1988 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania Turnout 77.2%[ 1]
County Results
Municipality Results
Bush
50-60%
60-70%
70-80%
80-90%
Dukakis
40-50%
50-60%
60-70%
70-80%
80-90%
90-100%
Tie
40-50%
No Vote/Data
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
Analysis
As of the 2020 presidential election , 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
References