United States presidential election of 1988, American presidential election held on Nov. 8, 1988, in which Republican George Bush defeated Democrat Michael Dukakis. Gephardt managed to win the crucial Iowa caucuses, but his basic theme—trade protectionism—did not play well outside the Midwest. On March 29, after Bush won the Illinois primary with 55 percent of the vote (Kemp had by then dropped out), Dole withdrew from the race, and Bush became the Republicans’ de facto nominee. November – The unemployment rate drops to 5.3%, the lowest level since May 1974. Commentators referred derisively to them as “The Seven Dwarfs.” They included former Arizona Gov. Much of Bush’s ultimate success could be traced to the relatively inept performance of the Dukakis camp, which was slow to respond to Bush’s attacks. 5", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1988_in_the_United_States&oldid=980275237, Articles needing additional references from July 2014, All articles needing additional references, Articles with unsourced statements from February 2013, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.
Dukakis won 45.6% of the popular vote and carried ten states and Washington, D.C. Bush became the first sitting vice president to be elected president since Martin Van Buren in 1836. The seven major contenders were nicknamed the Seven Dwarfs.
The vice president carried all but 10 states and the District of Columbia.

Dukakis himself proved to be a passionless campaigner at crucial points in the race. That left Gore, Jackson, and Dukakis. Detailed national-level Presidential Election Results for 1988. As a result, the vice president was able to depict his opponent as a dangerous liberal. Home 2020 Election Results Election Info Weblog Forum Wiki Search Email Login Site Info Store. The Democratic majority in the Senate increased by one from 54–46 to 55–45. Get exclusive access to content from our 1768 First Edition with your subscription. Numerous contenders on the Democratic side entered the race. Embracing the "liberal" label and making a fiercely populist appeal, the governor began drawing huge, enthusiastic crowds. The 1988 United States elections was held on November 8, and elected the members of the 101st United States Congress. • January 1 – The Dell Computer Corporation is incorporated. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. 1988 Presidential General Election Results. Incumbent President Ronald Reagan was ineligible to seek a third term, due to term limits established by the 22nd Amendment to the United States Constitution. Get kids back-to-school ready with Expedition: Learn! For the results of the subsequent election, see United States presidential election of 1992. Three candidates who were somewhat more inspiring had decided not to run: former senator Gary Hart of Colorado, who dropped out because of a sex scandal, reentered the race and then dropped out for good; New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley; and New York Gov. Ronald Reagan, the incumbent President, was vacating the position after serving the maximum two terms allowed by the Twenty-second Amendment. That was an unaccustomed accusation for Dukakis, whose three terms as governor had marked him as a moderate. His 2008 presidential campaign never gained momentum, and he withdrew from the race after placing…. Jackson, who by then had the second highest delegate count and was the first African American to mount a serious presidential campaign, decided to continue running through the final four primaries, California, Montana, New Jersey, and New Mexico, on June 7. In large part because of Reagan’s continued popularity, Bush defeated Democratic candidate Michael Dukakis by 53 percent to 46 percent in the popular vote; the vote in the electoral college was…, …Republican Party’s nomination for the presidency in 1988, he secured the nomination and, together with his running mate, Dan Quayle, defeated the Democratic candidate, Michael Dukakis, in the general election, winning 53 percent of the popular vote to Dukakis’s 46 percent. Note: The Google advertisement links below may advocate political positions that this site does not endorse. 1988 United States House of Representatives elections, 1988 United States gubernatorial elections, "Statistics of the Presidential and Congressional Election of November 8, 1988", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1988_United_States_elections&oldid=949988524, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 9 April 2020, at 17:30. Bush’s success in winning the nomination was more due to the strength of his organization than due to his ability to project a clear vision of what a Bush presidency would be like—a deficiency that the candidate himself referred to as "the vision thing." "My hand is out to you, and I want to be your president, too.". By mid-August Bush had taken the lead in opinion polls. On election day, November 8, Bush won 54 percent of the vote to Dukakis’s 46 percent. Bush's victory remains the only time since Harry S. Truman's victory in the 1948 presidential election in which either party won more than two consecutive presidential elections.

He defeated Senator Bob Dole and televangelist Pat Robertson to win the nomination, and selected Senator Dan Quayle of Indiana as his running mate. Michael Dukakis, Missouri Rep. Richard Gephardt, Tennessee Sen. Al Gore, civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, and Illinois Sen. Paul Simon. There were three interesting Republican alternatives: Bob Dole of Kansas, the Senate minority leader, who was respected for his wit and intelligence though considered by some to be overly acerbic; former New York representative Jack Kemp, revered among many conservatives as Reagan’s true ideological heir; and the Rev. When the Democrats convened in Atlanta in July to crown Dukakis as their nominee, Jackson made a behind-the-scenes effort to claim the vice presidency but soon relented, fearful of splitting the party along racial lines, and contented himself with winning a few planks favourable to minorities in the party platform. The convention ended on a note of uncharacteristic harmony for the Democrats, whose ticket was soon as far as 17 percentage points ahead of the Republicans in opinion polls. Ronald Reagan. The United States election of 1988 featured an open primary for both major parties.