1988- What should Dukakis have done differently?

[WillK]

In the end, the 1988 race turned out closer than many thought it would be.  Bush had four huge advantages going in:

1) Reagan's popularity

Reagan wasnt that popular in 1988.     

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You should look up when the Wall came down. 

Bush's main advantage was that he was facing Dukakis, who had little charisma, was seen at too liberal and had no foreign policy experience.

[WillK]

I don't know what you are smoking but I want's some of it. Reagan's approval ratings were in the 60's during the 1988 campaign

His ratings did hit 60 briefly at the end but they were not in the 60s throughout the campaign.

The person who started this thread stated that Reagan's popularity was one of the "huge advantages going in".  It just wasn't so.  At the time Bush entered the race (late 1987) Reagan's approvals-disapproval were about equal in the 40s. 

What did happen was that Reagan's popularity improved a little throughout 1988 and in the fall it spiked to the 60s.  Much of that was due to the continued improvement in the economy and that Iran-Contra wasnt front page news anymore.