1988 United States presidential election in Louisiana

Main article: 1988 United States presidential election

1988 United States presidential election in Louisiana

←  1984 November 8, 1988 1992  →

Nominee George H. W. Bush Michael Dukakis Party Republican Democratic Home state Texas Massachusetts Running mate Dan Quayle Lloyd Bentsen Electoral vote 10 0 Popular vote 883,702 717,460 Percentage 54.27% 44.06%

Parish Results Bush   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   70–80% Dukakis   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%

President before election Ronald Reagan Republican Elected President George H. W. Bush Republican

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

Louisiana strongly voted for the Republican nominee, Vice President George H. W. Bush, over the Democratic nominee, Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis. The margin was 10%, which was nonetheless the best showing for Dukakis in a former Confederate state. This result made Louisiana 2.4% more Republican than the nation-at-large.

Background

The percentage of registered voters in Louisiana who were Republicans rose from 11.3% in 1984 to 16.4% in 1988 while the Democratic figure fell from 80.6% to 75.2%. ^[1]

Campaign

Republican primary

The Southern Republican Leadership Conference had all of the presidential candidates committed to attend its February meeting in New Orleans, but none of them came as they were instead focused on the New Hampshire primary. ^[2]

The Republicans conducted a voter registration campaign that increased the amount of registered Republicans by 25,063 between the 1987 gubernatorial primary and Super Tuesday and an additional 36,100 were registered before the presidential election. Turnout in the Republican primary rose to 19% from 5% in 1984, and 10% in 1980. In the Republican primary George H. W. Bush earned all of the delegates by placing first in every congressional district. ^[3] 27% of white voters participated in the Republican primary. ^[4]

Seven uncommitted delegates were selected by the central committee Republican Party of Louisiana on March 19. Supporters of Pat Robertson and Jack Kemp, who totaled 58 of the 140 committee members, formed a coalition to take over the party. The coalition failed to gain the position of chair, but won the position of secretary, national committeeman, and three of the seven alternate delegates. ^[5]

1988 Louisiana Republican presidential primary ^[6]

Candidate	Votes	%	Delegates [7]
George H. W. Bush	83,684	57.80	34 [a] [b]
Pat Robertson	26,294	18.16	0
Bob Dole	25,624	17.70	0
Jack Kemp	7,722	5.33	0
Pete du Pont (withdrawn)	851	0.59	0
Alexander Haig (withdrawn)	598	0.41	0
Total	144,773	100%	34

Democratic primary

The Louisiana Democratic Party planned a Summit on Super Tuesday event in January, which all of the presidential candidates agreed to attend, but only Al Gore came. ^[2]

Turnout in the Democratic primary rose to 24% from 14% in 1984, and 11% in 1980. Jesse Jackson and Gore were the only Democratic candidates to receive more than 15% in the primary and received 21 and 15 delegates respectively. Michael Dukakis and Dick Gephardt both won two delegates. ^[9] The racial composition of the primary was 62% white and 38% black. ^[10]

The central committee of the Louisiana Democratic Party allocated an additional 10 at-large delegates to Jackson, 8 to Gore, and four to Dukakis on June 4, 1988. The state's delegation also included 14 uncommitted superdelegates. Endorsements resulted in the delegation being divided between 41 delegates for Jackson, 33 for Dukakis, and one for Gephardt. John Breaux was selected as the delegation's chair while negotiations with the Jackson delegation produced William Jefferson as co-chair and Sidney Barthelemy as a member of the Democratic National Committee. ^[7]

Governor Buddy Roemer stated that he would vote for Dukakis, but not support him and stated that he had "never seen a more unfocused, unorganized, non-issue campaign" in his life. ^[11]

1988 Louisiana Democratic presidential primary ^[6]

Candidate	Votes	%	Delegates [12]
Jesse Jackson	221,522	35.44	21 [c]
Al Gore	174,971	27.99	15 [d]
Michael Dukakis	95,661	15.31	2 [e]
Dick Gephardt	67,029	10.72	2
Gary Hart	26,437	4.23	0
David Duke	23,391	3.74	0
Paul Simon	5,153	0.82	0
Frank Ahern	3,702	0.59	0
Bruce Babbitt (withdrawn)	3,076	0.49	0
Lyndon LaRouche	1,681	0.27	0
Norbert G. Dennerll Jr.	1,574	0.25	0
Richard B. Kay	822	0.13	0
Total	625,019	100%	40

General

68% of white voters supported Bush while 30% supported Dukakis. ^{[14] [15]}

The Democrats maintained their control over the Louisiana House of Representatives, with 90 seats to the Republican's 17 seats, and Louisiana State Senate, with 37 seats to the Republican's 2 seats, despite Bush's victory in the presidential race. ^[16]

Results

1988 United States presidential election in Louisiana [17]
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Republican	George H. W. Bush	883,702	54.27%	10
	Democratic	Michael Dukakis	717,460	44.06%	0
	Independent Populist	David Duke	18,612	1.14%	0
	Libertarian	Ron Paul	4,115	0.25%	0
	New Alliance	Lenora Fulani	2,355	0.14%	0
	Democrats for Economic Recovery	Lyndon LaRouche	1,958	0.12%	0
Invalid or blank votes					—
Totals			1,628,202	100.00%	10
Voter turnout					—

Results by parish

Parish [18]	George H.W. Bush Republican		Michael Dukakis Democratic		David Duke Independent Populist		Various candidates Other parties		Margin		Total votes cast
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Acadia	11,279	49.21%	11,359	49.56%	183	0.80%	98	0.43%	-80	-0.35%	22,919
Allen	3,674	40.87%	5,204	57.89%	64	0.71%	47	0.52%	-1,530	-17.02%	8,989
Ascension	10,726	46.15%	12,147	52.27%	219	0.94%	148	0.64%	-1,421	-6.12%	23,240
Assumption	4,017	40.19%	5,610	56.13%	300	3.00%	68	0.68%	-1,593	-15.94%	9,995
Avoyelles	7,659	49.08%	7,353	47.12%	466	2.99%	128	0.82%	306	1.96%	15,606
Beauregard	6,466	57.30%	4,704	41.68%	59	0.52%	56	0.50%	1,762	15.62%	11,285
Bienville	3,680	48.83%	3,705	49.16%	90	1.19%	62	0.82%	-25	-0.33%	7,537
Bossier	20,807	69.16%	9,035	30.03%	135	0.45%	108	0.36%	11,772	39.13%	30,085
Caddo	54,498	57.73%	39,204	41.53%	363	0.38%	337	0.36%	15,294	16.20%	94,402
Calcasieu	29,649	46.25%	33,932	52.94%	302	0.47%	217	0.34%	-4,283	-6.69%	64,100
Caldwell	2,997	65.74%	1,423	31.21%	118	2.59%	21	0.46%	1,574	34.53%	4,559
Cameron	1,775	43.61%	2,257	55.45%	18	0.44%	20	0.49%	-482	-11.84%	4,070
Catahoula	2,862	57.82%	1,916	38.71%	137	2.77%	35	0.71%	946	19.11%	4,950
Claiborne	3,756	53.60%	3,158	45.07%	60	0.86%	33	0.47%	598	8.53%	7,007
Concordia	5,037	57.49%	3,461	39.50%	201	2.29%	62	0.71%	1,576	17.99%	8,761
DeSoto	5,022	47.76%	5,366	51.03%	82	0.78%	46	0.44%	-344	-3.27%	10,516
East Baton Rouge	86,791	58.81%	59,270	40.16%	628	0.43%	895	0.61%	27,521	18.65%	147,584
East Carroll	1,536	44.39%	1,809	52.28%	88	2.54%	27	0.78%	-273	-7.89%	3,460
East Feliciana	3,537	48.06%	3,659	49.72%	99	1.35%	64	0.87%	-122	-1.66%	7,359
Evangeline	7,437	48.29%	7,693	49.95%	186	1.21%	84	0.55%	-256	-1.66%	15,400
Franklin	5,520	62.20%	3,043	34.29%	262	2.95%	50	0.56%	2,477	27.91%	8,875
Grant	4,402	60.76%	2,628	36.27%	172	2.37%	43	0.59%	1,774	24.49%	7,245
Iberia	15,438	54.49%	12,166	42.94%	598	2.11%	129	0.46%	3,272	11.55%	28,331
Iberville	5,855	39.46%	8,678	58.49%	200	1.35%	103	0.69%	-2,823	-19.03%	14,836
Jackson	4,251	58.64%	2,842	39.21%	102	1.41%	54	0.74%	1,409	19.43%	7,249
Jefferson	110,942	66.68%	53,035	31.88%	1,783	1.07%	612	0.37%	57,907	34.80%	166,372
Jefferson Davis	5,851	45.74%	6,799	53.15%	80	0.63%	61	0.48%	-948	-7.41%	12,791
Lafayette	36,648	59.44%	24,133	39.14%	515	0.84%	362	0.59%	12,515	20.30%	61,658
Lafourche	16,152	50.19%	15,013	46.65%	841	2.61%	173	0.54%	1,139	3.54%	32,179
LaSalle	4,559	71.69%	1,622	25.51%	149	2.34%	29	0.46%	2,937	46.18%	6,359
Lincoln	8,853	60.40%	5,427	37.03%	255	1.74%	122	0.83%	3,426	23.37%	14,657
Livingston	15,779	61.29%	9,659	37.52%	217	0.84%	88	0.34%	6,120	23.77%	25,743
Madison	2,334	47.53%	2,416	49.20%	123	2.50%	38	0.77%	-82	-1.67%	4,911
Morehouse	7,335	60.43%	4,496	37.04%	251	2.07%	57	0.47%	2,839	23.39%	12,139
Natchitoches	7,224	52.60%	6,151	44.79%	278	2.02%	80	0.58%	1,073	7.81%	13,733
Orleans	64,763	35.24%	116,851	63.58%	1,233	0.67%	953	0.52%	-52,088	-28.34%	183,800
Ouachita	33,858	67.32%	15,429	30.68%	703	1.40%	302	0.60%	18,429	36.64%	50,292
Plaquemines	6,084	59.11%	3,997	38.83%	163	1.58%	49	0.48%	2,087	20.28%	10,293
Pointe Coupee	4,333	39.64%	6,308	57.71%	151	1.38%	138	1.26%	-1,975	-18.07%	10,930
Rapides	29,977	61.31%	17,928	36.67%	743	1.52%	243	0.50%	12,049	24.64%	48,891
Red River	2,266	49.41%	2,254	49.15%	48	1.05%	18	0.39%	12	0.26%	4,586
Richland	5,226	62.85%	2,833	34.07%	191	2.30%	65	0.78%	2,393	28.78%	8,315
Sabine	4,767	55.81%	3,532	41.35%	200	2.34%	42	0.49%	1,235	14.46%	8,541
St. Bernard	19,609	61.79%	11,406	35.94%	598	1.88%	123	0.39%	8,203	25.85%	31,736
St. Charles	9,685	53.82%	7,973	44.31%	259	1.44%	78	0.43%	1,712	9.51%	17,995
St. Helena	2,006	38.93%	3,013	58.47%	85	1.65%	49	0.95%	-1,007	-19.54%	5,153
St. James	3,799	35.44%	6,707	62.57%	144	1.34%	69	0.64%	-2,908	-27.13%	10,719
St. John the Baptist	7,464	46.02%	8,366	51.58%	276	1.70%	113	0.70%	-902	-5.56%	16,219
St. Landry	15,790	44.53%	19,091	53.84%	323	0.91%	253	0.71%	-3,301	-9.31%	35,457
St. Martin	7,541	41.60%	10,148	55.98%	283	1.56%	157	0.87%	-2,607	-14.38%	18,129
St. Mary	11,540	51.71%	10,364	46.44%	295	1.32%	119	0.53%	1,176	5.27%	22,318
St. Tammany	38,334	69.92%	15,638	28.52%	651	1.19%	200	0.36%	22,696	41.40%	54,823
Tangipahoa	16,669	54.32%	13,527	44.08%	325	1.06%	167	0.54%	3,142	10.24%	30,688
Tensas	1,645	50.00%	1,556	47.29%	69	2.10%	20	0.61%	89	2.71%	3,290
Terrebonne	18,745	58.19%	12,686	39.38%	636	1.97%	145	0.45%	6,059	18.81%	32,212
Union	5,900	62.97%	3,210	34.26%	199	2.12%	60	0.64%	2,690	28.71%	9,369
Vermilion	9,224	41.99%	12,180	55.45%	440	2.00%	122	0.56%	-2,956	-13.46%	21,966
Vernon	7,453	58.40%	4,998	39.17%	240	1.88%	70	0.55%	2,455	19.23%	12,761
Washington	9,374	51.81%	8,369	46.25%	260	1.44%	91	0.50%	1,005	5.56%	18,094
Webster	10,204	57.31%	7,434	41.75%	108	0.61%	59	0.33%	2,770	15.56%	17,805
West Baton Rouge	3,972	45.13%	4,686	53.24%	81	0.92%	62	0.70%	-714	-8.11%	8,801
West Carroll	3,077	64.14%	1,607	33.50%	97	2.02%	16	0.33%	1,470	30.64%	4,797
West Feliciana	1,854	45.34%	2,146	52.48%	46	1.12%	43	1.05%	-292	-7.14%	4,089
Winn	4,165	59.02%	2,699	38.25%	147	2.08%	46	0.65%	1,466	20.77%	7,057
Totals	883,702	54.27%	717,460	44.06%	18,612	1.14%	8,428	0.52%	166,242	10.21%	1,628,202

Parishes that flipped from Republican to Democratic

• Acadia
• Ascension
• Assumption
• Bienville
• Calcasieu
• Cameron
• DeSoto
• East Feliciana
• Evangeline
• Jefferson Davis
• St. John the Baptist
• St. Landry
• St. Martin
• Vermillion

^{[19] [20]}

See also

• United States presidential elections in Louisiana

Notes

1. 24 delegates allocated through congressional districts and 10 delegates allocated statewide ^[8]
2. Final delegate total of 41 after addition of at-large delegates at state convention ^[8]
3. Final delegate total of 31 after addition of at-large delegates at state convention ^[8]
4. Final delegate total of 31 after addition of at-large delegates at state convention ^[13]
5. Final delegate total of 6 after addition of at-large delegates at state convention ^[8]

References

1. Steed, Moreland & Baker 1994, p. 62.
2. Hadley & Stanley 1989, p. 26.
3. Moreland, Steed & Baker 1991, p. 82-83.
4. Black & Black 1992, p. 288.
5. Moreland, Steed & Baker 1991, p. 83-84.
6. "1988 presidential primary results in Louisiana". Secretary of State of Louisiana . Archived from the original on July 29, 2023.
7. Moreland, Steed & Baker 1991, p. 85-86.
8. Moreland, Steed & Baker 1991, p. 86.
9. Moreland, Steed & Baker 1991, p. 83-85.
10. Black & Black 1992, p. 263.
11. Moreland, Steed & Baker 1991, p. 87.
12. Moreland, Steed & Baker 1991, p. 84.
13. Moreland, Steed & Baker 1991, p. 23.
14. Black & Black 1992, p. 295.
15. Black & Black 1992, p. 335.
16. Moreland, Steed & Baker 1991, p. xii.
17. "1988 Presidential General Election Results – Louisiana". Dave Leip’s U.S. Election Atlas. Retrieved August 25, 2008.
18. "LA US President Race, November 08, 1988". Our Campaigns.
19. "1984 Presidential General Election Results - Louisiana". Dave Leip's election atlas.
20. "1988 Presidential General Election Results - Louisiana". Dave Leip's election atlas.

Works cited

• Black, Earl; Black, Merle (1992). The Vital South: How Presidents Are Elected. Harvard University Press. ISBN   0674941306.
• Hadley, Charles; Stanley, Harold (1989). "Super Tuesday 1988: Regional Results and National Implications". Publius . 19 (3). Oxford University Press: 19–37. JSTOR   3330481.
• Moreland, Laurence; Steed, Robert; Baker, Tod, eds. (1991). The 1988 Presidential Election in the South: Continuity Amidst Change in Southern Party Politics. Praeger Publishers. ISBN   0275931455.
• Steed, Robert; Moreland, Laurence; Baker, Tod, eds. (1994). The 1992 Presidential Election in the South: Current Patterns of Southern Party and Electoral Politics. Praeger Publishers. ISBN   0275945340.