1988 United States presidential election in Michigan|
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| Turnout | 55.3% |
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Congressional district results
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Bush
40–50%
50–60%
60–70%
70–80%
80–90%
90–100% |
Dukakis
50–60%
60–70%
70–80%
80–90%
90–100%
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The 1988 United States presidential election in Michigan took place on November 8, 1988. All 50 states and the District of Columbia participated in the 1988 United States presidential election. Voters chose 20 electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president. Michigan was won by incumbent United States vice president George H. W. Bush of Texas, who was running against Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis. Bush ran with Indiana senator Dan Quayle as vice president, and Dukakis ran with Texas senator Lloyd Bentsen.
Michigan weighed in for this election as 0.1% more Republican than the national average. This was the last time Michigan voted Republican until Donald Trump's plurality win in 2016, and remains the last time that a Republican won a majority of the vote in the state. Typical for elections in the 1980s, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan turned out mainly Democratic, and the Lower Peninsula turned out mainly Republican, with the notable exception of Detroit's highly populated Wayne County, which voted mainly Democratic.
As of the 2024, this is the last election in which Ingham County and Kalamazoo County voted for a Republican presidential candidate, and also the last election in which Michigan was the most Republican-leaning of the three Rust Belt swing states, the others being Wisconsin and Pennsylvania). This was the last time until 2016 that Isabella County voted Republican. This was also the last time, until 2024, that Michigan voted to the right of neighboring Wisconsin, that Muskegon County voted Republican, and that the Lower Peninsula voted Republican.
