November 8, 1988 1992 → 5,054,917 4,702,233 | 47 0 51.1% 47.6% | |
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The 1988 United States presidential election in California took place on November 8, 1988, throughout all 50 states and D.C., which was part of the 1988 United States presidential election. Voters chose 47 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.
California voted for the Republican nominee, Vice President George H. W. Bush, over the Democratic nominee, Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis by a margin of 3.5%. Bush won 44 of the state’s 58 counties, but the election was kept close by Dukakis’ strong performance in the Bay Area and his victory in Los Angeles, the state’s most populated county. Also, Dukakis won at least 31% of the vote in every county and at least 40% in 40 of them.
This is the last election in which the state of California was carried by a Republican candidate in a presidential election. Bush is also the last Republican to carry the following counties in a presidential election: Imperial, Monterey, Napa, Sacramento, San Benito and Santa Barbara, and the last Republican to win any county in the Bay Area (Napa). Bush is also the last candidate from either party to carry California without winning Los Angeles County.