There was a farm crisis at the time and Iowa was also the second most Democratic state in the nation in 1988
The farm crisis had many odd effects in the 1988 election, which those who do not look closely and focus only upon the general election result can only overlook.
Iowa turning out the second most-Democratic state despite having voted Democratic only five times during the preceding thirty-three elections is not an isolated incident.
Blaine County, Montana, on the Canadian border in the Great Plains, has apart from 1988 a perfect record of voting for the winning candidate since its formation in 1916. Yet, despite losing the election by 111 electoral votes to 426, Dukakis won Blaine County by fifty-eight votes.
Sargent County, North Dakota – otherwise a perfect bellwether since 1948, was won by Dukakis by 53.6 percent of the vote – roughly what Bush Senior got nationally.
Both Montana and South Dakota voted more Democratic than the nation at-large – in the case of South Dakota this has only happened otherwise in 1896, 1932 and 1972 (with favorite son McGovern providing a powerful personal vote against a huge landslide). No state on the Plains has since voted more Democratic than the nation at-large, and apart from 1972 (Montana and South Dakota again) none have since before 1950.
The “farm crisis” issue had its effects as far west as the Pacific Coast – Dukakis was only the second Democrat to win Oregon since 1944, and Tillamook County in that state is another normal bellwether that went for Dukakis. It was Bush’s anomalous strengths in the South and Northeast – in normally marginal Florida and New Hampshire he received 61 and 66 percent of the vote – that allowed him to win easily in spite of underperforming in normally safe states and bellwether counties.
