1988 United States presidential election in Connecticut

Main article: 1988 United States presidential election

1988 United States presidential election in Connecticut

←  1984 November 8, 1988 1992  →
Turnout	81.4% [1]
Nominee George H. W. Bush Michael Dukakis Party Republican Democratic Home state Texas Massachusetts Running mate Dan Quayle Lloyd Bentsen Electoral vote 8 0 Popular vote 750,241 676,584 Percentage 51.98% 46.87%
County Results Municipality Results Congressional District Results Bush   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   70–80% Dukakis   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%
President before election Ronald Reagan Republican Elected President George H. W. Bush Republican

The 1988 United States presidential election in Connecticut took place on November 8, 1988, as part of the 1988 United States presidential election, which was held throughout all 50 states and D.C. Voters chose eight representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Connecticut voted for the Republican nominee, Vice President George H. W. Bush, over the Democratic nominee, Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis, by a margin of 5.10%. Bush took 51.98% of the vote to Dukakis's 46.87%. This result nonetheless made Connecticut 2.7% more Democratic than the nation-at-large.

Although Dukakis won only Hartford County, he took 47–49% of the vote in five other counties, making it a close race statewide. He came much closer to winning the state than Walter Mondale, who had lost the state by over 20 points four years earlier. Dukakis's gains reflected liberal New England's drift as a whole toward the Democratic Party, as the Republican Party became increasingly conservative and oriented toward the South. This would be the last time that a Republican presidential candidate would win Connecticut's electoral votes, as the state has gone Democratic in every election since, and also one of the last times that a Republican won a statewide federal election there.

To date, this is the last election in which the counties of New Haven, New London, Middlesex and Tolland voted for the Republican candidate, as well as the last time that the cities of Norwalk, Stamford, and Waterbury and the towns of Branford, Canaan, Canton, Chester, Clinton, Cromwell, Deep River, East Lyme, Farmington, Glastonbury, Groton, Guilford, Stratford, Kent, Norfolk, Old Lyme, Pomfret, Salisbury, Sharon, South Windsor, Stonington, Tolland, Vernon, Washington, Waterford, Westport, Wethersfield, and Woodbridge voted Republican.

Results

1988 United States presidential election in Connecticut [2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Republican	George H. W. Bush	750,241	51.98%	8
	Democratic	Michael Dukakis	676,584	46.87%	0
	Libertarian	Ron Paul	14,071	0.97%	0
	New Alliance	Lenora Fulani	2,491	0.17%	0
	No party	William A. Marra (Write-in)	7	0.00%	0
Totals			1,443,394	100.00%	8
Voter Turnout (Voting age/Registered)					58%/80%

Results by county

County	George H.W. Bush Republican		Michael Dukakis Democratic		Various candidates Other parties		Margin		Total votes cast
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Fairfield	221,316	59.04%	149,630	39.91%	3,932	1.05%	71,686	19.13%	374,878
Hartford	173,031	45.95%	199,857	53.08%	3,648	0.97%	-26,826	-7.13%	376,536
Litchfield	44,637	55.97%	34,227	42.91%	893	1.12%	10,410	13.06%	79,757
Middlesex	34,682	50.01%	33,946	48.95%	716	1.04%	736	1.06%	69,344
New Haven	174,251	50.90%	163,153	47.66%	4,957	1.44%	11,098	3.24%	342,361
New London	52,681	51.22%	48,882	47.53%	1,288	1.25%	3,799	3.69%	102,851
Tolland	28,375	50.80%	26,884	48.13%	602	1.07%	1,491	2.67%	55,861
Windham	21,268	50.88%	20,005	47.86%	526	1.26%	1,263	3.02%	41,799
Totals	750,241	51.98%	676,584	46.87%	16,569	1.15%	73,657	5.11%	1,443,394

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

• Hartford

See also

• United States presidential elections in Connecticut
• Presidency of George H. W. Bush

References

1. "Connecticut State Register and Manual, 1989". CT State Library.
2. "1988 Presidential General Election Results - Connecticut". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved February 7, 2013.