1988 United States presidential election

1988 United States presidential election
538 members of the Electoral College; 270 electoral votes needed to win
Turnout	50.2% 3.1 pp
	Presidential election results map. Red denotes states won by Bush/Quayle and blue denotes those won by Dukakis/Bentsen. Light blue is the electoral vote for Bentsen/Dukakis by a West Virginia faithless elector. Numbers indicate electoral votes cast by each state and the District of Columbia.
President before election; Ronald Reagan; Republican	Elected President ; George H. W. Bush; Republican

The 1988 United States presidential election happened on November 8, 1988. George H. W. Bush, the Republican candidate and Vice President of the United States, won the election. He defeated the Democratic candidate, Governor Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts.

This presidential election was the first since 1948, as well as the most recent one to date, in which a political party won a third presidential election in a row. This also remains the most recent in which a candidate won over 400 electoral votes. Since the 1988 election, no candidate has managed to equal or surpass Bush's number of electoral votes won or popular vote percentage.

Bush ran an aggressive campaign taking advantage of a good economy, a stable international stage, and President Ronald Reagan's popularity. Meanwhile, Dukakis's campaign suffered from several miscues, including failure to defend from Bush's attacks. This allowed Bush to win with a substantial margin of the popular vote; while winning the Electoral College by a landslide.

Bush won the election by 426 electoral votes. Governor of Massachusetts Michael Dukakis got 111 electoral votes. Lloyd Bentsen got 1 electoral vote by a West Virginia faithless elector.

Candidates

Democratic Party

Democratic candidates:

Michael Dukakis, governor of Massachusetts^[3]
Jesse Jackson, reverend and civil rights leader from South Carolina^[4]
Al Gore, U.S. senator from Tennessee^[5]
Dick Gephardt, U.S. representative from Missouri^[6]
Paul Simon, U.S. senator from Illinois^[7]
Gary Hart, former U.S. senator from Colorado^[8]
Bruce Babbitt, former governor of Arizona^[9]
Joe Biden, U.S. senator from Delaware^[10]
Lyndon LaRouche, activist from Virginia^[11]
David Duke, activist from Louisiana^[12]
James Traficant, U.S. representative from Ohio^[13]
Douglas Applegate, U.S. representative from Ohio^[14]
Andy Martin, perennial candidate from Connecticut^[15]

Candidates Gallery

Vice President George H. W. Bush of Texas
Senator Bob Dole of Kansas
Televangelist Pat Robertson of Virginia
Representative Jack Kemp of New York
Governor Pete du Pont of Delaware
Former Secretary of State Alexander Haig of Virginia
Former Senator Paul Laxalt of Nevada
Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld of Illinois
Former Governor Harold E. Stassen of Minnesota

Republican Party

Republican candidates:

George H. W. Bush, Vice President of the United States from Texas^[16]
Bob Dole, U.S. senator from Kansas^[17]
Pat Robertson, televangelist from Virginia^[18]
Jack Kemp, U.S. representative from New York^[19]
Pete du Pont, Governor of Delaware^[20]
Alexander Haig, former Secretary of State from Pennsylvania^[21]
Ben Fernandez, former Special Ambassador to Paraguay from California^[22]
Paul Laxalt, former Senator from Nevada^[23]
Donald Rumsfeld, former Secretary of Defense from Illinois^[24]
Harold E. Stassen, former Governor of Minnesota^[25]
Isabell Masters, perennial candidate from Kansas^[26]

1988 United States Presidential Election Media

Republican Party (United States)
Vice President George H. W. Bush
Department of Defense portrait of Vice President Dan Quayle
Bush Quayle 1988 campaign logo
Democratic Party (United States)
Portrait of Michael Dukakis, used in a Dukakis for President 1988 poster
Democratic Texas senator Lloyd Bentsen, who shared an unsuccessful presidential campaign with Michael Dukakis, running as the latter's vice president.
Michael Dukakis presidential campaign, 1988
Portrait of presidential candidate Jesse Jackson
Official portrait of Tennessee Senator Al Gore. Cropped 4x5