United States presidential election, 1988 Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids
United States presidential election, 1988

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November 8, 1988

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Nominee	George H.W. Bush	Michael Dukakis
Party	Republican	Democrat
Home state	Texas	Massachusetts
Running mate	Dan Quayle	Lloyd Bentsen
Electoral vote	426	111
States carried	40	10 + D.C.
Popular vote	48,886,097	41,809,074
Percentage	53.4%	38.5%

Presidential election results map. Red denotes states won by Bush/Quayle, Blue denotes those won by Dukakis/Bentsen. Numbers indicate the number of electoral votes allotted to each state. Gray denotes won by Bentsen by a West Virginia faithless elector.

President before election

Ronald Reagan
Republican

Elected President

George H.W. Bush
Republican

The 1988 United States presidential election was a big event. It decided who would be the next President of the United States. The main candidates were George H. W. Bush, who was the Vice President, and Michael Dukakis, who was the Governor of Massachusetts.

George H.W. Bush was a member of the Republican Party. Michael Dukakis was from the Democratic Party. Bush won the election by a large number of votes. He became the 41st President of the United States.

About the 1988 Election Results
Who Ran for President in 1988?
- Democratic Candidates
  - Democratic Candidates Gallery
- Republican Candidates
  - Republican Candidates Gallery
Images for kids
See also

About the 1988 Election Results

George H.W. Bush won the election with 426 electoral votes. Michael Dukakis received 111 electoral votes. In the United States, the president is chosen by electoral votes, not just the total number of individual votes. Bush also won more than half of the total votes cast by people.

Bush's victory was helped by a strong economy and the popularity of the outgoing President, Ronald Reagan. Bush ran a very active campaign. Dukakis's campaign faced some challenges and found it hard to respond to Bush's attacks.

Who Ran for President in 1988?

Many people wanted to become president in 1988. The two main parties, the Democrats and the Republicans, each had several candidates. These candidates competed in primary elections to see who would represent their party in the final election.

Democratic Candidates

Here are some of the people who wanted to be the Democratic candidate for president:

Michael Dukakis, who was the governor of Massachusetts. He won the Democratic nomination.
Jesse Jackson, a reverend and civil rights leader from South Carolina.
Al Gore, a U.S. senator from Tennessee.
Dick Gephardt, a U.S. representative from Missouri.
Paul Simon, a U.S. senator from Illinois.
Gary Hart, a former U.S. senator from Colorado.
Bruce Babbitt, a former governor of Arizona.
Joe Biden, a U.S. senator from Delaware.