There was nothing like the Internet or Freerepublic in 1988. Using just the media of the day it was impossible to determine the truth about any candidate. I voted for Bush because of his association with Reagan. But thinking back, when Reagan was running it was not possible for me to determine that he would be as conservative as he turned out to be. He had been a Democrat, recall. The press (newspapers, remember them?) was 100% against him. They still had great influence. It was Reagan’s Morning in America speech, that told me what I really needed to know.
That depends on where you worked. At Digital Equipment Corporation we had a world wide network and we argued over such things in something called VAXnotes starting around 1984.