1988 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania explained

See main article: 1988 United States presidential election.

Election Name:	1988 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania
Country:	Pennsylvania
Type:	presidential
Ongoing:	no
Previous Election:	1984 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania
Previous Year:	1984
Next Election:	1992 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania
Next Year:	1992
Election Date:	November 8, 1988
Image1:	File:VP George Bush crop.jpg
Nominee1:	George H. W. Bush
Party1:	Republican Party (United States)
Home State1:	Texas
Running Mate1:	Dan Quayle
Electoral Vote1:	25
Popular Vote1:	2,300,087
Percentage1:	50.70%
Nominee2:	Michael Dukakis
Party2:	Democratic Party (United States)
Home State2:	Massachusetts
Running Mate2:	Lloyd Bentsen
Electoral Vote2:	0
Popular Vote2:	2,194,944
Percentage2:	48.39%
President
Before Election:	Ronald Reagan
Before Party:	Republican
After Election:	George H. W. Bush
After Party:	Republican
Turnout:	77.2%^[1]

The 1988 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania took place on November 8, 1988, and was part of the 1988 United States presidential election. Voters chose 25 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Pennsylvania voted for the Republican nominee, Vice President George H. W. Bush, over the Democratic nominee, Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis. Bush won Pennsylvania by a narrow margin of 2.31%, which made it about 5.5% more Democratic than the nation. This was the last election where Pennsylvania would be carried by a Republican presidential candidate until 2016 and the last in which a Republican would win a majority of the statewide vote until 2024.

Northampton and Luzerne counties, both statewide bellwethers, would also not vote Republican again until 2016; meanwhile, Bucks County would not do so again until 2024.^[2] This is the last time that Erie County voted for the statewide loser. This was also the first election since 1932 where Pennsylvania did not vote the same as neighboring New York, another phenomenon that would not occur again until 2016 and 2024.

Primaries

Republican primary

Candidate	Votes	Percent
George H. W. Bush	687,323	78.95%
Bob Dole	103,763	11.92%
Pat Robertson	79,463	9.13%
Totals	870,549	Turnout: 38.18%

Democratic primary

Candidate	Votes	Percent
Michael Dukakis	1,002,480	66.49%
Jesse Jackson	411,260	27.28%
Al Gore	44,542	2.95%
Others	49,408	3.28%
Totals	1,507,690	Turnout: 52.93%

Results

1988 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Republican	George H. W. Bush	2,300,087	50.70%	25
	Democratic	Michael Dukakis	2,194,944	48.39%	0
	Consumer	Eugene McCarthy	19,158	0.42%	0
	Libertarian	Ron Paul	12,051	0.27%	0
	New Alliance	Lenora Fulani	4,379	0.10%	0
	America First	David Duke	3,444	0.08%	0
	Workers' League	Edward Winn	2,188	0.05%	0
Totals			4,536,251	100.00%	25

Results by county

County	George H.W. Bush Republican		Michael Dukakis Democratic		Various candidates Other parties		Margin		Total votes cast
		%		%		%		%
	Adams		15,650		64.92%		8,299		34.43%		156		0.65%		7,351		30.49%		24,105
	Allegheny		231,137		39.43%		348,814		59.51%		6,200		1.06%		-117,677		-20.08%		586,151
	Armstrong		11,509		44.81%		13,892		54.09%		282		1.10%		-2,383		-9.28%		25,683
	Beaver		25,764		33.69%		50,327		65.81%		378		0.49%		-24,563		-32.12%		76,469
	Bedford		11,123		65.55%		5,754		33.91%		92		0.54%		5,369		31.64%		16,969
	Berks		70,153		62.39%		41,040		36.50%		1,251		1.11%		29,113		25.89%		112,444
	Blair		25,623		61.50%		15,588		37.42%		451		1.08%		10,035		24.08%		41,662
	Bradford		13,568		66.72%		6,635		32.63%		134		0.66%		6,933		34.09%		20,337
	Bucks		127,563		59.99%		82,472		38.78%		2,605		1.23%		45,091		21.21%		212,640
	Butler		27,777		54.82%		22,341		44.09%		549		1.08%		5,436		10.73%		50,667
	Cambria		25,626		39.70%		38,517		59.67%		409		0.63%		-12,891		-19.97%		64,552
	Cameron		1,731		65.20%		901		33.94%		23		0.87%		830		31.26%		2,655
	Carbon		10,232		52.35%		9,104		46.57%		211		1.08%		1,128		5.78%		19,547
	Centre		23,875		56.14%		18,357		43.17%		295		0.69%		5,518		12.97%		42,527
	Chester		93,522		67.00%		44,853		32.13%		1,210		0.87%		48,669		34.87%		139,585
	Clarion		8,026		58.37%		5,616		40.84%		109		0.79%		2,410		17.53%		13,751
	Clearfield		14,296		53.52%		12,235		45.80%		182		0.68%		2,061		7.72%		26,713
	Clinton		5,735		49.38%		5,759		49.59%		119		1.02%		-24		-0.21%		11,613
	Columbia		12,114		60.51%		7,767		38.79%		140		0.70%		4,347		21.72%		20,021
	Crawford		17,249		56.32%		13,021		42.51%		358		1.17%		4,228		13.81%		30,628
	Cumberland		47,292		65.29%		24,613		33.98%		528		0.73%		22,679		31.31%		72,433
	Dauphin		48,917		57.77%		35,079		41.43%		681		0.80%		13,838		16.34%		84,677
	Delaware		147,656		59.95%		96,144		39.03%		2,505		1.02%		51,512		20.92%		246,305
	Elk		6,737		52.86%		5,879		46.13%		128		1.00%		858		6.73%		12,744
	Erie		48,306		46.76%		53,913		52.19%		1,081		1.05%		-5,607		-5.43%		103,300
	Fayette		16,915		33.60%		33,098		65.74%		336		0.67%		-16,183		-32.14%		50,349
	Forest		1,159		56.13%		895		43.34%		11		0.53%		264		12.79%		2,065
	Franklin		27,086		68.32%		12,368		31.20%		190		0.48%		14,718		37.12%		39,644
	Fulton		3,086		66.42%		1,532		32.97%		28		0.60%		1,554		33.45%		4,646
	Greene		4,879		34.62%		9,126		64.75%		90		0.64%		-4,247		-30.13%		14,095
	Huntingdon		8,800		64.56%		4,752		34.86%		79		0.58%		4,048		29.70%		13,631
	Indiana		14,983		47.21%		16,514		52.03%		242		0.76%		-1,531		-4.82%		31,739
	Jefferson		9,743		60.48%		6,235		38.71%		131		0.81%		3,508		21.77%		16,109
	Juniata		4,881		62.87%		2,834		36.50%		49		0.63%		2,047		26.37%		7,764
	Lackawanna		42,083		47.42%		45,591		51.38%		1,067		1.20%		-3,508		-3.96%		88,741
	Lancaster		96,979		70.77%		38,982		28.45%		1,068		0.78%		57,997		42.32%		137,029
	Lawrence		15,829		41.76%		21,884		57.74%		191		0.50%		-6,055		-15.98%		37,904
	Lebanon		24,415		66.69%		11,912		32.54%		281		0.77%		12,503		34.15%		36,608
	Lehigh		56,363		56.30%		42,801		42.76%		943		0.94%		13,562		13.54%		100,107
	Luzerne		59,059		50.01%		58,553		49.58%		480		0.41%		506		0.43%		118,092
	Lycoming		24,792		64.00%		13,528		34.92%		415		1.07%		11,264		29.08%		38,735
	McKean		9,323		63.22%		5,300		35.94%		124		0.84%		4,023		27.28%		14,747
	Mercer		21,301		46.43%		24,278		52.92%		301		0.66%		-2,977		-6.49%		45,880
	Mifflin		8,170		62.49%		4,790		36.63%		115		0.88%		3,380		25.86%		13,075
	Monroe		17,185		62.79%		9,859		36.02%		327		1.19%		7,326		26.77%		27,371
	Montgomery		170,294		60.20%		109,834		38.83%		2,742		0.97%		60,460		21.37%		282,870
	Montour		3,617		63.50%		2,031		35.66%		48		0.84%		1,586		27.84%		5,696
	Northampton		42,748		51.52%		39,264		47.32%		966		1.16%		3,484		4.20%		82,978
	Northumberland		20,207		58.07%		14,255		40.96%		338		0.97%		5,952		17.11%		34,800
	Perry		8,545		68.18%		3,910		31.20%		78		0.62%		4,635		36.98%		12,533
	Philadelphia		219,053		32.45%		449,566		66.60%		6,358		0.94%		-230,513		-34.15%		674,977
	Pike		6,659		67.15%		3,097		31.23%		161		1.62%		3,562		35.92%		9,917
	Potter		4,432		67.23%		2,119		32.15%		41		0.62%		2,313		35.08%		6,592
	Schuylkill		32,666		56.47%		24,797		42.87%		379		0.66%		7,869		13.60%		57,842
	Snyder		9,054		76.87%		2,658		22.57%		67		0.57%		6,396		54.30%		11,779
	Somerset		16,809		54.63%		13,815		44.90%		144		0.47%		2,994		9.73%		30,768
	Sullivan		1,808		61.88%		1,091		37.34%		23		0.79%		717		24.54%		2,922
	Susquehanna		9,077		64.58%		4,871		34.65%		108		0.77%		4,206		29.93%		14,056
	Tioga		9,471		66.00%		4,807		33.50%		72		0.50%		4,664		32.50%		14,350
	Union		7,912		71.05%		3,163		28.40%		61		0.55%		4,749		42.65%		11,136
	Venango		11,468		56.60%		8,624		42.56%		171		0.84%		2,844		14.04%		20,263
	Warren		8,991		56.21%		6,790		42.45%		214		1.34%		2,201		13.76%		15,995
	Washington		28,651		37.43%		47,527		62.08%		375		0.49%		-18,876		-24.65%		76,553
	Wayne		9,926		71.61%		3,775		27.23%		161		1.16%		6,151		44.38%		13,862
	Westmoreland		61,472		44.13%		76,710		55.07%		1,108		0.80%		-15,238		-10.94%		139,290
	Wyoming		6,607		69.94%		2,797		29.61%		43		0.46%		3,810		40.33%		9,447
	York		72,408		65.16%		37,691		33.92%		1,017		0.92%		34,717		31.24%		111,116
Totals	2,300,087	50.70%	2,194,944	48.39%	41,220	0.91%	105,143	2.31%	4,536,251

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

• Clinton
• Erie
• Indiana
• Lackawanna

Analysis

, this is the last election in which Lehigh County or the Greater Philadelphia suburban counties of Montgomery and Delaware have voted Republican at the presidential level.^[2] Bush became the only Republican to date to win the White House without carrying Indiana County, and the only one to do so without carrying Clinton County since Benjamin Harrison in 1888. Bucks County would not vote Republican again until 2024.

See also

• List of United States presidential elections in Pennsylvania

Notes and References

1. Web site: Voter Registration Statistics. Pennsylvania Department of State. 30 January 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20141105045940/http://www.dos.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/voter_registration_statistics/12725. 5 November 2014. dead.
2. Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016
3. Web site: David Leip. Dave Leip’s U.S. Election Atlas. 1988 Presidential General Election Results – Pennsylvania. 2018-03-23.