Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 8, 1988. The Republican ticket of incumbent vice president George H. W. Bush and Indiana junior senator Dan Quayle defeated the Democratic ticket of Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis and Texas senior senator Lloyd Bentsen. The election was the third consecutive landslide victory for the Republican Party.
Incumbent President Ronald Reagan was ineligible to run for a third term due to the term limits established by the 22nd Amendment to the United States Constitution. As a result, it was the first election since 1968 to lack an incumbent president on the ballot. Bush entered the Republican primaries as the front-runner, defeating Kansas senator Bob Dole and televangelist Pat Robertson. He selected Indiana senator Dan Quayle as his running mate. Dukakis, campaigning on his state's record of strong economic growth, won the Democratic primaries after Gary Hart (a prominent "Atari Democrat" representing the party's moderate wing) withdrew and Ted Kennedy (representing the party's traditional liberal wing) declined to run. Dukakis selected Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen as his running mate.
Bush ran an aggressive campaign that concentrated mainly on the strong economy, reduction in crime, and continuance with Reagan's policies. He attacked Dukakis as an elitist "Massachusetts liberal" and soft-on-crime, to which Dukakis ineffectively responded. Despite Dukakis initially leading in the polls, Bush pulled ahead after the Republican National Convention and extended his lead after two strong debate performances. Bush won a decisive victory over Dukakis, winning the Electoral College and the popular vote by sizable margins. Bush is the only sitting vice president to be elected president since Martin Van Buren in 1836. Despite his loss, Dukakis flipped nine states that had voted Republican in 1984: Hawaii, Iowa, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.
Voters 44 years of age or younger (born in 1944 or later) were estimated by the exit poll to comprise 55% of the electorate. As such, Baby boomers and Generation X constituted the majority of the voting public.
As of 2026, this remains the most recent election in which a candidate won over 400 electoral votes, as well as 40 or more states. It is also the most recent open seat election in which the outgoing president's party retained the White House, and the most recent time where a major party won the presidency for a third consecutive term. As of 2026, this is the earliest election in which at least one of the major party nominees for president (Dukakis) or vice president (Quayle) is still alive.
Republican Party nomination
Republican candidates George H. W. Bush, incumbent vice president from Texas Bob Dole, U.S. senator from Kansas Pete du Pont, former governor of Delaware Ben Fernandez, former special ambassador to Paraguay, from California Alexander Haig, former secretary of state, from Pennsylvania Jack Kemp, U.S. representative from New York Paul Laxalt, former U.S. senator from Nevada Pat Robertson, televangelist from Virginia Donald Rumsfeld, former secretary of defense from Illinois Harold Stassen, former governor of Minnesota
1988 Republican Party ticket for Presidentfor Vice President 43rdVice President of the United States(1981–1989)U.S. Senator from Indiana(1981–1989)Campaign
Withdrawn candidates Candidates in this section are sorted by popular vote from the primariesBob DolePat RobertsonJack KempU.S. Senator from Kansas(1969–1996)Chair of CBNU.S. Representative(1971–1989)W: March 292,333,375 votesW: April 61,097,446 votesW: March 9331,333 votes
While Bush had long been seen as Reagan's natural successor, there was still a degree of opposition within the party to his candidacy. Historical precedent was not seen to favor Bush's chances, as no incumbent vice president had been elected as president since Martin Van Buren in 1836. Dole attracted support among those who were concerned that Bush, whose electoral experience outside of his campaigns with Reagan was limited to running unsuccessfully for the Senate and twice successfully for the House of Representatives in the 1960s, had not done enough to establish himself as a candidate in his own right. Others who wished to further continue the shift towards social conservatism that had begun during Reagan's presidency supported Robertson.
Bush unexpectedly came in third in the Iowa caucus, which he had won in 1980, behind Dole and Robertson. Dole was also leading in the polls of the New Hampshire primary, and the Bush camp responded by running television commercials portraying Dole as a tax raiser, while Governor John H. Sununu campaigned for Bush. Dole did nothing to counter these ads and Bush won, thereby gaining crucial momentum, which he called "Big Mo". Once the multiple-state primaries such as Super Tuesday began, Bush's organizational strength and fundraising lead were impossible for the other candidates to match, and the nomination was his. The Republican Party convention was held in New Orleans, Louisiana. Bush was nominated unanimously and selected U.S. senator Dan Quayle from Indiana as his running mate. In his acceptance speech, Bush made the pledge "Read my lips: No new taxes", which contributed to his loss in 1992.
Democratic Party nomination
1988 Democratic Party ticket for Presidentfor Vice President 65th and 67thgovernor of Massachusetts(1975–1979, 1983–1991) U.S. senatorfrom Texas(1971–1993)Campaign Candidates in this section are sorted by date of withdrawal from the primariesJesse JacksonAl GorePaul SimonDick GephardtGary HartPresident of the Rainbow Coalition from South Carolina (1983–2023)U.S. senatorfrom Tennessee(1985–1993)U.S. senatorfrom Illinois(1985–1997)U.S. representativefrom Missouri(1977–2005)U.S. senatorfrom Colorado(1975–1987)CampaignCampaignCampaignCampaignCampaign: July 20, 1988: July 30, 19886,788,991 votes1,023 : April 21, 1988: June 16, 19883,185,806 votes374 : April 7, 1988: June 8, 19881,082,960 votes161 : March 28, 1988: June 8, 19881,399,041 votes137 : March 11, 1988415,716 votesBruce BabbittJames TraficantPatricia SchroederJoe BidenFmr. governorof Arizona(1978–1987)U.S. representativefrom Ohio(1985–2002)U.S. representativefrom Colorado(1973–1997)U.S. senatorfrom Delaware(1973–2009)CampaignCampaignCampaign: February 18, 1988: June 8, 198877,780 votes: After January 26, 1988: September 28, 1987: September 23, 1987: June 22, 1988
In 1984, the Democrats had nominated Walter Mondale, a traditional New Deal-type liberal, who advocated for those constituencies that Franklin D. Roosevelt forged into a majority coalition,Walter Mondale: Learning to Live With Fritz Rolling Stone. March 1, 1984. as their candidate. When Mondale was defeated in a landslide, party leaders became eager to find a new approach to get away from the 1980 and 1984 debacles. After Bush's image was affected by his involvement on the Iran-Contra scandal much more than Reagan's, and after the Democrats won back control of the U.S. Senate in the 1986 congressional elections following an economic downturn, the party's leaders felt optimistic about having a closer race with the GOP in 1988, although probabilities of winning the presidency were still marginal given the climate of prosperity.
One goal of the party was to find a new, fresh candidate who could move beyond the traditional New Deal-Great Society ideas of the past and offer a new image of the Democrats to the public. To this end party leaders tried to recruit New York governor Mario Cuomo to be a candidate. Cuomo had impressed many Democrats with his keynote speech at the 1984 Democratic Convention, and they believed he would be a strong candidate.Steve Neal for the Chicago Tribune. April 26, 1985. Democrats Think They See A Better Horse For '88 Race After Cuomo chose not to run, the Democratic frontrunner for most of 1987 was former Colorado senator Gary Hart.John Dillin for The Christian Science Monitor. February 23, 1987 Cuomo's 'no' opens door for dark horses He had made a strong showing in the 1984 presidential primaries; after Mondale's defeat, he had positioned himself as the moderate and centrist many Democrats felt their party would need to win.
Questions and rumors about extramarital affairs and past debts dogged Hart's campaign. Hart had told New York Times reporters who questioned him about these rumors that, if they followed him around, they would "be bored". In a separate investigation, the Miami Herald had received an anonymous tip from a friend of Donna Rice that Rice was involved with Hart. After his affair emerged, the Herald reporters found Hart's quote in a pre-print of The New York Times Magazine. After the Heralds findings were publicized, many other media outlets picked up the story and Hart's ratings in the polls plummeted. On May 8, 1987, a week after the Rice story broke, Hart dropped out of the race. His campaign chair, Representative Patricia Schroeder, tested the waters for about four months after Hart's withdrawal, but decided in September 1987 that she would not run.Warren Weaver Jr. for The New York Times. September 29, 1987 Schroeder, Assailing 'the System,' Decides Not to Run for President In December 1987, Hart surprised many pundits by resuming his campaign,Bob Drogin for the Los Angeles Times. December 16, 1987 Hart Back in Race for President : Political World Stunned, Gives Him Little Chance but the allegations of adultery had delivered a fatal blow to his candidacy, and he did poorly in the primaries before dropping out again.Associated Press, in the Los Angeles Times. March 13, 1988 Quits Campaign : 'The People 'Have Decided,' Hart Declares
Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts had been considered a potential candidate, but he ruled himself out of the race in the fall of 1985. Two other politicians mentioned as possible candidates, both from Arkansas, did not join the race: Senator Dale Bumpers and Governor and future president Bill Clinton. Joe Biden's campaign also ended in controversy after he was accused of plagiarizing a speech by Neil Kinnock, then-leader of the British Labour Party. The Dukakis campaign secretly released a video in which Biden was filmed repeating a Kinnock stump speech with only minor modifications.Washington Post: Joseph Biden's Plagiarism; Michael Dukakis's 'Attack Video' – 1988. 1988. Biden later called his failure to attribute the quotes an oversight, and in related proceedings the Delaware Supreme Court's Board on Professional Responsibility cleared him of a separate plagiarism charge, leveled for plagiarizing an article during his time in law school. This ultimately led him to drop out of the race. Dukakis later revealed that his campaign had leaked the tape, and two members of his staff resigned. Biden later ran three more times for the Democratic nomination, unsuccessfully in 2008, successfully in 2020, and initially ran for re-election as the party's presumptive nominee in 2024, but ultimately withdrew from the race before he was officially re-nominated. He was inaugurated as the 47th vice president in 2009, serving two terms under President Barack Obama. He became the 46th president in 2021, over 33 years after his first campaign for the office ended, and served one term.
Al Gore, a senator from Tennessee, chose to run for the nomination. Turning 40 in 1988, he would have been the youngest man to contest the presidency on a major party ticket since William Jennings Bryan in 1896, and the youngest president ever if elected, younger than John F. Kennedy at election age and Theodore Roosevelt at age of assumption of office. He eventually became the 45th vice president in 1993, serving two terms under President Bill Clinton, then the Democratic presidential nominee in 2000, losing to George W. Bush, George H. W. Bush's son.
Primaries