1988 United States presidential election in New Mexico

The 1988 United States presidential election in New Mexico took place on November 8, 1988. All 50 states and the District of Columbia, were part of the 1988 United States presidential election. State voters chose 5 electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.

1988 United States presidential election in New Mexico

November 8, 1988

Nominee George H. W. Bush Michael Dukakis Party Republican Democratic Home state Texas Massachusetts Running mate Dan Quayle Lloyd Bentsen Electoral vote 5 0 Popular vote 270,341 244,497 Percentage 51.86% 46.90%

County Results Bush   40–50%   50–60%   60–70% Dukakis   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%

President before election Ronald Reagan Republican Elected President George H. W. Bush Republican

New Mexico 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.

New Mexico weighed in for this election as 4 percentage points more Democratic than the national average.

Partisan background

The presidential election of 1988 was a very partisan election for New Mexico, with 98 percent of the electorate voting for either the Democratic or Republican parties.[1] As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last presidential election in New Mexico in which Bernalillo County, Doña Ana County, and Socorro County voted for a Republican presidential candidate.[2] The Democratic stronghold in the northern part of the state is evident during this election, and remains largely intact from this point onward to current political times.

Republican victory

Bush won the election in New Mexico with a solid 5 percentage point margin. The election results in New Mexico are reflective of a nationwide reconsolidation of base for the Republican Party, which took place through the 1980s. Through the passage of some economic programs, spearheaded by then President Ronald Reagan (called, collectively, "Reaganomics"), the mid-to-late 1980s saw a period of economic growth and stability. The hallmark for Reaganomics was, in part, the wide-scale deregulation of corporate interests, and large scale tax cuts.

Dukakis ran on a socially liberal platform, and advocated for economic reform and governmental transparency. Bush, on the other hand, ran on a campaign of continuing the social and economic policies of former President Reagan – which gained him much support with social conservatives and people living in rural areas.

Results

1988 United States presidential election in New Mexico
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Republican	George H. W. Bush	270,341	51.86%	5
	Democratic	Michael Dukakis	244,497	46.90%	0
	Libertarian	Ron Paul	3,268	0.63%	0
	New Alliance Party	Lenora Fulani	2,237	0.43%	0
	Socialist Workers Party	James Warren	344	0.07%	0
	Workers World	Larry Holmes	258	0.05%	0
	Prohibition	Earl Dodge	249	0.05%	0
	Write-Ins		93	0.02%	0
Totals			521,287	100.0%	5

Results by county

County	George Herbert Walker Bush Republican		Michael Stanley Dukakis Democratic		Ronald Ernest Paul[3] Libertarian		Leonora Branch Fulani[3] New Alliance		Various candidates[3] Other parties		Margin
	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#
Lincoln	66.40%	3,511	31.96%	1,690	0.61%	32	0.81%	43	0.23%	12	34.44%	1,821
Union	65.87%	1,291	32.55%	638	0.46%	9	0.87%	17	0.26%	5	33.32%	653
Curry	66.17%	8,032	32.91%	3,995	0.30%	36	0.53%	64	0.09%	11	33.26%	4,037
Los Alamos	65.22%	6,622	32.26%	3,275	1.88%	191	0.51%	52	0.13%	13	32.97%	3,347
Chaves	65.84%	13,367	33.15%	6,730	0.29%	58	0.58%	118	0.15%	30	32.69%	6,637
Lea	65.36%	11,309	33.98%	5,879	0.28%	48	0.12%	20	0.27%	47	31.38%	5,430
Otero	64.50%	9,984	34.14%	5,284	0.47%	73	0.70%	109	0.18%	28	30.37%	4,700
Catron	62.25%	925	32.97%	490	3.57%	53	0.94%	14	0.27%	4	29.27%	435
Roosevelt	63.18%	3,589	35.79%	2,033	0.28%	16	0.56%	32	0.19%	11	27.39%	1,556
Sierra	60.19%	2,507	38.30%	1,595	0.43%	18	0.70%	29	0.38%	16	21.90%	912
San Juan	58.39%	16,202	39.98%	11,094	0.86%	238	0.52%	143	0.26%	73	18.41%	5,108
Torrance	57.19%	2,252	41.09%	1,618	0.81%	32	0.79%	31	0.13%	5	16.10%	634
De Baca	56.60%	643	42.25%	480	0.53%	6	0.62%	7	0.00%	0	14.35%	163
Harding	56.10%	377	43.30%	291	0.30%	2	0.15%	1	0.15%	1	12.80%	86
Quay	55.62%	2,454	43.09%	1,901	0.52%	23	0.61%	27	0.16%	7	12.53%	553
Hidalgo	54.46%	1,100	44.60%	901	0.35%	7	0.50%	10	0.10%	2	9.85%	199
Bernalillo	53.62%	92,830	45.25%	78,346	0.69%	1,196	0.25%	431	0.19%	332	8.37%	14,484
Eddy	52.90%	9,805	46.10%	8,544	0.28%	52	0.60%	112	0.12%	22	6.80%	1,261
Luna	51.46%	3,415	46.20%	3,066	1.33%	88	0.90%	60	0.11%	7	5.26%	349
Valencia	51.80%	7,874	46.95%	7,136	0.45%	69	0.62%	94	0.18%	27	4.86%	738
Doña Ana	51.70%	21,582	46.97%	19,608	0.67%	281	0.48%	200	0.18%	76	4.73%	1,974
Socorro	50.09%	3,114	47.61%	2,960	1.42%	88	0.74%	46	0.14%	9	2.48%	154
Sandoval	49.50%	9,411	49.09%	9,332	0.77%	146	0.45%	86	0.19%	36	0.42%	79
Colfax	44.37%	2,256	54.77%	2,785	0.49%	25	0.31%	16	0.06%	3	-10.40%	-529
Grant	43.10%	4,196	55.91%	5,443	0.56%	55	0.23%	22	0.20%	19	-12.81%	-1,247
Cibola	43.02%	2,640	56.35%	3,458	0.29%	18	0.10%	6	0.24%	15	-13.33%	-818
Guadalupe	40.63%	861	58.66%	1,243	0.19%	4	0.33%	7	0.19%	4	-18.03%	-382
McKinley	36.81%	5,694	62.04%	9,595	0.30%	46	0.60%	93	0.25%	39	-25.22%	-3,901
Mora	36.27%	923	62.91%	1,601	0.20%	5	0.59%	15	0.04%	1	-26.64%	-678
Santa Fe	34.91%	12,891	63.86%	23,581	0.69%	255	0.42%	154	0.12%	46	-28.95%	-10,690
Taos	31.29%	2,897	67.73%	6,271	0.42%	39	0.45%	42	0.11%	10	-36.44%	-3,374
San Miguel	30.62%	2,763	67.95%	6,131	0.41%	37	0.86%	78	0.16%	14	-37.33%	-3,368
Rio Arriba	28.46%	3,024	70.61%	7,503	0.23%	24	0.54%	57	0.17%	18	-42.15%	-4,479

See also

• Presidency of George H. W. Bush

References

1. "1988 Presidential General Election Results – New Mexico". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved 2018-02-15.
2. Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016
3. "NM US President Race, November 08, 1988". Our Campaigns.