# 1988 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania

"none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see [[WP:SDNONE]]
Elections in Pennsylvania :
Federal government
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U.S. House of Representatives
1788
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at-large sp
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at-large sp
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1974
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1st sp
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2019
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2024 :
State government
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Lieutenant Governor
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Attorney General
1980
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Auditor General
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State Treasurer
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2000
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2024
State House of Representatives
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Elections by year
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2025 :
Philadelphia
Mayoral elections
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City Council elections
1951
1954 sp.
1955
1959
1963
2015
2019
2022–23 sp.
2023
Other municipal elections
1951
1953
1955
1957
1959
1961
1963
2023 :
Pittsburgh
Mayors
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Allentown
Mayors
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Lancaster
Mayors
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Harrisburg
Mayors
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2017
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2025 :
Government :
vte :
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. 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 :
| Party | 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 | Totals | Totals | 4,536,251 | 100.00% | 25 |

### Results by county

| County | George H.W. Bush Republican | George H.W. Bush Republican | Michael Dukakis Democratic | Michael Dukakis Democratic | Various candidates Other parties | Various candidates Other parties | Margin | Margin | Total votes cast |
| County | # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | 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

* Clinton
* Erie
* Indiana
* Lackawanna

## Analysis

As of the 2024 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. 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.