United States Presidential Election, 1988

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