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1988 United States presidential election in Iowa

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Main article: 1988 United States presidential election

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

1988 United States presidential election in Iowa
← 1984 November 8, 1988 1992 →
 
Nominee Michael Dukakis George H. W. Bush
Party Democratic Republican
Home state Massachusetts Texas
Running mate Lloyd Bentsen Dan Quayle
Electoral vote 8 0
Popular vote 670,557 545,355
Percentage 54.71% 44.50%
County Results
President before election

Ronald Reagan
Republican

Elected President

George H. W. Bush
Republican

Iowa was won by Democratic governor Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts with 54.71% of the popular vote over Republican Vice President George H.W. Bush's 44.50%, a victory margin of 10.21%, which made Iowa exactly 18% more Democratic than the nation-at-large. This made it one of 10 states (plus the District of Columbia) to vote for Dukakis, while Bush won a convincing electoral victory nationwide. Bush became the first Republican to ever win the presidency without carrying Iowa, a feat that would only be repeated once more, when George W. Bush lost the state in 2000 but won the national election by extremely narrow margins. Bush Jr. would go on to carry the state in 2004, making the elder Bush the only Republican to have won the presidency without ever winning the state, as well as the only Republican to have ever won the national popular vote without winning the state. Dukakis was also the first Democratic presidential candidate to carry the state since Lyndon B. Johnson’s landslide victory in 1964. The state would not vote for the losing candidate again until 2000, the loser of the popular vote until 2016, and the loser of both the popular and electoral vote until 2020.

Background

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The farm crisis of the 1980s under the incumbent Republican administration made the Midwest one of the targets for the Dukakis campaign in 1988, which ultimately proved successful in the region with Democrats performing strongly in many farm states. Nowhere was this more evident than in Iowa, which was the second most Democratic state in the nation in 1988 in terms of both vote percentage and victory margin; it was one of just two states (along with Rhode Island) to vote Democratic by a double-digit margin. This Democratic support was spread widely across the state, with Dukakis winning 75 of the state's 99 counties, whilst counties carried by Bush were concentrated within the state's typically archconservative western fringe. Iowa was also the only state in the nation where Dukakis won by a larger margin than fellow Democrat Bill Clinton would win it by four years later in 1992; Dukakis won 13 Iowa counties which would vote for Bush in 1992.

While Dukakis personally overperformed in Iowa due to the farm crisis, 1988 was also the beginning of a relatively long-term re-alignment of the state toward the Democratic Party, as the historically-Republican state became a Democratic-leaning swing state for a quarter of a century. Iowa had voted Republican in the five preceding elections, and nine of the previous eleven. From 1988 to 2012, Iowa voted Democratic in six of the seven elections that followed (out of the nine total elections overall), although starting in 2016, the state again became reliably Republican. Despite this, as of the 2024 presidential election, this is the last election in which Marion County, Buena Vista County, Sac County, and Humboldt County voted for a Democratic presidential candidate.[1]

Iowa (with four counties), Texas (with three), and Montana (with one) are the only states containing counties that Dukakis (as of 2024) was the last Democrat to carry.

As of the 2024 U.S. presidential election, this is the last time Iowa voted to the left of many modern-day blue states, including California, Connecticut, Hawaii, neighboring Illinois, neighboring Minnesota, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Washington state, and Vermont.[2][3]

Results

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1988 United States presidential election in Iowa[4]
Party Candidate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Democratic Michael Dukakis 670,557 54.71% 8
Republican George H. W. Bush 545,355 44.50% 0
Independent Lyndon LaRouche 3,526 0.29% 0
Libertarian Ron Paul 2,494 0.20% 0
N/A Write-ins 1,613 0.13% 0
America First David Duke 755[a] 0.06% 0
New Alliance Lenora Fulani 540[a] 0.04% 0
Socialist Willa Kenoyer 334[a] 0.03% 0
Socialist Equality Edward Winn 235[a] 0.02% 0
Socialist Workers James Warren 205[a] 0.02% 0
Totals 1,225,614 100.00% 8
Voter Turnout (Voting age/Registered) 59%/73%

Results by county

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County[5] Michael Dukakis
Democratic 		George H.W. Bush
Republican 		Lyndon LaRouche
Independent 		Ron Paul
Libertarian 		Various candidates
Other parties 		Margin Total votes cast
# % # % # % # % # % # %
Adair 2,261 54.84% 1,833 44.46% 7 0.17% 5 0.12% 17 0.41% 428 10.38% 4,123
Adams 1,283 53.91% 1,080 45.38% 4 0.17% 5 0.21% 8 0.34% 203 8.53% 2,380
Allamakee 2,768 46.17% 3,186 53.14% 12 0.20% 11 0.18% 18 0.30% -418 -6.97% 5,995
Appanoose 3,209 52.71% 2,779 45.65% 62 1.02% 15 0.25% 23 0.38% 430 7.06% 6,088
Audubon 1,863 55.27% 1,478 43.84% 16 0.47% 4 0.12% 10 0.30% 385 11.43% 3,371
Benton 5,873 58.87% 4,011 40.20% 44 0.44% 15 0.15% 34 0.34% 1,862 18.67% 9,977
Black Hawk 31,657 56.36% 24,112 42.93% 143 0.25% 82 0.15% 177 0.32% 7,545 13.43% 56,171
Boone 7,232 61.89% 4,381 37.49% 44 0.38% 11 0.09% 18 0.15% 2,851 24.40% 11,686
Bremer 4,961 49.12% 5,079 50.29% 24 0.24% 18 0.18% 17 0.17% -118 -1.17% 10,099
Buchanan 4,778 57.42% 3,495 42.00% 6 0.07% 15 0.18% 27 0.32% 1,283 15.42% 8,321
Buena Vista 4,580 51.90% 4,170 47.25% 16 0.18% 35 0.40% 24 0.27% 410 4.65% 8,825
Butler 2,593 42.19% 3,523 57.32% 12 0.20% 6 0.10% 12 0.20% -930 -15.13% 6,146
Calhoun 2,990 54.31% 2,474 44.94% 15 0.27% 14 0.25% 12 0.22% 516 9.37% 5,505
Carroll 5,437 58.63% 3,701 39.91% 79 0.85% 22 0.24% 34 0.37% 1,736 18.72% 9,273
Cass 2,934 42.11% 3,962 56.86% 43 0.62% 12 0.17% 17 0.24% -1,028 -14.75% 6,968
Cedar 4,032 53.91% 3,373 45.10% 10 0.13% 16 0.21% 48 0.64% 659 8.81% 7,479
Cerro Gordo 12,857 57.49% 9,358 41.84% 74 0.33% 36 0.16% 40 0.18% 3,499 15.65% 22,365
Cherokee 3,574 52.14% 3,218 46.94% 26 0.38% 15 0.22% 22 0.32% 356 5.20% 6,855
Chickasaw 3,530 57.53% 2,549 41.54% 25 0.41% 6 0.10% 26 0.42% 981 15.99% 6,136
Clarke 2,262 57.50% 1,631 41.46% 3 0.08% 1 0.03% 37 0.94% 631 16.04% 3,934
Clay 4,173 53.02% 3,641 46.26% 30 0.38% 13 0.17% 13 0.17% 532 6.76% 7,870
Clayton 4,320 52.41% 3,839 46.58% 30 0.36% 18 0.22% 35 0.42% 481 5.83% 8,242
Clinton 12,549 54.56% 10,243 44.53% 116 0.50% 55 0.24% 39 0.17% 2,306 10.03% 23,002
Crawford 3,868 52.91% 3,375 46.16% 28 0.38% 21 0.29% 19 0.26% 493 6.75% 7,311
Dallas 7,501 60.40% 4,858 39.12% 6 0.05% 19 0.15% 35 0.28% 2,643 21.28% 12,419
Davis 2,246 58.35% 1,563 40.61% 12 0.31% 7 0.18% 21 0.55% 683 17.74% 3,849
Decatur 2,192 60.44% 1,406 38.76% 4 0.11% 9 0.25% 16 0.44% 786 21.68% 3,627
Delaware 3,947 53.11% 3,425 46.08% 26 0.35% 11 0.15% 23 0.31% 522 7.03% 7,432
Des Moines 11,593 59.84% 7,652 39.50% 62 0.32% 26 0.13% 41 0.21% 3,941 20.34% 19,374
Dickinson 3,342 47.06% 3,678 51.80% 41 0.58% 19 0.27% 21 0.30% -336 -4.74% 7,101
Dubuque 23,797 61.74% 14,530 37.69% 88 0.23% 60 0.16% 72 0.19% 9,267 24.05% 38,547
Emmet 2,778 55.82% 2,173 43.66% 9 0.18% 12 0.24% 5 0.10% 605 12.16% 4,977
Fayette 5,304 51.56% 4,921 47.84% 17 0.17% 30 0.29% 15 0.15% 383 3.72% 10,287
Floyd 4,377 56.60% 3,266 42.23% 53 0.69% 11 0.14% 26 0.34% 1,111 14.37% 7,733
Franklin 2,594 52.39% 2,320 46.86% 21 0.42% 9 0.18% 7 0.14% 274 5.53% 4,951
Fremont 1,547 43.86% 1,946 55.17% 18 0.51% 5 0.14% 11 0.31% -399 -11.31% 3,527
Greene 3,011 58.31% 2,091 40.49% 32 0.62% 10 0.19% 20 0.39% 920 17.82% 5,164
Grundy 2,211 38.91% 3,433 60.42% 19 0.33% 10 0.18% 9 0.16% -1,222 -21.51% 5,682
Guthrie 2,910 58.40% 2,005 40.24% 35 0.70% 23 0.46% 10 0.20% 905 18.16% 4,983
Hamilton 4,156 55.46% 3,277 43.73% 23 0.31% 14 0.19% 24 0.32% 879 11.73% 7,494
Hancock 2,831 50.62% 2,731 48.83% 17 0.30% 6 0.11% 8 0.14% 100 1.79% 5,593
Hardin 5,088 56.53% 3,856 42.84% 14 0.16% 18 0.20% 25 0.28% 1,232 13.69% 9,001
Harrison 2,883 47.83% 3,108 51.57% 7 0.12% 8 0.13% 21 0.35% -225 -3.74% 6,027
Henry 3,754 48.39% 3,951 50.93% 9 0.12% 18 0.23% 26 0.34% -197 -2.54% 7,758
Howard 2,330 53.87% 1,970 45.55% 5 0.12% 3 0.07% 17 0.39% 360 8.32% 4,325
Humboldt 2,713 50.64% 2,594 48.42% 31 0.58% 9 0.17% 10 0.19% 119 2.22% 5,357
Ida 1,787 47.29% 1,951 51.63% 19 0.50% 11 0.29% 11 0.29% -164 -4.34% 3,779
Iowa 3,338 49.93% 3,247 48.57% 42 0.63% 21 0.31% 37 0.55% 91 1.36% 6,685
Jackson 4,864 59.08% 3,237 39.32% 102 1.24% 22 0.27% 8 0.10% 1,627 19.76% 8,233
Jasper 8,940 56.82% 6,703 42.60% 20 0.13% 22 0.14% 48 0.31% 2,237 14.22% 15,733
Jefferson 3,594 49.26% 3,614 49.53% 8 0.11% 40 0.55% 40 0.55% -20 -0.27% 7,296
Johnson 28,759 64.41% 15,453 34.61% 22 0.05% 149 0.33% 264 0.59% 13,306 29.80% 44,647
Jones 4,641 56.70% 3,496 42.71% 5 0.06% 8 0.10% 35 0.43% 1,145 13.99% 8,185
Keokuk 2,899 55.43% 2,278 43.56% 29 0.55% 12 0.23% 12 0.23% 621 11.87% 5,230
Kossuth 5,088 55.87% 3,938 43.24% 60 0.66% 13 0.14% 8 0.09% 1,150 12.63% 9,107
Lee 10,911 63.11% 6,228 36.02% 89 0.51% 41 0.24% 21 0.12% 4,683 27.09% 17,290
Linn 42,993 56.04% 33,129 43.18% 57 0.07% 178 0.23% 361 0.47% 9,864 12.86% 76,718
Louisa 2,268 51.78% 2,060 47.03% 10 0.23% 15 0.34% 27 0.62% 208 4.75% 4,380
Lucas 2,454 57.84% 1,776 41.86% 2 0.05% 3 0.07% 8 0.19% 678 15.98% 4,243
Lyon 1,706 32.41% 3,517 66.81% 26 0.49% 8 0.15% 7 0.13% -1,811 -34.40% 5,264
Madison 3,421 58.36% 2,410 41.11% 8 0.14% 8 0.14% 15 0.26% 1,011 17.25% 5,862
Mahaska 4,451 47.76% 4,798 51.48% 41 0.44% 16 0.17% 14 0.15% -347 -3.72% 9,320
Marion 6,922 53.44% 5,914 45.65% 83 0.64% 9 0.07% 26 0.20% 1,008 7.79% 12,954
Marshall 9,760 55.62% 7,657 43.63% 21 0.12% 41 0.23% 70 0.40% 2,103 11.99% 17,549
Mills 2,092 38.96% 3,212 59.82% 27 0.50% 25 0.47% 13 0.24% -1,120 -20.86% 5,369
Mitchell 2,870 54.66% 2,338 44.52% 27 0.51% 7 0.13% 9 0.17% 532 10.14% 5,251
Monona 2,408 53.62% 2,068 46.05% 4 0.09% 2 0.04% 9 0.20% 340 7.57% 4,491
Monroe 2,338 63.76% 1,313 35.81% 4 0.11% 4 0.11% 8 0.22% 1,025 27.95% 3,667
Montgomery 1,898 37.22% 3,166 62.08% 18 0.35% 8 0.16% 10 0.20% -1,268 -24.86% 5,100
Muscatine 7,059 50.06% 6,904 48.96% 78 0.55% 29 0.21% 32 0.23% 155 1.10% 14,102
O'Brien 2,768 39.14% 4,241 59.97% 29 0.41% 18 0.25% 16 0.23% -1,473 -20.83% 7,072
Osceola 1,277 39.12% 1,951 59.77% 15 0.46% 4 0.12% 17 0.52% -674 -20.65% 3,264
Page 2,185 32.12% 4,583 67.37% 9 0.13% 7 0.10% 19 0.28% -2,398 -35.25% 6,803
Palo Alto 3,377 61.82% 2,041 37.36% 29 0.53% 5 0.09% 11 0.20% 1,336 24.46% 5,463
Plymouth 4,220 43.93% 5,316 55.33% 34 0.35% 22 0.23% 15 0.16% -1,096 -11.40% 9,607
Pocahontas 2,722 58.51% 1,871 40.22% 22 0.47% 24 0.52% 13 0.28% 851 18.29% 4,652
Polk 84,476 59.01% 57,854 40.42% 71 0.05% 282 0.20% 461 0.32% 26,622 18.59% 143,144
Pottawattamie 14,958 46.16% 17,193 53.06% 136 0.42% 57 0.18% 61 0.19% -2,235 -6.90% 32,405
Poweshiek 4,876 56.53% 3,683 42.70% 17 0.20% 26 0.30% 23 0.27% 1,193 13.83% 8,625
Ringgold 1,609 58.92% 1,110 40.64% 3 0.11% 1 0.04% 8 0.29% 499 18.28% 2,731
Sac 2,613 51.47% 2,411 47.49% 21 0.41% 14 0.28% 18 0.35% 202 3.98% 5,077
Scott 34,415 52.12% 31,025 46.98% 249 0.38% 188 0.28% 158 0.24% 3,390 5.14% 66,035
Shelby 2,806 47.88% 3,019 51.52% 9 0.15% 12 0.20% 14 0.24% -213 -3.64% 5,860
Sioux 2,923 22.00% 10,270 77.29% 49 0.37% 12 0.09% 34 0.26% -7,347 -55.29% 13,288
Story 19,051 57.55% 13,782 41.63% 73 0.22% 92 0.28% 107 0.32% 5,269 15.92% 33,105
Tama 4,584 57.21% 3,362 41.96% 20 0.25% 21 0.26% 25 0.31% 1,222 15.25% 8,012
Taylor 1,671 50.15% 1,647 49.43% 1 0.03% 1 0.03% 12 0.36% 24 0.72% 3,332
Union 3,236 53.57% 2,751 45.54% 31 0.51% 9 0.15% 14 0.23% 485 8.03% 6,041
Van Buren 1,612 48.35% 1,692 50.75% 6 0.18% 9 0.27% 15 0.45% -80 -2.40% 3,334
Wapello 10,177 64.93% 5,350 34.14% 90 0.57% 24 0.15% 32 0.20% 4,827 30.79% 15,673
Warren 9,627 59.68% 6,424 39.82% 30 0.19% 14 0.09% 36 0.22% 3,203 19.86% 16,131
Washington 3,776 49.58% 3,741 49.12% 49 0.64% 28 0.37% 22 0.29% 35 0.46% 7,616
Wayne 1,988 57.18% 1,467 42.19% 6 0.17% 16 0.46% 0 0.00% 521 14.99% 3,477
Webster 10,267 59.03% 6,926 39.82% 121 0.70% 26 0.15% 53 0.30% 3,341 19.21% 17,393
Winnebago 2,804 49.17% 2,863 50.20% 11 0.19% 7 0.12% 18 0.32% -59 -1.03% 5,703
Winneshiek 4,443 50.92% 4,194 48.07% 28 0.32% 25 0.29% 35 0.40% 249 2.85% 8,725
Woodbury 20,153 51.38% 18,790 47.90% 136 0.35% 56 0.14% 90 0.23% 1,363 3.48% 39,225
Worth 2,440 61.28% 1,488 37.37% 3 0.08% 9 0.23% 42 1.05% 952 23.91% 3,982
Wright 3,353 55.38% 2,658 43.90% 8 0.13% 21 0.35% 14 0.23% 695 11.48% 6,054
Totals 670,557 54.71% 545,355 44.50% 3,526 0.29% 2,494 0.20% 3,682 0.30% 125,202 10.21% 1,225,614

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

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See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ a b c d e Votes for this candidate were not separated by county and only given as a state-wide total.[5]

References

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  1. ^ Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016
  2. ^ "Iowa Voting Results and Participants". CountingTheVotes.com. Retrieved September 3, 2022.
  3. ^ "Maryland Voting Results and Participants". CountingTheVotes.com. Retrieved September 3, 2022.
  4. ^ "1988 Presidential General Election Results - Iowa". U.S. Election Atlas. Retrieved April 28, 2013.
  5. ^ a b "IA US President Race, November 03, 1988". Our Campaigns.
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