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1988 United States presidential election in Washington (state)

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1988 United States presidential election in Washington (state)

← 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 10 0
Popular vote 933,516 903,835
Percentage 50.05% 48.46%

County Results

President before election

Ronald Reagan
Republican

Elected President

George H. W. Bush
Republican

The 1988 United States presidential election in Washington took place on November 8, 1988. All fifty states and the District of Columbia, were part of the 1988 United States presidential election. Voters chose ten electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president. The State of Washington was won by Democratic Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis, who was running against incumbent Republican Vice President George H. W. Bush of Texas. Dukakis ran with Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen, and Bush ran with Indiana Senator Dan Quayle.

The presidential election of 1988 was a very partisan election for Washington, with nearly 98% of the electorate voting for either the Democratic or Republican parties.[1] In typical form for the time and political climate in Washington – an East/West split can be seen in the voter turnout: with the coastal counties voting in the majority for Dukakis, and the inland counties voting mainly for Bush.

Dukakis carried Washington state with 50.05% of the vote to Bush's 48.46%, a margin of 1.59%, making it the closest state in the election. This made Washington one of ten states (along with the District of Columbia) to vote for Dukakis, even as Bush won a convincing victory nationally. Washington weighed in for this election as over 9% more Democratic than the national average. For decades prior to 1988, Washington had been a swing state, and it had gone Republican in the four preceding elections, even voting for losing Republican candidate Gerald Ford in 1976. But the state's strong Democratic tilt in 1988 portended the political direction the state would take in the modern era. Dukakis’ 1988 victory began a Democratic winning streak in Washington state that has never been broken since. Washington's Democratic trend was largely driven by the dramatic shift toward the Democrats among urban and suburban voters that began in the 1980s. While Bush won many rural counties, Dukakis won the two most heavily populated counties in Washington state: King County and Pierce County.

Results

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1988 United States presidential election in Washington[2]
Party Candidate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Democratic Michael Dukakis 933,516 50.05% 10
Republican George H. W. Bush 903,835 48.46% 0
Libertarian Ron Paul 17,240 0.92% 0
Democrats for Economic Recovery Lyndon LaRouche 4,412 0.24% 0
New Alliance Party Lenora Fulani 3,520 0.19% 0
Workers World Larry Holmes 1,440 0.08% 0
Socialist Workers Party James Warren 1,290 0.07% 0
Totals 1,865,253 100.0% 10

Results by county

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County Michael Dukakis
Democratic
George H.W. Bush
Republican
Various candidates
Other parties
Margin Total votes cast
# % # % # % # %
Adams 1,612 37.59% 2,612 60.91% 64 1.49% -1,000 -23.32% 4,288
Asotin 3,422 53.60% 2,874 45.02% 88 1.38% 548 8.58% 6,384
Benton 14,817 33.66% 28,688 65.18% 511 1.16% -13,871 -31.52% 44,016
Chelan 8,183 40.78% 11,601 57.82% 281 1.40% -3,418 -17.04% 20,065
Clallam 11,123 48.80% 11,200 49.14% 471 2.07% -77 -0.34% 22,794
Clark 40,021 51.11% 37,285 47.61% 1,000 1.28% 2,736 3.50% 78,306
Columbia 730 37.55% 1,172 60.29% 42 2.16% -442 -22.74% 1,944
Cowlitz 16,090 56.53% 12,009 42.19% 366 1.29% 4,081 14.34% 28,465
Douglas 3,760 40.66% 5,378 58.16% 109 1.18% -1,618 -17.50% 9,247
Ferry 972 48.10% 972 48.10% 77 3.81% 0 0.00% 2,021
Franklin 4,772 41.67% 6,488 56.65% 192 1.68% -1,716 -14.98% 11,452
Garfield 593 44.96% 714 54.13% 12 0.91% -121 -9.17% 1,319
Grant 7,564 40.24% 10,859 57.76% 376 2.00% -3,295 -17.52% 18,799
Grays Harbor 14,097 60.27% 8,860 37.88% 434 1.86% 5,237 22.39% 23,391
Island 8,510 39.85% 12,552 58.78% 291 1.36% -4,042 -18.93% 21,353
Jefferson 5,270 54.69% 4,184 43.42% 182 1.89% 1,086 11.27% 9,636
King 349,663 53.88% 290,574 44.78% 8,720 1.34% 59,089 9.10% 648,957
Kitsap 33,748 48.45% 34,743 49.88% 1,158 1.66% -995 -1.43% 69,649
Kittitas 5,318 50.67% 5,048 48.09% 130 1.24% 270 2.58% 10,496
Klickitat 2,991 49.15% 2,920 47.98% 175 2.88% 71 1.17% 6,086
Lewis 8,629 37.13% 14,184 61.04% 425 1.83% -5,555 -23.91% 23,238
Lincoln 1,884 40.56% 2,689 57.89% 72 1.55% -805 -17.33% 4,645
Mason 7,826 50.34% 7,426 47.77% 293 1.88% 400 2.57% 15,545
Okanogan 5,630 47.96% 5,856 49.88% 254 2.16% -226 -1.92% 11,740
Pacific 5,017 61.18% 3,073 37.48% 110 1.34% 1,944 23.70% 8,200
Pend Oreille 1,925 50.74% 1,802 47.50% 67 1.77% 123 3.24% 3,794
Pierce 96,688 49.72% 94,167 48.42% 3,618 1.86% 2,521 1.30% 194,473
San Juan 3,008 51.74% 2,660 45.75% 146 2.51% 348 5.99% 5,814
Skagit 15,159 46.79% 16,550 51.08% 692 2.14% -1,391 -4.29% 32,401
Skamania 1,748 55.28% 1,356 42.88% 58 1.83% 392 12.40% 3,162
Snohomish 80,694 48.27% 84,158 50.34% 2,313 1.38% -3,464 -2.07% 167,165
Spokane 68,520 49.24% 68,787 49.43% 1,843 1.32% -267 -0.19% 139,150
Stevens 5,068 42.37% 6,576 54.97% 318 2.66% -1,508 -12.60% 11,962
Thurston 33,860 50.59% 31,980 47.78% 1,090 1.63% 1,880 2.81% 66,930
Wahkiakum 961 59.10% 629 38.68% 36 2.21% 332 20.42% 1,626
Walla Walla 7,448 42.80% 9,683 55.64% 272 1.56% -2,235 -12.84% 17,403
Whatcom 25,571 51.05% 23,820 47.55% 703 1.40% 1,751 3.50% 50,094
Whitman 7,403 48.28% 7,680 50.09% 250 1.63% -277 -1.81% 15,333
Yakima 23,221 43.07% 30,026 55.70% 663 1.23% -6,805 -12.63% 53,910
Totals 933,516 50.05% 903,835 48.46% 27,902 1.50% 29,681 1.59% 1,865,253

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

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Analysis

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King County, home to the city of Seattle and its surrounding suburbs, was and is by far the most heavily populated county in the state, and a bellwether county for the state as a whole. In every presidential election since Washington achieved statehood, the candidate who won King County also won Washington state as a whole. While the city of Seattle had long leaned Democratic, the surrounding suburbs had long leaned Republican, making King County a swing county, and thus Washington state a swing state. In 1976, moderate Republican Gerald Ford had carried Washington state 50–46, while winning King County 51–45. In the 1984 Republican landslide, Ronald Reagan won King County by a 52–47 margin. However, Michael Dukakis won King County by a 54–45 margin, a raw vote difference of 59,089 votes, providing more than the entire 29,681 raw vote difference by which he carried Washington state as a whole. The 1988 result started a yet-unbroken Democratic winning streak in King County, and would prove to be the start of a long-term dramatic shift toward the Democratic Party in the county and thus in the state as a whole.

As the city of Seattle grew, and its suburbs continued abandoning the GOP and increasingly trended Democratic in the 1990s and 2000s, King County would be transformed from a swing county prior to 1988 into a Democratic stronghold; twenty years later, in 2008, Democrat Barack Obama would receive over 70% of the vote in King County. The Democratic dominance in King County that began in 1988 would solidify Washington as a strong blue state in the modern era. In the eight presidential elections since 1988, no Republican candidate has replicated the percentages of the vote received by George H.W. Bush in King, Pierce, Snohomish, Kitsap, Island, Whatcom, Skagit, San Juan, or Thurston counties.

As of the 2020 presidential election this is the last election when Kitsap County and Snohomish County have supported the Republican presidential nominee.[3] This also is the last election where the state of Washington was decided by a margin of five points or less. Dukakis and Bush tied in Ferry County. This is the second time in a presidential election in Washington (after 1896) and the last time until Bill Clinton won Georgia in 1992 that two candidates tied in a county.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "1988 Presidential General Election Results – Washington". Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved January 26, 2018.
  2. ^ "Election Search Results November 1988 General". Retrieved August 1, 2024.
  3. ^ Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016