1936 United States presidential election in Wisconsin explained

See main article: article and 1936 United States presidential election.

Election Name:	1936 United States presidential election in Wisconsin
Country:	Wisconsin
Flag Year:	1913
Type:	presidential
Ongoing:	no
Previous Election:	1932 United States presidential election in Wisconsin
Previous Year:	1932
Next Election:	1940 United States presidential election in Wisconsin
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 Nance Garner
Electoral Vote1:	12
Popular Vote1:	802,984
Percentage1:	63.79%
Nominee2:	Alf Landon
Party2:	Republican Party (United States)
Home State2:	Kansas
Running Mate2:	Frank Knox
Electoral Vote2:	0
Popular Vote2:	380,828
Percentage2:	30.26%
Map Size:	315px
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 Wisconsin was held on November 3, 1936 as part of the 1936 United States presidential election. State voters chose 12 electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Wisconsin had since the decline of the Populist movement been substantially a one-party state dominated by the Republican Party.^[1] The Democratic Party became entirely uncompetitive outside certain German Catholic counties adjoining Lake Michigan as the upper classes, along with the majority of workers who followed them, completely fled from William Jennings Bryan's agrarian and free silver sympathies.^[2] As Democratic strength weakened severely after 1894 – although the state did develop a strong Socialist Party to provide opposition to the GOP – Wisconsin developed the direct Republican primary in 1903 and this ultimately created competition between the "League" under Robert M. La Follette, and the conservative "Regular" faction.^[3]

The beginning of the 1910s would see a minor Democratic revival as many La Follette progressives endorsed Woodrow Wilson,^[4] but this flirtation would not be long-lasting as Wilson's "Anglophile" foreign policies were severely opposed by Wisconsin's largely German- and Scandinavian-American populace.^[5] Subsequent federal elections saw the Midwest desert the Democratic Party even more completely due to supposed preferential treatment of Southern farmers,^[6] and in Wisconsin there were never more than three Democrats in the state legislature (and none in the State Senate) between 1921 and 1929.

The Great Depression radically altered the state's politics, as the La Follette family did not support President Herbert Hoover in 1932, with the result that he lost to Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt by two-to-one. Following a brief Democratic interlude after the 1932 elections, Robert M. La Follette, Jr. formed the Wisconsin Progressive Party and during the 1934 midterm elections that party captured seven of Wisconsin's ten House of Representatives seats and most statewide offices under a platform of improved land conservation and a federal referendum and initiative system.^[7] La Follette, despite his respect for Union Party nominee William Lemke, strongly endorsed Roosevelt,^[8] whilst Landon based his hopes on traditional Democrats responding to Al Smith's backing of him and the state's farmers' dislike of trade treaties as reducing their access to foreign markets.

At the beginning of the poll it was thought that Union Party candidate Lemke would threaten Roosevelt's hold on Wisconsin's electoral votes as the Midwest had gone through a record heatwave and extreme drought.^[9] Republican nominee Alf Landon campaigned in Wisconsin in late September, arguing that Roosevelt's trade agreements with Canada were hurting Wisconsin's farmers,^[10] and that racial tolerance in a state where virtually all areas outside inner Milwaukee had become sundown towns^[11] alongside academic freedom were critical issues for the state and the nation.^[12] Landon did receive a good reception in Milwaukee, but had his hotel invaded in Oshkosh.^[12] Senator La Follette did much of the campaigning for Roosevelt in the state, whilst the President focused his campaign on other states of the Midwest.^[13]

Late in September, polls showed Roosevelt narrowly leading Landon,^[14] although a Gallup poll showed him increasing his lead in Wisconsin.^[15] Although no later polls were conducted, as it turned out Roosevelt won convincingly and held his two-to-one 1932 margin, carrying all but four counties. Vis-à-vis the 1932 election, Roosevelt gained significantly in the industrial areas of the northwest – in Douglas County he gained 24 percent on his 1932 figures – and in the urban southeast,^[16] but lost in the rural areas lying between these two groups. A substantial vote for Lemke from isolationist German Catholics would pave the way for the traditionally Democratic areas in the east to permanently leave the party with the following election, as this group could not accept the urban bias of the New Deal.

Roosevelt was the first Democrat since Franklin Pierce in 1852 to carry Rock County. As of 2020, this remains the strongest performance by a Democrat in Wisconsin.^[17]

Results

1936 United States presidential election in Wisconsin^[18] ^[19]
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Democratic	Franklin D. Roosevelt (incumbent)	802,984	63.79%	12
	Republican	Alf Landon	380,828	30.26%	0
	Union	William Lemke	60,297	4.79%	0
	Socialist	Norman Thomas	10,626	0.84%	0
	Communist	Earl R. Browder	2,197	0.17%	0
	Independent	D. Leigh Colvin	1,071	0.09%	0
	Socialist Labor	John W. Aiken	557	0.04%	0
	Write-in	Scattering	152	0.01%	0
Totals			1,258,712	100.00%	12

Results by county

County	Franklin D. Roosevelt Democratic		Herbert Hoover Republican		William Lemke Union		Norman Thomas Socialist		All Others Various		Margin		Total votes cast
		%		%		%		%		%		%
	Adams		2,289		63.96%		1,191		33.28%		85		2.37%		5		0.14%		9		0.25%		1,098		30.68%		3,579
	Ashland		5,904		68.01%		2,439		28.10%		226		2.60%		52		0.60%		60		0.69%		3,465		39.91%		8,681
	Barron		7,419		55.55%		5,067		37.94%		714		5.35%		97		0.73%		58		0.43%		2,352		17.61%		13,355
	Bayfield		4,336		65.37%		2,071		31.22%		109		1.64%		64		0.96%		53		0.80%		2,265		34.15%		6,633
	Brown		21,417		68.92%		8,433		27.14%		1,088		3.50%		108		0.35%		31		0.10%		12,984		41.78%		31,077
	Buffalo		3,434		55.44%		2,481		40.05%		249		4.02%		27		0.44%		3		0.05%		953		15.39%		6,194
	Burnett		2,801		62.80%		1,422		31.88%		191		4.28%		33		0.74%		13		0.29%		1,379		30.92%		4,460
	Calumet		4,694		65.99%		1,972		27.72%		424		5.96%		14		0.20%		9		0.13%		2,722		38.27%		7,113
	Chippewa		7,854		53.08%		5,760		38.93%		1,107		7.48%		50		0.34%		25		0.17%		2,094		14.15%		14,796
	Clark		6,931		52.78%		5,196		39.57%		845		6.43%		84		0.64%		76		0.58%		1,735		13.21%		13,132
	Columbia		8,936		59.36%		5,607		37.25%		445		2.96%		38		0.25%		28		0.19%		3,329		22.11%		15,054
	Crawford		4,377		55.02%		2,857		35.91%		699		8.79%		12		0.15%		11		0.14%		1,520		19.11%		7,956
	Dane		35,856		67.77%		15,233		28.79%		1,333		2.52%		268		0.51%		218		0.41%		20,623		38.98%		52,908
	Dodge		14,782		65.41%		6,829		30.22%		900		3.98%		66		0.29%		22		0.10%		7,953		35.19%		22,599
	Door		3,952		51.57%		3,146		41.05%		535		6.98%		11		0.14%		20		0.26%		806		10.52%		7,664
	Douglas		16,684		75.28%		5,079		22.92%		192		0.87%		90		0.41%		118		0.53%		11,605		52.36%		22,163
	Dunn		5,619		51.20%		4,570		41.64%		702		6.40%		53		0.48%		31		0.28%		1,049		9.56%		10,975
	Eau Claire		10,065		58.31%		6,802		39.41%		331		1.92%		43		0.25%		19		0.11%		3,263		18.90%		17,260
	Florence		1,037		53.67%		800		41.41%		70		3.62%		17		0.88%		8		0.41%		237		12.27%		1,932
	Fond du Lac		14,821		57.16%		9,179		35.40%		1,785		6.88%		70		0.27%		76		0.29%		5,642		21.76%		25,931
	Forest		3,092		68.18%		1,334		29.42%		89		1.96%		13		0.29%		7		0.15%		1,758		38.77%		4,535
	Grant		9,170		52.39%		7,196		41.11%		1,072		6.12%		34		0.19%		31		0.18%		1,974		11.28%		17,503
	Green		5,941		60.26%		3,700		37.53%		165		1.67%		27		0.27%		26		0.26%		2,241		22.73%		9,859
	Green Lake		3,840		55.84%		2,926		42.55%		94		1.37%		8		0.12%		9		0.13%		914		13.29%		6,877
	Iowa		4,988		54.85%		3,623		39.84%		445		4.89%		12		0.13%		26		0.29%		1,365		15.01%		9,094
	Iron		3,319		76.46%		902		20.78%		47		1.08%		5		0.12%		68		1.57%		2,417		55.68%		4,341
	Jackson		4,537		65.01%		2,235		32.02%		181		2.59%		18		0.26%		8		0.11%		2,302		32.98%		6,979
	Jefferson		11,144		64.33%		5,599		32.32%		524		3.02%		40		0.23%		17		0.10%		5,545		32.01%		17,324
	Juneau		4,544		55.74%		3,084		37.83%		488		5.99%		19		0.23%		17		0.21%		1,460		17.91%		8,152
	Kenosha		18,137		66.57%		7,268		26.68%		1,537		5.64%		199		0.73%		104		0.38%		10,869		39.89%		27,245
	Kewaunee		4,971		74.01%		1,527		22.73%		213		3.17%		4		0.06%		2		0.03%		3,444		51.27%		6,717
	La Crosse		14,455		63.29%		7,558		33.09%		769		3.37%		37		0.16%		21		0.09%		6,897		30.20%		22,840
	Lafayette		4,976		53.81%		3,801		41.11%		432		4.67%		18		0.19%		20		0.22%		1,175		12.71%		9,247
	Langlade		5,837		67.22%		2,635		30.34%		126		1.45%		38		0.44%		48		0.55%		3,202		36.87%		8,684
	Lincoln		5,520		59.86%		3,120		33.83%		523		5.67%		36		0.39%		23		0.25%		2,400		26.02%		9,222
	Manitowoc		15,539		64.68%		5,094		21.20%		3,274		13.63%		90		0.37%		29		0.12%		10,445		43.47%		24,026
	Marathon		17,898		66.10%		7,328		27.06%		1,661		6.13%		150		0.55%		39		0.14%		10,570		39.04%		27,076
	Marinette		8,884		62.24%		4,938		34.59%		369		2.59%		65		0.46%		18		0.13%		3,946		27.64%		14,274
	Marquette		1,812		46.26%		1,957		49.96%		135		3.45%		8		0.20%		5		0.13%		-145		-3.70%		3,917
	Milwaukee		221,512		74.59%		54,811		18.46%		13,100		4.41%		6,311		2.13%		1,224		0.41%		166,701		56.14%		296,958
	Monroe		6,491		54.06%		4,695		39.10%		750		6.25%		40		0.33%		32		0.27%		1,796		14.96%		12,008
	Oconto		6,729		60.98%		3,774		34.20%		454		4.11%		67		0.61%		10		0.09%		2,955		26.78%		11,034
	Oneida		5,208		64.65%		2,294		28.48%		483		6.00%		60		0.74%		11		0.14%		2,914		36.17%		8,056
	Outagamie		16,163		59.07%		9,485		34.66%		1,642		6.00%		50		0.18%		24		0.09%		6,678		24.40%		27,364
	Ozaukee		5,594		70.65%		1,785		22.54%		489		6.18%		36		0.45%		14		0.18%		3,809		48.11%		7,918
	Pepin		1,785		51.80%		1,466		42.54%		177		5.14%		11		0.32%		7		0.20%		319		9.26%		3,446
	Pierce		4,061		44.06%		3,935		42.70%		1,139		12.36%		61		0.66%		20		0.22%		126		1.37%		9,216
	Polk		5,618		53.51%		3,596		34.25%		920		8.76%		334		3.18%		31		0.30%		2,022		19.26%		10,499
	Portage		10,576		71.25%		3,969		26.74%		246		1.66%		32		0.22%		21		0.14%		6,607		44.51%		14,844
	Price		5,098		66.62%		2,215		28.95%		220		2.88%		43		0.56%		76		0.99%		2,883		37.68%		7,652
	Racine		24,474		64.54%		10,850		28.61%		2,052		5.41%		244		0.64%		300		0.79%		13,624		35.93%		37,920
	Richland		4,080		46.97%		4,245		48.87%		294		3.38%		17		0.20%		50		0.58%		-165		-1.90%		8,686
	Rock		17,991		53.34%		14,693		43.56%		907		2.69%		72		0.21%		66		0.20%		3,298		9.78%		33,729
	Rusk		3,877		57.18%		2,453		36.18%		338		4.99%		80		1.18%		32		0.47%		1,424		21.00%		6,780
	Sauk		8,355		56.41%		5,626		37.98%		757		5.11%		37		0.25%		37		0.25%		2,729		18.42%		14,812
	Sawyer		2,834		59.88%		1,726		36.47%		140		2.96%		23		0.49%		10		0.21%		1,108		23.41%		4,733
	Shawano		8,865		68.59%		3,679		28.46%		274		2.12%		79		0.61%		28		0.22%		5,186		40.12%		12,925
	Sheboygan		17,415		62.06%		8,865		31.59%		1,442		5.14%		234		0.83%		107		0.38%		8,550		30.47%		28,063
	St. Croix		4,679		41.71%		4,316		38.47%		2,153		19.19%		52		0.46%		18		0.16%		363		3.24%		11,218
	Taylor		4,721		67.55%		1,758		25.15%		355		5.08%		112		1.60%		43		0.62%		2,963		42.40%		6,989
	Trempealeau		5,929		60.30%		3,339		33.96%		525		5.34%		21		0.21%		18		0.18%		2,590		26.34%		9,832
	Vernon		6,044		53.22%		4,811		42.36%		459		4.04%		17		0.15%		26		0.23%		1,233		10.86%		11,357
	Vilas		2,559		61.69%		1,298		31.29%		216		5.21%		22		0.53%		53		1.28%		1,261		30.40%		4,148
	Walworth		7,093		44.15%		8,462		52.67%		444		2.76%		52		0.32%		15		0.09%		-1,369		-8.52%		16,066
	Washburn		3,220		61.73%		1,650		31.63%		303		5.81%		29		0.56%		14		0.27%		1,570		30.10%		5,216
	Washington		7,129		58.96%		3,589		29.68%		1,297		10.73%		60		0.50%		17		0.14%		3,540		29.28%		12,092
	Waukesha		14,982		59.47%		8,921		35.41%		1,125		4.47%		121		0.48%		45		0.18%		6,061		24.06%		25,194
	Waupaca		6,920		47.52%		6,680		45.88%		895		6.15%		46		0.32%		20		0.14%		240		1.65%		14,561
	Waushara		2,636		41.05%		3,302		51.43%		423		6.59%		34		0.53%		26		0.40%		-666		-10.37%		6,421
	Winnebago		18,522		58.57%		11,679		36.93%		1,201		3.80%		140		0.44%		79		0.25%		6,843		21.64%		31,621
	Wood		9,982		62.57%		4,902		30.73%		903		5.66%		66		0.41%		100		0.63%		5,080		31.84%		15,953
Totals	802,984	63.79%	380,828	30.26%	60,297	4.79%	10,626	0.84%	3,977	0.32%	422,156	33.54%	1,258,712

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

• Rock

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

• Marquette
• Richland
• Waushara

Electors

These were the names of the electors for each ticket.^[18]

See also

• United States presidential elections in Wisconsin

Notes and References

1. Burnham, Walter Dean; 'The System of 1896: An Analysis'; in The Evolution of American Electoral Systems, pp. 178-179
2. Sundquist, James; Politics and Policy: The Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson Years, p. 526
3. Hansen, John Mark; Shigeo Hirano, and Snyder, James M. Jr.; 'Parties within Parties: Parties, Factions, and Coordinated Politics, 1900-1980'; in Gerber, Alan S. and Schickler, Eric; Governing in a Polarized Age: Elections, Parties, and Political Representation in America, pp. 165-168
4. Crews, Kenneth D.; 'Woodrow Wilson, Wisconsin, and the Election of 1912'; Presidential Studies Quarterly, Vol. 12, No. 3: 'Presidents, Vice Presidents and Political Parties: Performance and Prospects' (Summer, 1982), pp. 369-376
5. Leary, William M. (jr.); 'Woodrow Wilson, Irish Americans, and the Election of 1916'; The Journal of American History, Vol. 54, No. 1 (June 1967), pp. 57-72
6. Morello, John A.; Albert D. Lasker, Advertising, and the Election of Warren G. Harding, p. 64
7. Janus, Erika; A Short History of Wisconsin, p. 138
8. 'Roosevelt Assets Large in Wisconsin: Backed by La Follettes and Labor, His Forces Count on Retaining State'; The New York Times, October 22, 1936, p. 13
9. Blair, Edson; 'Washington: Both Sides of the Curtain: Lemke's Part in the National Election Campaign – La Follette and Discriminating Wisconsin Voters – Landon and Illinois'; Barron's (Boston, Massachusetts), August 24, 1936, p. 4
10. Hagerty, James A.; 'Drive in Wisconsin Began by Landon: Leaders Pledge State Victory When They Board His Train on Way to Milwaukee'; The New York Times, September 26, 1936, p. 1
11. See Loewen, James W.; Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism, pp. 56, 68
12. 'Landon Demands Racial Tolerance: In Wisconsin Wayside Talks Candidate Also Calls for Academic Freedom'; Special to The New York Times, September 27, 1936, p. 30
13. 'La Follette Urges Roosevelt Return: Senator Radios a Call From Chicago to All Liberals to Back the President'; The New York Times, September 29, 1936, p. 23
14. 'Close Race Seen in Four States Landon Will Visit: Trend of Democratic Popularity in Four States'; Daily Boston Globe, September 22, 1936, p. 3
15. Gallup, George; 'Roosevelt Is Gaining According to Nationwide Poll: Delaware, Minnesota Shift Gives 306 Electoral Votes'; Daily Boston Globe, October 4, 1936, p. 5
16. [Kevin Phillips (political commentator)|Phillips, Kevin P.]
17. Web site: Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections . 2022-12-29 . uselectionatlas.org.
18. Wisconsin Historical Society, Certificate of Board of State Canvassers Relative to Presidential Candidates and Presidential Electors - November 3, 1936
19. Book: The Wisconsin Blue Book 1937. Wisconsin Legislative Reference Library. Summary Vote For President By Counties. Madison, Wisconsin. 418.