No candidate since 1988 has managed to equal or surpass Bush's share of the electoral or popular vote. A few days later the governor was as far as 17 points behind in one opinion poll. Running an aggressive campaign, Bush concentrated on the economy and continuing Reagan's policies. Neither the Senate nor the House saw any significant partisan change, and the Democratic Party retained control of both chambers. 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. Mario Cuomo, who simply declined to run. Democrats won the nationwide popular vote for the House of Representatives by a margin of 7.7 percentage points, picking up a net of two seats.[2]. The Republicans, seeking a candidate who could match the stature and electability of Reagan, were similarly at a loss. [1] Bush won the popular vote by just under eight points, and won 426 of the 538 electoral votes. 132 No. The 1988 United States elections was held on November 8, and elected the members of the 101st United States Congress. With Reagan's support, Bush entered the 1988 Republican primaries as the front-runner. That role was made official in August at the party’s convention in New Orleans, where Bush surprised many politicians by picking Dan Quayle, a young and relatively undistinguished Indiana senator, as his running mate. When the electoral college met in December, however, Dukakis received only l11 votes. On election day, November 8, Bush won 54 percent of the vote to Dukakis’s 46 percent. Dukakis won the 1988 Democratic primaries after Democratic leaders such as Gary Hart and Ted Kennedy withdrew or declined to run. Vice President George H.W. 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.

By then, however, it was too late. Although Bush had called for “a kinder, and gentler,…, Biden pursued the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination but withdrew after it was revealed that parts of his campaign stump speech had been plagiarized from British Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock without appropriate attribution. 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. That gave him a 426–112 margin in the electoral college. November – The unemployment rate drops to 5.3%, the lowest level since May 1974. In the 1988 presidential election, Republican Vice President George H. W. Bush defeated Democratic Governor Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts. Simon’s characteristic bow tie and old-fashioned big-government approach to domestic problems failed to attract enough support. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. Bush won the Republican nomination over K… Presidential Despite Bush's victory, the Democrats gained a net of one seat in the Senate. The United States election of 1988 featured an open primary for both major parties. The Democrats had a net gain of one seat in the gubernatorial elections. Trailing his Democratic opponent in the polls late in the summer, the vice president made a risky decision; instead of stressing his qualifications for the job and his plans for the country, Bush would campaign against his opponent’s weaknesses. Governor of Massachusetts Michael Dukakis got 111 electoral votes. He selected Senator Lloyd Bentsen of Texas – who had defeated Bush in a U.S. Senate race 18 years earlier – as his running mate. Home 2020 Election Results Election Info Weblog Forum Wiki Search Email Login Site Info Store. Note: The Google advertisement links below may advocate political positions that this site does not endorse. Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. 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. Despite Dukakis's initial lead, Bush pulled ahead in opinion polling conducted in September and won by a substantial margin in both the popular and electoral vote. The seven major contenders were nicknamed the Seven Dwarfs. 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.

He even edged closer to Bush in the polls. By mid-August Bush had taken the lead in opinion polls. Results of the American presidential election, 1988.

April – The unemployment rate drops to 5.4%, the lowest since June 1974. "When I said I wanted a kinder and gentler nation, I meant it—and I mean it," he said.