1988 United States presidential election in Connecticut
1988 United States presidential election in Connecticut
County Results Municipality Results
Bush
40-50%
50-60%
60-70%
70-80%
Dukakis
40-50%
50-60%
60-70%
70-80%
The 1988 United States presidential election in Connecticut took place on November 8, 1988, as part of the 1988 United States presidential election , which was held throughout all 50 states and D.C. Voters chose eight representatives, or electors to the Electoral College , who voted for president and vice president .
Connecticut voted for the Republican nominee, Vice President George H. W. Bush , over the Democratic nominee, Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis , by a margin of 5.10%. Bush took 51.98% of the vote to Dukakis's 46.87%. This result nonetheless made Connecticut 2.7% more Democratic than the nation-at-large.
Although Dukakis won only Hartford County , he took 47-49% of the vote in 5 other counties, making it a close race statewide. He came much closer to winning the state than Walter Mondale , who had lost the state by over 20 points four years earlier. Dukakis's gains reflected liberal New England 's drift as a whole toward the Democratic Party, as the Republican Party became increasingly conservative and oriented toward the South . This would be the last time that a Republican presidential candidate would win Connecticut's electoral votes, as the state has gone Democratic in every election since, and also one of the last times that a Republican won a statewide federal election there.
To date, this is the last election in which the counties of New Haven , New London , Middlesex and Tolland voted for the Republican candidate, as well as the last time that the cities of Norwalk , Stamford , and Waterbury and the towns of Andover , Branford , Canaan , Canton , Chester , Clinton , Cromwell , Deep River , East Lyme , Farmington , Glastonbury , Groton , Guilford , Stratford , Kent , Norfolk , North Canaan , Old Lyme , Pomfret , Salisbury , Sharon , South Windsor , Stonington , Tolland , Vernon , Washington , Waterford , Westport , Wethersfield , Willington , and Woodbridge voted Republican.
Results
Results by county
County
George H.W. Bush
Michael Dukakis
Various candidates
Margin
Total votes cast
#
%
#
%
#
%
#
%
Fairfield
221,316
59.04%
149,630
39.91%
3,932
1.05%
71,686
19.13%
374,878
Hartford
173,031
45.95%
199,857
53.08%
3,648
0.97%
-26,826
-7.13%
376,536
Litchfield
44,637
55.97%
34,227
42.91%
893
1.12%
10,410
13.06%
79,757
Middlesex
34,682
50.01%
33,946
48.95%
716
1.04%
736
1.06%
69,344
New Haven
174,251
50.90%
163,153
47.66%
4,957
1.44%
11,098
3.24%
342,361
New London
52,681
51.22%
48,882
47.53%
1,288
1.25%
3,799
3.69%
102,851
Tolland
28,375
50.80%
26,884
48.13%
602
1.07%
1,491
2.67%
55,861
Windham
21,268
50.88%
20,005
47.86%
526
1.26%
1,263
3.02%
41,799
Totals
750,241
51.98%
676,584
46.87%
16,569
1.15%
73,657
5.11%
1,443,394
Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic
See also
References
