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. , this is the last presidential election in New Mexico in which Bernalillo County and Doña Ana County voted for a Republican presidential candidate.Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016 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. BushRepublican Michael DukakisDemocratic Ron PaulLibertarian Lenora FulaniNew Alliance Various candidatesOther parties Margin Total votescast # % # % # % # % # % # % 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 Doña 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% 15,200Totals270,34151.86%244,49746.90%3,2680.63%2,2370.43%9440.18%25,8444.96%521,287

Results by congressional district Bush carried 2 of the 3 congressional districts.

DistrictBushDukakis1st54.2%45.8%2nd58.8%41.2%3rd44.8%55.2%

See also Presidency of George H. W. Bush

References