The 1988 United States presidential election in Alabama took place on November 8, 1988. All fifty states, and the District of Columbia, were part of the 1988 presidential election. Alabama voters chose nine electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president. Alabama 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.
The vast majority of counties in Alabama voted for Bush, with the major exception being the Black Belt, which with its predominantly African-American populace voted overwhelmingly Democratic. Macon County had been the most Democratic in the nation in 1980 and 1984, and it was Dukakis’ sixth-best county in the nation with a margin of over four-to-one for the Massachusetts Governor.
Campaign
Primary
Al Gore won 64% of the white vote. The racial composition of the Democratic primary was 55% white and 45% black, and 48% of white voters participated in the Republican primary.
General
John Baker, the chair of the Alabama Democratic Party, criticized the Democratic campaign stating that he didn't "believe that the Dukakis campaign could have run a worse campaign than they've run". Richard Arrington Jr., the mayor of Birmingham and national co-chair of Dukakis' campaign, stated that the campaign gave up on Alabama. In November The Birmingham News reported that Bush had an approval rating of 51% against a disapproval of 26% among Alabama voters while Dukakis held an approval rating of 28% against a disapproval rating of 43%.
Among white voters, 71% supported Bush while 28% supported Dukakis.
The Democrats maintained their control over the Alabama House of Representatives, with 93 seats to the Republican's 12 seats, and Alabama Senate, with 31 seats to the Republican's 4 seats, despite Bush's victory in the presidential race. All five incumbent Democratic members of the United States House of Representatives were reelected.
Results by county
Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic