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1936 United States presidential election in Arkansas

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1936 United States presidential election in Arkansas

← 1932 November 3, 1936[1] 1940 →

All nine Arkansas votes to the Electoral College
 
Nominee Franklin D. Roosevelt Alf Landon
Party Democratic Republican
Home state New York Kansas
Running mate John Nance Garner Frank Knox
Electoral vote 9 0
Popular vote 146,765 32,039
Percentage 81.80% 17.86%

County Results

President before election

Franklin D. Roosevelt
Democratic

Elected President

Franklin D. Roosevelt
Democratic

The 1936 United States presidential election in Arkansas took place on November 3, 1936, as part of the 1936 United States presidential election. State voters chose nine representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Incumbent Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt of New York (running with Vice President John Nance Garner of Texas) carried Arkansas in a landslide, taking 81.8% of the state's vote to Republican Alf Landon's 17.86%.[2] Even amidst a national Democratic landslide – in which Roosevelt carried every state except Vermont and Maine and earned more than 60% of the national popular vote – Arkansas weighed in as nearly 40% more Democratic than the nation at-large.

This was typical of the time; with the exception of the Unionist Ozark counties of Newton and Searcy where Republicans controlled local government, Arkansas since the end of Reconstruction had been a classic one-party Democratic “Solid South” state.[3] Disfranchisement of effectively all Negroes and most poor whites had meant that outside those two aberrant counties, the Republican Party was completely moribund and Democratic primaries the only competitive elections.

The 1920s did see a minor change in this, as increased voting by poor Ozark whites as a protest against Woodrow Wilson's internationalist foreign policy meant that Warren G. Harding was able to win almost forty percent of the statewide vote in 1920;[4] however despite his national landslide Calvin Coolidge in 1924 could not do any more than win the two traditional Unionist GOP counties. 1928 saw the rest of the Outer South and North Alabama bolt the anti-Prohibition Catholic Al Smith, but the presence of Arkansas Senator Joseph Taylor Robinson as running mate meant that within Arkansas only the most northwesterly counties with ordinarily substantial Republican votes would suffer the same fate.[5]

The following years saw Arkansas plunge into the Great Depression, followed almost immediately by a major drought from the summer of 1930s until the winter of 1931/1932.[6] This came on top of a long depression in agriculture, which was still the dominant player in Arkansas’ economy and was backed up by the “Great Migration” of the state's agricultural labor force to northeastern and midwestern cities.[7] Arkansas gave extremely heavy support to Democrat Franklin Roosevelt in 1932, when he garnered more than 86% of ballots and swept every county in the state,[8] becoming the first Democrat to win Searcy County since before the Civil War and only the second to win adjacent Newton County.[9]

Throughout his first term as president, Roosevelt was extremely popular in the “Solid South”[10] and despite embryonic concerns over loss of Southern control of the national party due to abolition of the “two-thirds” rule[11] and some hostility to FDR's repeal of Prohibition[12] he was overwhelmingly and in many places almost unanimously supported by Arkansas’ limited electorate. Ozark Republican Landon did regain the two Unionist and Prohibitionist Ozark counties, but topped 40% in only two of the remaining seventy-three. Nonetheless, the 1936 results in Arkansas were about 10% less Democratic than that of 1932, despite the nation as a whole shifting somewhat to the left. As of 2020, this remains the last time that a presidential candidate has won more than 80% of the vote in Arkansas.

Results

[edit]
Electoral results
Presidential candidate Party Home state Popular vote Electoral
vote
Running mate
Count Percentage Vice-presidential candidate Home state Electoral vote
Franklin D. Roosevelt Democratic New York 146,765 81.80% 9 John Nance Garner Texas 9
Alf Landon Republican Kansas 32,039 17.86% 0 Frank Knox Illinois 0
Norman Thomas Socialist New York 446 0.25% 0 George A. Nelson Wisconsin 0
Earl Browder Communist Kansas 169 0.09% 0 James W. Ford Alabama 0
William Lemke Write-in North Dakota 4 0.00% 0 Thomas C. O'Brien Massachusetts 0
Total 179,423 100% 9 9
Needed to win 266 266

Results by county

[edit]
1936 United States presidential election in Arkansas by county[13]
County Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Democratic
Alfred Mossman Landon
Republican
Various candidates
Other parties
Margin Total votes cast
# % # % # % # %
Arkansas 2,008 85.19% 341 14.47% 8 0.34% 1,667 70.73% 2,357
Ashley 1,382 93.57% 95 6.43% 0 0.00% 1,287 87.14% 1,477
Baxter 773 66.93% 375 32.47% 7 0.61% 398 34.46% 1,155
Benton 2,418 58.77% 1,672 40.64% 24 0.58% 746 18.13% 4,114
Boone 2,386 69.20% 1,052 30.51% 10 0.29% 1,334 38.69% 3,448
Bradley 1,571 95.97% 65 3.97% 1 0.06% 1,506 92.00% 1,637
Calhoun 704 95.78% 30 4.08% 1 0.14% 674 91.70% 735
Carroll 1,649 63.55% 940 36.22% 6 0.23% 709 27.32% 2,595
Chicot 1,145 93.78% 75 6.14% 1 0.08% 1,070 87.63% 1,221
Clark 1,962 90.71% 193 8.92% 8 0.37% 1,769 81.78% 2,163
Clay 1,778 68.94% 795 30.83% 6 0.23% 983 38.12% 2,579
Cleburne 927 72.93% 336 26.44% 8 0.63% 591 46.50% 1,271
Cleveland 1,088 95.77% 45 3.96% 3 0.26% 1,043 91.81% 1,136
Columbia 1,847 96.65% 64 3.35% 0 0.00% 1,783 93.30% 1,911
Conway 2,013 86.77% 305 13.15% 2 0.09% 1,708 73.62% 2,320
Craighead 3,335 82.02% 710 17.46% 21 0.52% 2,625 64.56% 4,066
Crawford 1,963 73.47% 697 26.09% 12 0.45% 1,266 47.38% 2,672
Crittenden 1,858 98.83% 22 1.17% 0 0.00% 1,836 97.66% 1,880
Cross 1,644 91.49% 133 7.40% 20 1.11% 1,511 84.08% 1,797
Dallas 1,433 93.29% 103 6.71% 0 0.00% 1,330 86.59% 1,536
Desha 1,411 96.12% 55 3.75% 2 0.14% 1,356 92.37% 1,468
Drew 1,229 94.47% 70 5.38% 2 0.15% 1,159 89.09% 1,301
Faulkner 2,521 82.82% 511 16.79% 12 0.39% 2,010 66.03% 3,044
Franklin 1,890 84.11% 345 15.35% 12 0.53% 1,545 68.76% 2,247
Fulton 946 68.25% 437 31.53% 3 0.22% 509 36.72% 1,386
Garland 2,931 70.07% 1,217 29.09% 35 0.84% 1,714 40.98% 4,183
Grant 978 86.86% 147 13.06% 1 0.09% 831 73.80% 1,126
Greene 1,811 81.25% 412 18.48% 6 0.27% 1,399 62.76% 2,229
Hempstead 2,431 92.68% 190 7.24% 2 0.08% 2,241 85.44% 2,623
Hot Spring 1,581 77.77% 444 21.84% 8 0.39% 1,137 55.93% 2,033
Howard 1,437 83.69% 275 16.02% 5 0.29% 1,162 67.68% 1,717
Independence 2,101 75.25% 685 24.53% 6 0.21% 1,416 50.72% 2,792
Izard 1,350 76.44% 416 23.56% 0 0.00% 934 52.89% 1,766
Jackson 2,151 86.77% 327 13.19% 1 0.04% 1,824 73.58% 2,479
Jefferson 3,414 93.66% 224 6.15% 7 0.19% 3,190 87.52% 3,645
Johnson 1,432 80.81% 318 17.95% 22 1.24% 1,114 62.87% 1,772
Lafayette 1,279 92.55% 100 7.24% 3 0.22% 1,179 85.31% 1,382
Lawrence 2,230 82.50% 457 16.91% 16 0.59% 1,773 65.59% 2,703
Lee 1,257 94.87% 66 4.98% 2 0.15% 1,191 89.89% 1,325
Lincoln 913 95.90% 39 4.10% 0 0.00% 874 91.81% 952
Little River 1,056 84.14% 192 15.30% 7 0.56% 864 68.84% 1,255
Logan 2,663 77.41% 770 22.38% 7 0.20% 1,893 55.03% 3,440
Lonoke 2,735 89.76% 310 10.17% 2 0.07% 2,425 79.59% 3,047
Madison 1,679 53.02% 1,484 46.86% 4 0.13% 195 6.16% 3,167
Marion 989 68.68% 435 30.21% 16 1.11% 554 38.47% 1,440
Miller 2,689 89.01% 323 10.69% 9 0.30% 2,366 78.32% 3,021
Mississippi 4,835 93.94% 303 5.89% 9 0.17% 4,532 88.05% 5,147
Monroe 1,102 92.84% 82 6.91% 3 0.25% 1,020 85.93% 1,187
Montgomery 1,034 68.07% 465 30.61% 20 1.32% 569 37.46% 1,519
Nevada 1,252 85.69% 204 13.96% 5 0.34% 1,048 71.73% 1,461
Newton 938 47.11% 1,053 52.89% 0 0.00% -115 -5.78% 1,991
Ouachita 2,808 91.47% 262 8.53% 0 0.00% 2,546 82.93% 3,070
Perry 899 78.31% 249 21.69% 0 0.00% 650 56.62% 1,148
Phillips 2,259 95.60% 94 3.98% 10 0.42% 2,165 91.62% 2,363
Pike 994 77.78% 283 22.14% 1 0.08% 711 55.63% 1,278
Poinsett 3,457 85.38% 563 13.90% 29 0.72% 2,894 71.47% 4,049
Polk 1,170 67.44% 537 30.95% 28 1.61% 633 36.48% 1,735
Pope 2,678 88.38% 348 11.49% 4 0.13% 2,330 76.90% 3,030
Prairie 1,321 82.25% 282 17.56% 3 0.19% 1,039 64.69% 1,606
Pulaski 11,482 89.49% 1,320 10.29% 28 0.22% 10,162 79.20% 12,830
Randolph 1,693 80.24% 414 19.62% 3 0.14% 1,279 60.62% 2,110
St. Francis 1,938 94.72% 94 4.59% 14 0.68% 1,844 90.13% 2,046
Saline 1,520 79.87% 359 18.86% 24 1.26% 1,161 61.01% 1,903
Scott 1,137 75.70% 363 24.17% 2 0.13% 774 51.53% 1,502
Searcy 767 43.14% 1,010 56.81% 1 0.06% -243 -13.67% 1,778
Sebastian 4,539 79.35% 1,161 20.30% 20 0.35% 3,378 59.06% 5,720
Sevier 1,200 80.00% 289 19.27% 11 0.73% 911 60.73% 1,500
Sharp 934 75.63% 289 23.40% 12 0.97% 645 52.23% 1,235
Stone 521 67.49% 248 32.12% 3 0.39% 273 35.36% 772
Union 4,141 93.94% 254 5.76% 13 0.29% 3,887 88.18% 4,408
Van Buren 1,422 72.22% 541 27.48% 6 0.30% 881 44.74% 1,969
Washington 3,378 67.87% 1,579 31.73% 20 0.40% 1,799 36.15% 4,977
White 2,503 82.20% 535 17.57% 7 0.23% 1,968 64.63% 3,045
Woodruff 1,473 84.70% 253 14.55% 13 0.75% 1,220 70.16% 1,739
Yell 2,382 88.22% 318 11.78% 0 0.00% 2,064 76.44% 2,700
Totals 146,765 81.79% 32,049 17.86% 617 0.34% 114,716 63.93% 179,431

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

[edit]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "United States Presidential election of 1936 — Encyclopædia Britannica". Retrieved November 23, 2017.
  2. ^ "1936 Presidential General Election Results — Arkansas".
  3. ^ See Urwin, Cathy Kunzinger (January 1991). Agenda for Reform: Winthrop Rockefeller as Governor of Arkansas, 1967-71. University of Arkansas Press. p. 32. ISBN 1557282005.
  4. ^ Phillips, Kevin P. (23 November 2014). The Emerging Republican Majority. Princeton University Press. pp. 211, 287. ISBN 978-0-691-16324-6.
  5. ^ Barnes, Kenneth C. (November 2016). Anti-Catholicism in Arkansas: How Politicians, the Press, the Klan, and Religious Leaders Imagined an Enemy, 1910–1960. University of Arkansas Press. pp. 164–165. ISBN 978-1682260166.
  6. ^ Whayne, Jeannie M.; DeBlack, Thomas A.; Sabo, George; Arnold, Morris S. (June 2013). Arkansas: A Narrative History. University of Arkansas Press. pp. 341–342. ISBN 978-1557289933.
  7. ^ Whayne, DeBlack, Sabo and Arnold. Arkansas, pp. 313-316
  8. ^ Grantham, Dewey W. (11 July 2014). The Life and Death of the Solid South: A Political History. University Press of Kentucky. p. 102. ISBN 978-0813148724.
  9. ^ Menendez, Albert J. (2005). The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. p. 87. ISBN 0786422173.
  10. ^ Leuchtenburg, William E. (October 2005). The White House Looks South: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Lyndon B. Johnson. LSU Press. p. 51. ISBN 0807151424.
  11. ^ Frederickson, Kari A. (2001). The Dixiecrat Revolt and the End of the Solid South, 1932-1968. Univ of North Carolina Press. p. 24. ISBN 0807849103.
  12. ^ Menendez. The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, p. 64
  13. ^ Scammon, Richard M. (compiler); America at the Polls: A Handbook of Presidential Election Statistics 1920-1964; pp. 48-49 ISBN 0405077114