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| Turnout | 67.4% (of registered voters) 46.7% (of voting age population)[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 County Results
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The1988 United States presidential election in West Virginia took place on November 8, 1988. All 50 states andthe District of Columbia were part of the1988 United States presidential election. West Virginia voters chose six electors to theElectoral College, which selected thepresident andvice president.
West Virginia was won byMassachusettsGovernorMichael Dukakis who was running against incumbent United StatesVice PresidentGeorge H. W. Bush ofTexas. Dukakis ran withTexasSenatorLloyd Bentsen as Vice President, and Bush ran withIndianaSenatorDan Quayle.
West Virginia weighed in for this election as 13 percentage points moreDemocratic than the national average. As of2024, this is the last time a Republican presidential candidate won the presidency without winning West Virginia. The 1988 election cycle is also the last time that West Virginia did not vote for the same presidential candidate as neighboringKentucky.
The presidential election of 1988 was a verypartisan election for West Virginia, with over 99% of the electorate voting for either theRepublican orDemocratic parties, and only three candidates appearing on the ballot.[2] Dukakis won the election in West Virginia with a 5-point margin.
A rare event in any United States Presidential election: West Virginia was home to afaithless elector in the election of 1988. During the assembly of the electoral college, one elector from West Virginia,Margarette Leach, cast her vote for the Democratic vice presidential nomineeLloyd Bentsen as president, and Dukakis as the vice president. She did this in order to draw attention to the lack of accountability for electors under the Electoral College system.[3]
| 1988 United States presidential election in West Virginia | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | Percentage | Electoral votes | |
| Democratic | Michael Dukakis | 341,016 | 52.20% | 5 | |
| Republican | George H. W. Bush | 310,065 | 47.46% | 0 | |
| New Alliance Party | Lenora Fulani | 2,230 | 0.34% | 0 | |
| Democratic | Lloyd Bentsen | 0 | 0.00% | 1 | |
| Totals | 653,311 | 100.00% | 6 | ||
| County | Michael Dukakis Democratic | George H.W. Bush Republican | Lenora Fulani New Alliance | Margin | Total votes cast | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | ||
| Barbour | 3,221 | 51.45% | 3,023 | 48.28% | 17 | 0.27% | 198 | 3.17% | 6,261 |
| Berkeley | 6,313 | 36.84% | 10,761 | 62.80% | 61 | 0.36% | -4,448 | -25.96% | 17,135 |
| Boone | 6,539 | 69.97% | 2,786 | 29.81% | 20 | 0.21% | 3,753 | 40.16% | 9,345 |
| Braxton | 3,377 | 62.27% | 2,024 | 37.32% | 22 | 0.41% | 1,353 | 24.95% | 5,423 |
| Brooke | 6,258 | 60.72% | 4,006 | 38.87% | 42 | 0.41% | 2,252 | 21.85% | 10,306 |
| Cabell | 15,368 | 47.05% | 17,197 | 52.65% | 97 | 0.30% | -1,829 | -5.60% | 32,662 |
| Calhoun | 1,644 | 53.78% | 1,395 | 45.63% | 18 | 0.59% | 249 | 8.15% | 3,057 |
| Clay | 2,263 | 59.38% | 1,536 | 40.30% | 12 | 0.31% | 727 | 19.08% | 3,811 |
| Doddridge | 955 | 33.54% | 1,880 | 66.03% | 12 | 0.42% | -925 | -32.49% | 2,847 |
| Fayette | 11,009 | 67.94% | 5,143 | 31.74% | 53 | 0.33% | 5,866 | 36.20% | 16,205 |
| Gilmer | 1,661 | 54.21% | 1,387 | 45.27% | 16 | 0.52% | 274 | 8.94% | 3,064 |
| Grant | 893 | 21.62% | 3,215 | 77.85% | 22 | 0.53% | -2,322 | -56.23% | 4,130 |
| Greenbrier | 6,091 | 52.87% | 5,395 | 46.83% | 35 | 0.30% | 696 | 6.04% | 11,521 |
| Hampshire | 2,085 | 38.88% | 3,253 | 60.66% | 25 | 0.47% | -1,168 | -21.78% | 5,363 |
| Hancock | 8,338 | 58.39% | 5,882 | 41.19% | 60 | 0.42% | 2,456 | 17.20% | 14,280 |
| Hardy | 1,689 | 39.39% | 2,581 | 60.19% | 18 | 0.42% | -892 | -20.80% | 4,288 |
| Harrison | 17,005 | 55.90% | 13,364 | 43.93% | 49 | 0.16% | 3,641 | 11.97% | 30,418 |
| Jackson | 4,573 | 44.44% | 5,696 | 55.35% | 22 | 0.21% | -1,123 | -10.91% | 10,291 |
| Jefferson | 4,334 | 44.56% | 5,349 | 55.00% | 43 | 0.44% | -1,015 | -10.44% | 9,726 |
| Kanawha | 41,144 | 51.73% | 38,140 | 47.95% | 258 | 0.32% | 3,004 | 3.78% | 79,542 |
| Lewis | 3,272 | 47.37% | 3,602 | 52.14% | 34 | 0.49% | -330 | -4.77% | 6,908 |
| Lincoln | 5,049 | 59.20% | 3,457 | 40.53% | 23 | 0.27% | 1,592 | 18.67% | 8,529 |
| Logan | 11,317 | 72.51% | 4,244 | 27.19% | 47 | 0.30% | 7,073 | 45.32% | 15,608 |
| Marion | 14,441 | 60.82% | 9,229 | 38.87% | 72 | 0.30% | 5,212 | 21.95% | 23,742 |
| Marshall | 7,903 | 53.47% | 6,793 | 45.96% | 83 | 0.56% | 1,110 | 7.51% | 14,779 |
| Mason | 5,468 | 50.51% | 5,332 | 49.26% | 25 | 0.23% | 136 | 1.25% | 10,825 |
| McDowell | 7,204 | 74.16% | 2,463 | 25.36% | 47 | 0.48% | 4,741 | 48.80% | 9,714 |
| Mercer | 10,152 | 49.69% | 10,221 | 50.03% | 57 | 0.28% | -69 | -0.34% | 20,430 |
| Mineral | 4,059 | 40.14% | 6,015 | 59.49% | 37 | 0.37% | -1,956 | -19.35% | 10,111 |
| Mingo | 7,429 | 71.78% | 2,896 | 27.98% | 25 | 0.24% | 4,533 | 43.80% | 10,350 |
| Monongalia | 14,178 | 53.83% | 12,091 | 45.91% | 69 | 0.26% | 2,087 | 7.92% | 26,338 |
| Monroe | 2,427 | 46.96% | 2,719 | 52.61% | 22 | 0.43% | -292 | -5.65% | 5,168 |
| Morgan | 1,545 | 33.85% | 3,002 | 65.78% | 17 | 0.37% | -1,457 | -31.93% | 4,564 |
| Nicholas | 5,173 | 57.89% | 3,731 | 41.75% | 32 | 0.36% | 1,442 | 16.14% | 8,936 |
| Ohio | 10,121 | 49.18% | 10,341 | 50.25% | 116 | 0.56% | -220 | -1.07% | 20,578 |
| Pendleton | 1,595 | 45.53% | 1,901 | 54.27% | 7 | 0.20% | -306 | -8.74% | 3,503 |
| Pleasants | 1,421 | 44.59% | 1,761 | 55.26% | 5 | 0.16% | -340 | -10.67% | 3,187 |
| Pocahontas | 1,958 | 50.83% | 1,876 | 48.70% | 18 | 0.47% | 82 | 2.13% | 3,852 |
| Preston | 4,357 | 42.73% | 5,804 | 56.92% | 35 | 0.34% | -1,447 | -14.19% | 10,196 |
| Putnam | 6,640 | 44.74% | 8,163 | 55.00% | 38 | 0.26% | -1,523 | -10.26% | 14,841 |
| Raleigh | 14,302 | 57.71% | 10,395 | 41.95% | 85 | 0.34% | 3,907 | 15.76% | 24,782 |
| Randolph | 5,233 | 52.24% | 4,746 | 47.38% | 38 | 0.38% | 487 | 4.86% | 10,017 |
| Ritchie | 1,446 | 33.33% | 2,874 | 66.25% | 18 | 0.41% | -1,428 | -32.92% | 4,338 |
| Roane | 2,447 | 45.89% | 2,861 | 53.66% | 24 | 0.45% | -414 | -7.77% | 5,332 |
| Summers | 3,072 | 57.81% | 2,231 | 41.98% | 11 | 0.21% | 841 | 15.83% | 5,314 |
| Taylor | 2,852 | 50.09% | 2,816 | 49.46% | 26 | 0.46% | 36 | 0.63% | 5,694 |
| Tucker | 1,869 | 52.25% | 1,699 | 47.50% | 9 | 0.25% | 170 | 4.75% | 3,577 |
| Tyler | 1,501 | 38.75% | 2,365 | 61.05% | 8 | 0.21% | -864 | -22.30% | 3,874 |
| Upshur | 3,065 | 38.83% | 4,813 | 60.97% | 16 | 0.20% | -1,748 | -22.14% | 7,894 |
| Wayne | 8,621 | 54.65% | 7,123 | 45.15% | 31 | 0.20% | 1,498 | 9.50% | 5,775 |
| Webster | 2,185 | 67.92% | 1,016 | 31.58% | 16 | 0.50% | 1,169 | 36.34% | 3,217 |
| Wetzel | 3,928 | 53.44% | 3,381 | 46.00% | 41 | 0.56% | 547 | 7.44% | 7,350 |
| Wirt | 929 | 44.97% | 1,125 | 54.45% | 12 | 0.58% | -196 | -9.48% | 2,066 |
| Wood | 12,959 | 39.80% | 19,450 | 59.73% | 154 | 0.47% | -6,491 | -19.93% | 32,563 |
| Wyoming | 6,138 | 63.38% | 3,516 | 36.31% | 30 | 0.31% | 2,622 | 27.07% | 9,684 |
| Totals | 341,016 | 52.20% | 310,065 | 47.46% | 2,230 | 0.34% | 30,951 | 4.74% | 653,311 |
State and district results of the1988 U.S. presidential election | ||
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