1988 United States presidential election in New Mexico
1988 United States presidential election in New Mexico
County Results
Bush
40–50%
50–60%
60–70%
Dukakis
50–60%
60–70%
70–80%
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 five electors to the Electoral College , which selected the president and vice president . 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 .
Bush won the state with 51.86% of the vote to Dukakis's 46.90%, for a margin of 4.96%. New Mexico weighed in for this election as 4 percentage points more Democratic than the national average. This was also the last election in which a Republican presidential candidate won a majority of the popular vote in New Mexico, although his son George W. Bush would eke out an extremely narrow 49.84%-49.05% plurality over John Kerry in 2004 .
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 2024 [update] , this is the last presidential election in New Mexico in which Bernalillo County and Doña Ana 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.
Results
Results by county
County
George H.W. Bush Republican
Michael Dukakis Democratic
Ron Paul[ 3] Libertarian
Lenora Fulani[ 3] New Alliance
Various candidates[ 3] Other parties
Margin
Total votes cast
#
%
#
%
#
%
#
%
#
%
#
%
Bernalillo
92,830
53.62%
78,346
45.25%
1,196
0.69%
431
0.25%
332
0.19%
14,484
8.37%
173,135
Catron
925
62.25%
490
32.97%
53
3.57%
14
0.94%
4
0.27%
435
29.28%
1,486
Chaves
13,367
65.84%
6,730
33.15%
58
0.29%
118
0.58%
30
0.15%
6,637
32.69%
20,303
Cibola
2,640
43.02%
3,458
56.35%
18
0.29%
6
0.10%
15
0.24%
-818
-13.33%
6,137
Colfax
2,256
44.37%
2,785
54.77%
25
0.49%
16
0.31%
3
0.06%
-529
-10.40%
5,085
Curry
8,032
66.17%
3,995
32.91%
36
0.30%
64
0.53%
11
0.09%
4,037
33.26%
12,138
De Baca
643
56.60%
480
42.25%
6
0.53%
7
0.62%
0
0.00%
163
14.35%
1,136
Dona Ana
21,582
51.70%
19,608
46.97%
281
0.67%
200
0.48%
76
0.18%
1,974
4.73%
41,747
Eddy
9,805
52.90%
8,544
46.10%
52
0.28%
112
0.60%
22
0.12%
1,261
6.80%
18,535
Grant
4,196
43.10%
5,443
55.91%
55
0.56%
22
0.23%
19
0.20%
-1,247
-12.81%
9,735
Guadalupe
861
40.63%
1,243
58.66%
4
0.19%
7
0.33%
4
0.19%
-382
-18.03%
2,119
Harding
377
56.10%
291
43.30%
2
0.30%
1
0.15%
1
0.15%
86
12.80%
672
Hidalgo
1,100
54.46%
901
44.60%
7
0.35%
10
0.50%
2
0.10%
199
9.86%
2,020
Lea
11,309
65.36%
5,879
33.98%
48
0.28%
20
0.12%
47
0.27%
5,430
31.38%
17,303
Lincoln
3,511
66.40%
1,690
31.96%
32
0.61%
43
0.81%
12
0.23%
1,821
34.44%
5,288
Los Alamos
6,622
65.22%
3,275
32.26%
191
1.88%
52
0.51%
13
0.13%
3,347
32.96%
10,153
Luna
3,415
51.46%
3,066
46.20%
88
1.33%
60
0.90%
7
0.11%
349
5.26%
6,636
McKinley
5,694
36.81%
9,595
62.04%
46
0.30%
93
0.60%
39
0.25%
-3,901
-25.23%
15,467
Mora
923
36.27%
1,601
62.91%
5
0.20%
15
0.59%
1
0.04%
-678
-26.64%
2,545
Otero
9,984
64.50%
5,284
34.14%
73
0.47%
109
0.70%
28
0.18%
4,700
30.36%
15,478
Quay
2,454
55.62%
1,901
43.09%
23
0.52%
27
0.61%
7
0.16%
553
12.53%
4,412
Rio Arriba
3,024
28.46%
7,503
70.61%
24
0.23%
57
0.54%
18
0.17%
-4,479
-42.15%
10,626
Roosevelt
3,589
63.18%
2,033
35.79%
16
0.28%
32
0.56%
11
0.19%
1,556
27.39%
5,681
San Juan
16,202
58.39%
11,094
39.98%
238
0.86%
143
0.52%
73
0.26%
5,108
18.41%
27,750
San Miguel
2,763
30.62%
6,131
67.95%
37
0.41%
78
0.86%
14
0.16%
-3,368
-37.33%
9,023
Sandoval
9,411
49.50%
9,332
49.09%
146
0.77%
86
0.45%
36
0.19%
79
0.41%
19,011
Santa Fe
12,891
34.91%
23,581
63.86%
255
0.69%
154
0.42%
46
0.12%
-10,690
-28.95%
36,927
Sierra
2,507
60.19%
1,595
38.30%
18
0.43%
29
0.70%
16
0.38%
912
21.89%
4,165
Socorro
3,114
50.09%
2,960
47.61%
88
1.42%
46
0.74%
9
0.14%
154
2.48%
6,217
Taos
2,897
31.29%
6,271
67.73%
39
0.42%
42
0.45%
10
0.11%
-3,374
-36.44%
9,259
Torrance
2,252
57.19%
1,618
41.09%
32
0.81%
31
0.79%
5
0.13%
634
16.10%
3,938
Union
1,291
65.87%
638
32.55%
9
0.46%
17
0.87%
5
0.26%
653
33.32%
1,960
Valencia
7,874
51.80%
7,136
46.95%
69
0.45%
94
0.62%
27
0.18%
738
4.85%
15,200
Totals
270,341
51.86%
244,497
46.90%
3,268
0.63%
2,237
0.43%
944
0.18%
25,844
4.96%
521,287
See also
References