333,116 (35.4%)
Other: 12,250 (1.3%)
Total: 942,336

Kentucky

Bush: 783,677 (60.3%)
Dukakis: 498,208 (38.4%)
Other: 16,884 (1.3%)
Total: 1,298,769

Louisiana

Bush: 1,001,044 (62.5%)
Dukakis: 579,965 (36.2%)
Other: 20,662 (1.3%)
Total: 1,601,671

Maine

Bush: 305,885 (56.1%)
Dukakis: 232,481 (42.6%)
Other: 6,980 (1.3%)
Total: 545,346

Maryland

Bush: 908,588 (57.3%)
Dukakis: 656,194 (41.4%)
Other: 20,610 (1.3%)
Total: 1,585,392

Massachusetts

Bush: 1,438,567 (55%)
Dukakis: 1,141,861 (43.7%)
Other: 33,723 (1.3%)
Total: 2,614,151

Michigan

Bush: 2,382,841 (57.5%)
Dukakis: 1,708,069 (41.2%)
Other: 53,882 (1.3%)
Total: 4,144,792

Minnesota

Dukakis: 1,017,384 (49.4%)
Bush: 1,013,537 (49.3%)
Other: 26,541 (1.3%)
Total: 2,057,462

Mississippi

Bush: 655,543 (68.2%)
Dukakis: 293,168 (30.5%)
Other: 12,496 (1.3%)
Total: 961,207

Missouri

Bush: 1,280,572 (59.2%)
Dukakis: 855,302 (39.5%)
Other: 28,351 (1.3%)
Total: 2,164,225

Montana

Bush: 228,604 (58.8%)
Dukakis: 155,071 (39.9%)
Other: 4,975 (1.3%)
Total: 388,650

Nebraska

Bush: 450,333 (66.3%)
Dukakis: 219,736 (32.4%)
Other: 8,757 (1.3%)
Total: 678,826

Nevada

Bush: 175,197 (62.7%)
Dukakis: 100,631 (36%)
Other: 3,548 (1.3%)
Total: 279,376

New Hampshire

Bush: 252,077 (64%)
Dukakis: 136,470 (34.7%)
Other: 5,078 (1.3%)
Total: 393,625

New Jersey

Bush: 1,922,729 (58.2%)
Dukakis: 1,336,072 (40.5%)
Other: 42,588 (1.3%)
Total: 3,301,389

New Mexico

Bush: 278,327 (54.3%)
Dukakis: 227,914 (44.4%)
Other: 6,616 (1.3%)
Total: 512,857

New York

Bush: 4,458,079 (56.3%)
Dukakis: 3,353,450 (42.4%)
Other: 101,284 (1.3%)
Total: 7,912,813

North Carolina

Bush: 1,318,534 (63.7%)
Dukakis: 725,432 (35%)
Other: 26,922 (1.3%)
Total: 2,070,888

North Dakota

Bush: 193,164 (59.8%)
Dukakis: 125,600 (38.9%)
Other: 4,199 (1.3%)
Total: 322,963

Ohio

Bush: 2,635,675 (58%)
Dukakis: 1,846,108 (40.7%)
Other: 58,571 (1.3%)
Total: 4,540,354

Oklahoma

Bush: 773,389 (66.9%)
Dukakis: 367,735 (31.8%)
Other: 14,913 (1.3%)
Total: 1,156,037

Oregon

Bush: 574,205 (51.3%)
Dukakis: 531,414 (47.4%)
Other: 14,562 (1.3%)
Total: 1,120,181

Pennsylvania

Bush: 2,922,390 (57.4%)
Dukakis: 2,101,963 (41.3%)
Other: 65,146 (1.3%)
Total: 5,089,499

Rhode Island

Dukakis: 232,280 (53.2%)
Bush: 198,455 (45.5%)
Other: 5,718 (1.3%)
Total: 436,453

South Carolina

Bush: 636,323 (65.3%)
Dukakis: 325,617 (33.4%)
Other: 12,670 (1.3%)
Total: 974,610

South Dakota

Bush: 201,010 (58.7%)
Dukakis: 136,825 (40%)
Other: 4,484 (1.3%)
Total: 342,319

Tennessee

Bush: 1,027,263 (62.8%)
Dukakis: 588,691 (36%)
Other: 21,118 (1.3%)
Total: 1,637,072

Texas

Bush: 3,364,785 (63.2%)
Dukakis: 1,889,497 (35.5%)
Other: 69,745 (1.3%)
Total: 5,324,027

Utah

Bush: 422,307 (67.6%)
Dukakis: 194,651 (31.1%)
Other: 8,126 (1.3%)
Total: 625,084

Vermont

Bush: 124,444 (54.9%)
Dukakis: 99,487 (43.9%)
Other: 2,949 (1.3%)
Total: 226,880

Virginia

Bush: 1,296,142 (63.2%)
Dukakis: 729,542 (35.6%)
Other: 26,473 (1.3%)
Total: 2,052,157

Washington

Bush: 914,662 (51.6%)
Dukakis: 833,201 (47%)
Other: 23,022 (1.3%)
Total: 1,770,885

West Virginia

Bush: 492,394 (58.7%)
Dukakis: 335,956 (40%)
Other: 10,910 (1.3%)
Total: 839,260

Wisconsin

Bush: 1,258,248 (55.2%)
Dukakis: 991,375 (43.5%)
Other: 29,399 (1.3%)
Total: 2,279,022

Wyoming

Bush: 132,844 (71.2%)
Dukakis: 51,257 (27.5%)
Other: 2,425 (1.3%)
Total: 186,526

United States (total)

Bush: 54,785,861 (58.8%)
Dukakis: 37,212,149 (39.9%)
Other: 1,206,504 (1.3%)
Total: 93,204,514