The 1988 United States presidential election in Utah took place on November 8, 1988. All fifty 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.

Utah 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.

Utah weighed in for this election as 26% more Republican than the national average. The presidential election of 1988 was a very partisan election for Utah, with over 98 percent of the electorate voting for either the Republican or Democratic parties, though several other parties appeared on the ballot. Every county in Utah voted in majority for the Republican candidate, except for Carbon County, which voted primarily for Dukakis.

Bush won the election in Utah with a 34-point landslide – his strongest victory in the nation. He carried every county save heavily-unionized Carbon County. This was the fourth election in a row in which Utah gave the Republican nominee his highest vote share of any state in the country. Utah had voted heavily for William Jennings Bryan in 1896 and for Woodrow Wilson and Harry Truman in the two close elections of the first half of the 20th century, 1916 and 1948. However, like most of the rest of the Mountain West, Utah shifted toward the Republican Party in 1952, voting Republican in every subsequent election (as of 2024) save 1964, and voting for Johnson in 1964 by only 9.7%, amid Johnson's 22.6% national landslide.

Results

Results by county County George H. W. BushRepublican Michael DukakisDemocratic Ron PaulLibertarian Delmar DennisAmerican Other candidatesVarious parties Margin Total votescast # % # % # % # % # % # % Beaver 1,286 60.89% 816 38.64% 7 0.33% 1 0.05% 2 0.09% 470 22.25% 2,112 Box Elder 12,585 81.40% 2,736 17.70% 95 0.61% 31 0.20% 14 0.09% 9,849 63.70% 15,461 Cache 21,766 77.84% 5,871 21.00% 182 0.65% 77 0.28% 67 0.24% 15,895 56.84% 27,963 Carbon 3,019 35.09% 5,521 64.18% 20 0.23% 19 0.22% 24 0.28% -2,502 -29.09% 8,603 Daggett 272 66.02% 132 32.04% 5 1.21% 2 0.49% 1 0.24% 140 33.98% 412 Davis 50,469 73.80% 16,868 24.67% 706 1.03% 209 0.31% 132 0.19% 33,601 49.13% 68,384 Duchesne 3,118 70.82% 1,227 27.87% 33 0.75% 19 0.43% 6 0.14% 1,891 42.95% 4,403 Emery 2,322 56.03% 1,788 43.15% 12 0.29% 15 0.36% 7 0.17% 534 12.88% 4,144 Garfield 1,470 79.25% 370 19.95% 9 0.49% 2 0.11% 4 0.22% 1,100 59.30% 1,855 Grand 1,895 58.34% 1,287 39.62% 34 1.05% 17 0.52% 13 0.40% 608 18.72% 3,248 Iron 6,038 76.74% 1,736 22.06% 34 0.43% 45 0.57% 15 0.19% 4,302 54.68% 7,868 Juab 1,505 59.65% 974 38.60% 29 1.15% 11 0.44% 4 0.16% 531 21.05% 2,523 Kane 1,788 79.29% 398 17.65% 60 2.66% 9 0.40% 0 0.00% 1,390 61.64% 2,255 Millard 3,515 74.63% 1,124 23.86% 48 1.02% 13 0.28% 10 0.21% 2,391 50.77% 4,710 Morgan 1,889 73.59% 647 25.20% 15 0.58% 11 0.43% 5 0.19% 1,242 48.39% 2,567 Piute 476 69.29% 206 29.99% 4 0.58% 1 0.15% 0 0.00% 270 39.30% 687 Rich 621 72.21% 234 27.21% 2 0.23% 2 0.23% 1 0.12% 387 45.00% 860 Salt Lake 163,557 59.07% 107,453 38.81% 4,127 1.49% 901 0.33% 865 0.31% 56,104 20.26% 276,903 San Juan 2,377 61.95% 1,407 36.67% 19 0.50% 14 0.36% 20 0.52% 970 25.28% 3,837 Sanpete 4,579 70.26% 1,822 27.96% 63 0.97% 34 0.52% 19 0.29% 2,757 42.30% 6,517 Sevier 4,747 76.31% 1,403 22.55% 33 0.53% 35 0.56% 3 0.05% 3,344 53.76% 6,221 Summit 3,881 59.68% 2,536 39.00% 63 0.97% 11 0.17% 12 0.18% 1,345 20.68% 6,503 Tooele 5,539 56.50% 4,166 42.49% 57 0.58% 24 0.24% 18 0.18% 1,373 14.01% 9,804 Uintah 5,341 74.00% 1,799 24.92% 24 0.33% 33 0.46% 21 0.29% 3,542 49.08% 7,218 Utah 68,134 77.23% 18,533 21.01% 1,103 1.25% 318 0.36% 139 0.16% 49,601 56.22% 88,227 Wasatch 2,487 62.22% 1,451 36.30% 42 1.05% 11 0.28% 6 0.15% 1,036 25.92% 3,997 Washington 13,306 80.33% 3,054 18.44% 107 0.65% 72 0.43% 26 0.16% 10,252 61.89% 16,565 Wayne 784 68.59% 353 30.88% 2 0.17% 1 0.09% 3 0.26% 431 37.71% 1,143 Weber 39,676 63.97% 21,431 34.56% 538 0.87% 220 0.35% 153 0.25% 18,245 29.41% 62,018Totals428,44266.22%207,34332.05%7,4731.16%2,1580.33%1,5920.25%221,09934.17%647,008

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic Carbon

See also United States presidential elections in Utah Presidency of George H. W. Bush

References