1936 United States presidential election in Utah explained

See main article: 1936 United States presidential election.

Election Name:1936 United States presidential election in Utah
Country:Utah
Flag Year:1922
Type:presidential
Ongoing:no
Previous Election:1932 United States presidential election in Utah
Previous Year:1932
Next Election:1940 United States presidential election in Utah
Next Year:1940
Election Date:November 3, 1936
Image1:FDR in 1933 (cropped).jpg
Nominee1:Franklin D. Roosevelt
Party1:Democratic Party (United States)
Home State1:New York
Running Mate1:John N. Garner
Electoral Vote1:4
Popular Vote1:150,246
Percentage1:69.34%
Nominee2:Alf Landon
Party2:Republican Party (United States)
Home State2:Kansas
Running Mate2:Frank Knox
Electoral Vote2:0
Popular Vote2:64,555
Percentage2:29.79%
Map Size:250px
President
Before Election:Franklin D. Roosevelt
Before Party:Democratic Party (United States)
After Election:Franklin D. Roosevelt
After Party:Democratic Party (United States)

The 1936 United States presidential election in Utah took place on November 3, 1936, as part of the 1936 United States presidential election. All contemporary forty-eight states took part in the national election, and Utah voters selected four voters to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Since its landslide endorsement of William Jennings Bryan's "free silver" in its inaugural 1896 election, Utah had been a swing state apart from its support for embattled President William Howard Taft in 1912. Woodrow Wilson had carried the state easily in 1916 due to strong anti-war sentiment,[1] but James M. Cox, John W. Davis and Robert M. La Follette did not win a single county between them in the 1920 and 1924 Republican landslides.

Vis-à-vis the rest of the nation, Utah had shown only a small anti-Hoover trend in 1932. During Landon's summer campaigning, Utah was targeted strongly as a state the GOP needed to carry to have a chance at the presidency.[2] However, FDR's western public works programs, most notably Boulder Dam,[3] had made him exceptionally popular in the rugged, arid West.[4] Along with the potent campaigning of James Farley meant that, by the last week of October the Republicans were showing no interest in Utah,[5] and this despite the opposition of the leadership of Utah's dominant Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to Roosevelt's candidacy and policies, chiefly regarding the church's desire to remove Mormons from welfare rolls.[6]

Utah, like every other state west of the Appalachian Mountains, voted for Franklin D. Roosevelt over Alf Landon by a substantial margin, making FDR the first (and only) Democrat to win the state more than once. Roosevelt won Utah by a landslide with 69.34 percent of the vote, which remains the second best Democratic result from the state behind William Jennings Bryan in the state's inaugural election of 1896.

Like Bryan, FDR won every county in the state except strongly Republican Kane County in the far south, which has only voted Democratic for Woodrow Wilson in 1916.[1] Kane County was the westernmost county in the nation to vote for Landon, and one of only three west of the Continental Divide to do so.

, this is the last election in which Iron County, Sanpete County, Sevier County, San Juan County, and Garfield County have voted for a Democratic presidential candidate.[7]

Results

1936 United States presidential election in Utah[8]
PartyCandidateVotesPercentageElectoral votes
DemocraticFranklin D. Roosevelt (incumbent)150,24669.34%4
RepublicanAlf Landon64,55529.79%0
UnionWilliam Lemke1,1210.52%0
SocialistNorman Thomas4320.20%0
Write-ins3230.15%0
Totals216,677100.00%4

Results by county

CountyFranklin Delano Roosevelt
Democratic
Alfred Mossman Landon
Republican
Various candidates
Other parties
MarginTotal votes cast[9]
%%%%
Beaver1,33759.13%91340.38%110.49%42418.75%2,261
Box Elder5,00169.16%2,18030.15%500.69%2,82139.01%7,231
Cache8,60671.97%3,25827.25%930.78%5,34844.72%11,957
Carbon5,14077.76%1,34820.39%1221.85%3,79257.37%6,610
Daggett12861.54%7837.50%20.96%5024.04%208
Davis3,92067.80%1,84131.84%210.36%2,07935.96%5,782
Duchesne1,97063.86%1,07034.68%451.46%90029.16%3,085
Emery1,90966.54%93832.69%220.77%97133.85%2,869
Garfield92852.37%84247.52%20.11%864.85%1,772
Grand52164.40%27233.62%161.98%24930.78%809
Iron1,84456.07%1,39642.44%491.49%44813.63%3,289
Juab2,31968.67%1,02730.41%310.92%1,29238.26%3,377
Kane39543.03%51956.54%40.44%-124-13.51%918
Millard2,31360.34%1,46638.25%541.41%84722.09%3,833
Morgan73960.18%48339.33%60.49%25620.85%1,228
Piute61164.25%33935.65%10.11%27228.60%951
Rich48855.45%38844.09%40.45%10011.36%880
Salt Lake62,38671.77%23,81927.40%7240.83%38,56744.37%86,929
San Juan52054.11%43244.95%90.94%889.16%961
Sanpete3,95958.67%2,73840.57%510.76%1,22118.10%6,748
Sevier2,81659.07%1,89939.84%521.09%91719.23%4,767
Summit2,34461.95%1,42237.58%180.48%92224.37%3,784
Tooele2,36169.46%1,02930.27%90.26%1,33239.19%3,399
Uintah1,98660.96%1,19336.62%792.42%79324.34%3,258
Utah14,38769.52%6,17329.83%1350.65%8,21439.69%20,695
Wasatch1,29955.66%1,02944.09%60.26%27011.57%2,334
Washington2,00563.37%1,14536.19%140.44%86027.18%3,164
Wayne52261.12%32938.52%30.35%19322.60%854
Weber17,59477.08%4,98921.86%2431.06%12,60555.22%22,826
Totals150,24669.34%64,55529.79%1,8760.87%85,69139.55%216,677

See also

Notes and References

  1. Menendez, Albert J.; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004, p. 47
  2. Sheppard, Si; The Buying of the Presidency?: Franklin D. Roosevelt, the New Deal, and the Election of 1936 (Praeger Series on American Political Culture) , pp. 52-53
  3. Wrobel, David M.; America's West: A History, 1890–1950, p. 139
  4. Murrin, John; Johnson, Paul; McPherson, James; Fahs, Alice and Gerstle, Gary; Liberty, Equality, Power: A History of the American People (Enhanced Concise Edition), p. 151
  5. Sheppard; The Buying of the Presidency, pp. 191-192
  6. Cannon, Brian Q. and Embry, Jessie L. (editors); Utah in the Twentieth Century, pp. 167-169
  7. Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016
  8. Web site: 1936 Presidential General Election Results – Utah. 2017-02-13 . Dave Leip's U.S. Election Atlas.
  9. Scammon, Richard M. (compiler); America at the Polls: A Handbook of Presidential Election Statistics 1920-1964; p. 459