1988 United States presidential election in Nebraska explained

See main article: 1988 United States presidential election.

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

Nebraska 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 Nebraska by a powerful 21% margin. His 60.15% vote share made it his seventh-best state in the nation, and one of only seven where he exceeded 60% of the vote. Even in this drought-influenced election, Nebraska remained largely immune to any significant softening of the Republican vote, as occurred in nearby, generally solidly Republican states at the time such as South Dakota, Montana, Colorado, and Kansas.

The election was very partisan, with more than 99 percent of the electorate voting for either the Democratic or Republican parties, and only four candidates appearing on the ballot.^[1] As has been typical ever since the 1950s, nearly every county in Nebraska turned out a majority for the Republican Party. Dukakis carried only Saline County (which had long been the most Democratic county in the state), and Dakota County and Thurston County in the northeast with their substantial Hispanic and Native American populations.

Nebraska weighed in for this election as 7% more Republican than the national average. To date, this remains the last time that Nebraska has voted under a winner-take-all system in a presidential election; it would start allocating its electoral votes by congressional district in 1992.^[2]

Results

1988 United States presidential election in Nebraska
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Republican	George H. W. Bush	398,447	60.15%	5
	Democratic	Michael Dukakis	259,646	39.20%	0
	Libertarian	Ron Paul	2,536	0.38%	0
	New Alliance Party	Lenora Fulani	1,743	0.26%	0
Totals			662,372	100.0%	5

Results by county

County[3]	George H.W. Bush Republican		Michael Dukakis Democratic		Ron Paul Libertarian		Leonora Fulani New Alliance		Margin		Total votes cast
	data-sort-type="number"		data-sort-type="number"	%	data-sort-type="number"		data-sort-type="number"	%	data-sort-type="number"			data-sort-type="number"	%	data-sort-type="number"		data-sort-type="number"	%	data-sort-type="number"		data-sort-type="number"	%
	Adams		8,073		65.59%		4,156		33.77%		49		0.40%		30		0.24%		3,917		31.82%		12,308
	Antelope		2,626		73.78%		933		26.22%		0		0.00%		0		0.00%		1,693		47.56%		3,559
	Arthur		210		78.07%		58		21.56%		1		0.37%		0		0.00%		152		56.51%		269
	Banner		361		75.68%		112		23.48%		2		0.42%		2		0.42%		249		52.20%		477
	Blaine		338		82.24%		72		17.52%		1		0.24%		0		0.00%		266		64.72%		411
	Boone		2,160		68.57%		976		30.98%		8		0.25%		6		0.19%		1,184		37.59%		3,150
	Box Butte		3,253		56.42%		2,468		42.80%		28		0.49%		17		0.29%		785		13.62%		5,766
	Boyd		967		65.92%		480		32.72%		16		1.09%		4		0.27%		487		33.20%		1,467
	Brown		1,336		74.93%		435		24.40%		9		0.50%		3		0.17%		901		50.53%		1,783
	Buffalo		9,981		67.31%		4,702		31.71%		100		0.67%		45		0.30%		5,279		35.60%		14,828
	Burt		2,050		58.06%		1,458		41.29%		15		0.42%		8		0.23%		592		16.77%		3,531
	Butler		2,086		54.62%		1,715		44.91%		11		0.29%		7		0.18%		371		9.71%		3,819
	Cass		4,664		55.61%		3,677		43.84%		24		0.29%		22		0.26%		987		11.77%		8,387
	Cedar		2,462		58.09%		1,759		41.51%		13		0.31%		4		0.09%		703		16.58%		4,238
	Chase		1,446		69.45%		597		28.67%		31		1.49%		8		0.38%		849		40.78%		2,082
	Cherry		2,240		77.35%		642		22.17%		10		0.35%		4		0.14%		1,598		55.18%		2,896
	Cheyenne		2,862		67.77%		1,333		31.57%		20		0.47%		8		0.19%		1,529		36.20%		4,223
	Clay		2,352		67.78%		1,097		31.61%		15		0.43%		6		0.17%		1,255		36.17%		3,470
	Colfax		2,329		59.75%		1,542		39.56%		20		0.51%		7		0.18%		787		20.19%		3,898
	Cuming		3,208		71.75%		1,239		27.71%		14		0.31%		10		0.22%		1,969		44.04%		4,471
	Custer		4,203		73.40%		1,496		26.13%		7		0.12%		20		0.35%		2,707		47.27%		5,726
	Dakota		2,744		48.17%		2,942		51.64%		5		0.09%		6		0.11%		-198		-3.47%		5,697
	Dawes		2,621		69.50%		1,123		29.78%		16		0.42%		11		0.29%		1,498		39.72%		3,771
	Dawson		5,529		71.30%		2,184		28.16%		22		0.28%		20		0.26%		3,345		43.14%		7,755
	Deuel		769		71.20%		302		27.96%		5		0.46%		4		0.37%		467		43.24%		1,080
	Dixon		1,802		60.53%		1,166		39.17%		5		0.17%		4		0.13%		636		21.36%		2,977
	Dodge		8,417		57.66%		6,116		41.90%		42		0.29%		22		0.15%		2,301		15.76%		14,597
	Douglas		99,916		56.27%		76,541		43.11%		562		0.32%		546		0.31%		23,375		13.16%		177,565
	Dundy		828		70.29%		333		28.27%		12		1.02%		5		0.42%		495		42.02%		1,178
	Fillmore		1,955		57.20%		1,435		41.98%		20		0.59%		8		0.23%		520		15.22%		3,418
	Franklin		1,294		62.06%		768		36.83%		15		0.72%		8		0.38%		526		25.23%		2,085
	Frontier		1,057		72.45%		384		26.32%		15		1.03%		3		0.21%		673		46.13%		1,459
	Furnas		1,830		69.19%		791		29.91%		16		0.60%		8		0.30%		1,039		39.28%		2,645
	Gage		5,115		55.68%		4,008		43.63%		44		0.48%		19		0.21%		1,107		12.05%		9,186
	Garden		986		72.39%		366		26.87%		5		0.37%		5		0.37%		620		45.52%		1,362
	Garfield		803		75.97%		234		22.14%		17		1.61%		3		0.28%		569		53.83%		1,057
	Gosper		694		67.12%		331		32.01%		5		0.48%		4		0.39%		363		35.11%		1,034
	Grant		301		76.79%		89		22.70%		1		0.26%		1		0.26%		212		54.09%		392
	Greeley		763		53.06%		670		46.59%		4		0.28%		1		0.07%		93		6.47%		1,438
	Hall		12,062		63.41%		6,853		36.02%		32		0.17%		76		0.40%		5,209		27.39%		19,023
	Hamilton		3,022		69.73%		1,289		29.74%		16		0.37%		7		0.16%		1,733		39.99%		4,334
	Harlan		1,403		65.13%		725		33.66%		16		0.74%		10		0.46%		678		31.47%		2,154
	Hayes		512		75.07%		160		23.46%		6		0.88%		4		0.59%		352		51.61%		682
	Hitchcock		1,132		69.45%		480		29.45%		13		0.80%		5		0.31%		652		40.00%		1,630
	Holt		4,081		74.66%		1,327		24.28%		43		0.79%		15		0.27%		2,754		50.38%		5,466
	Hooker		378		80.25%		91		19.32%		1		0.21%		1		0.21%		287		60.93%		471
	Howard		1,526		55.63%		1,186		43.24%		21		0.77%		10		0.36%		340		12.39%		2,743
	Jefferson		2,471		57.16%		1,819		42.08%		23		0.53%		10		0.23%		652		15.08%		4,323
	Johnson		1,182		50.17%		1,164		49.41%		7		0.30%		3		0.13%		18		0.76%		2,356
	Kearney		2,121		65.99%		1,056		32.86%		29		0.90%		8		0.25%		1,065		33.13%		3,214
	Keith		2,886		72.31%		1,075		26.94%		24		0.60%		6		0.15%		1,811		45.37%		3,991
	Keya Paha		446		74.96%		145		24.37%		4		0.67%		0		0.00%		301		50.59%		595
	Kimball		1,321		69.89%		540		28.57%		17		0.90%		12		0.63%		781		41.32%		1,890
	Knox		2,644		63.76%		1,477		35.62%		17		0.41%		9		0.22%		1,167		28.14%		4,147
	Lancaster		44,744		49.87%		44,396		49.48%		333		0.37%		250		0.28%		348		0.39%		89,723
	Lincoln		8,425		57.57%		6,118		41.81%		72		0.49%		19		0.13%		2,307		15.76%		14,634
	Logan		373		79.70%		93		19.87%		1		0.21%		1		0.21%		280		59.83%		468
	Loup		295		73.75%		98		24.50%		4		1.00%		3		0.75%		197		49.25%		400
	Madison		9,137		76.30%		2,779		23.21%		44		0.37%		15		0.13%		6,358		53.09%		11,975
	McPherson		229		78.42%		60		20.55%		2		0.68%		1		0.34%		169		57.87%		292
	Merrick		2,376		66.15%		1,192		33.18%		15		0.42%		9		0.25%		1,184		32.97%		3,592
	Morrill		1,556		66.75%		754		32.35%		14		0.60%		7		0.30%		802		34.40%		2,331
	Nance		1,185		59.55%		794		39.90%		9		0.45%		2		0.10%		391		19.65%		1,990
	Nemaha		2,295		60.60%		1,457		38.47%		25		0.66%		10		0.26%		838		22.13%		3,787
	Nuckolls		1,750		60.53%		1,114		38.53%		14		0.48%		13		0.45%		636		22.00%		2,891
	Otoe		3,724		58.50%		2,616		41.09%		21		0.33%		5		0.08%		1,108		17.41%		6,366
	Pawnee		975		55.46%		767		43.63%		9		0.51%		7		0.40%		208		11.83%		1,758
	Perkins		1,118		69.70%		468		29.18%		15		0.94%		3		0.19%		650		40.52%		1,604
	Phelps		3,316		75.59%		1,047		23.87%		15		0.34%		9		0.21%		2,269		51.72%		4,387
	Pierce		2,474		72.79%		914		26.89%		7		0.21%		4		0.12%		1,560		45.90%		3,399
	Platte		9,040		72.93%		3,285		26.50%		47		0.38%		24		0.19%		5,755		46.43%		12,396
	Polk		1,769		64.94%		944		34.65%		7		0.26%		4		0.15%		825		30.29%		2,724
	Red Willow		3,331		68.19%		1,511		30.93%		27		0.55%		16		0.33%		1,820		37.26%		4,885
	Richardson		2,703		58.02%		1,926		41.34%		18		0.39%		12		0.26%		777		16.68%		4,659
	Rock		757		79.10%		198		20.69%		1		0.10%		1		0.10%		559		58.41%		957
	Saline		2,355		42.75%		3,125		56.73%		10		0.18%		19		0.34%		-770		-13.98%		5,509
	Sarpy		20,192		64.54%		10,947		34.99%		83		0.27%		63		0.20%		9,245		29.55%		31,285
	Saunders		4,459		55.46%		3,526		43.86%		34		0.42%		21		0.26%		933		11.60%		8,040
	Scotts Bluff		8,613		65.39%		4,464		33.89%		33		0.25%		61		0.46%		4,149		31.50%		13,171
	Seward		3,472		55.89%		2,690		43.30%		29		0.47%		21		0.34%		782		12.59%		6,212
	Sheridan		2,251		77.67%		612		21.12%		25		0.86%		10		0.35%		1,639		56.55%		2,898
	Sherman		915		51.67%		839		47.37%		15		0.85%		2		0.11%		76		4.30%		1,771
	Sioux		568		74.05%		194		25.29%		4		0.52%		1		0.13%		374		48.76%		767
	Stanton		1,711		72.50%		639		27.08%		6		0.25%		4		0.17%		1,072		45.42%		2,360
	Thayer		1,981		59.56%		1,322		39.75%		14		0.42%		9		0.27%		659		19.81%		3,326
	Thomas		383		82.19%		81		17.38%		1		0.21%		1		0.21%		302		64.81%		466
	Thurston		1,105		47.22%		1,225		52.35%		5		0.21%		5		0.21%		-120		-5.13%		2,340
	Valley		1,604		64.08%		873		34.88%		21		0.84%		5		0.20%		731		29.20%		2,503
	Washington		4,587		63.80%		2,567		35.70%		25		0.35%		11		0.15%		2,020		28.10%		7,190
	Wayne		2,473		68.43%		1,111		30.74%		17		0.47%		13		0.36%		1,362		37.69%		3,614
	Webster		1,314		59.03%		891		40.03%		13		0.58%		8		0.36%		423		19.00%		2,226
	Wheeler		309		67.91%		141		30.99%		4		0.88%		1		0.22%		168		36.92%		455
	York		4,765		72.78%		1,751		26.75%		25		0.38%		6		0.09%		3,014		46.03%		6,547
Totals	398,447	60.15%	259,646	39.20%	2,536	0.38%	1,743	0.26%	138,801	20.95%	662,372

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

• Dakota
• Saline
• Thurston

See also

• United States presidential elections in Nebraska
• Presidency of George H. W. Bush

Notes and References

1. Web site: 1988 Presidential General Election Results – Nebraska . Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. 2020-09-03.
2. Web site: Magazine . Smithsonian . Solly . Meilan . Why Do Maine and Nebraska Split Their Electoral Votes? . 2023-08-09 . Smithsonian Magazine . en.
3. Web site: NE US President Race, November 08, 1988. Our Campaigns.