1988 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
The 1988 United States presidential election in Massachusetts took place on November 8, 1988, as part of the 1988 United States presidential election, which was held throughout all 50 states and D.C. Voters chose 13 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
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 County Results
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Massachusetts voted for Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis, the state's own governor, over Republican Vice President George H. W. Bush. The Commonwealth was both candidates' birth state and 1988 was the most recent cycle in which both major party candidates have shared a birth state.
Dukakis, then the sitting Governor of Massachusetts, won his home state with 53.23% of the vote to Bush's 45.38%, a 7.85% margin of victory. This made it one of 10 states (plus the District of Columbia) to vote for Dukakis, while Bush won a convincing electoral victory nationwide.
Massachusetts was a solid 16% more Democratic than the national average in the 1988 election.
Massachusetts had been a Democratic-leaning state since 1928, and a Democratic stronghold since 1960. Although it was already a Democratic-leaning state, this would be the last time that Republicans would be at all competitive in Massachusetts, as secular liberal New England rejected an increasingly conservative Republican Party dominated by Evangelical Christians. Not only has it continued to vote Democratic in every presidential election that followed, but no Republican since has even broken 40% in Massachusetts, or even won a single county in the state.
This was also the last time that a Republican presidential candidate won any of the state's 14 counties, namely Barnstable, Plymouth and Worcester Counties. Dukakis won 11 counties in Massachusetts to Bush's 3. Dukakis's strongest county was Suffolk County, home to the state's capital and largest city, Boston, where he took 64.02% of the vote. Bush's strongest county win was suburban Plymouth County, where he took 54.62% of the vote.
Since hometown presidential candidate John F Kennedy last won the presidency in 1960, Dukakis became the first of three major party candidates who declared Massachusetts as his home state to lose the presidential race. Home state candidates such as John Kerry (US Senator from Massachusetts) and Mitt Romney (former Massachusetts Governor) have lost the 2004 and 2012 presidential elections, respectively.
Results
| 1988 United States presidential election in Massachusetts[1] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | Percentage | Electoral votes | |
| Democratic | Michael Dukakis | 1,401,406 | 53.23% | 13 | |
| Republican | George H. W. Bush | 1,194,644 | 45.38% | 0 | |
| Libertarian | Ron Paul | 24,251 | 0.92% | 0 | |
| New Alliance | Lenora Fulani | 9,561 | 0.36% | 0 | |
| Write-ins | Write-ins | 2,910 | 0.11% | 0 | |
| Prohibition (Write-in) | Earl Dodge | 18 | 0.00% | 0 | |
| Socialist (Write-in) | Willa Kenoyer | 15 | 0.00% | 0 | |
| Totals | 2,632,805 | 100.00% | 13 | ||
| Voter Turnout (Voting age/Registered) | 58%/80% | ||||
Results by Congressional district
Dukakis won 9 of 11 Congressional districts.
| District | Bush | Dukakis | Representative |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 41% | 58% | Silvio O. Conte |
| 2nd | 47% | 52% | Edward Boland |
| Richard Neal | |||
| 3rd | 50% | 49% | Joseph D. Early |
| 4th | 42% | 57% | Barney Frank |
| 5th | 51% | 47% | Chester G. Atkins |
| 6th | 48% | 50% | Nicholas Mavroules |
| 7th | 45% | 53% | Ed Markey |
| 8th | 33% | 66% | Joseph P. Kennedy II |
| 9th | 45% | 54% | Joe Moakley |
| 10th | 48% | 51% | Gerry Studds |
| 11th | 47% | 51% | Brian J. Donnelly |
Results by municipality
References
- "1988 Presidential General Election Results - Massachusetts". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved 2013-02-07.
See also
State and district results of the 1988 U.S. presidential election | ||
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