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1940 United States presidential election in New York

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1940 United States presidential election in New York

← 1936 November 5, 1940 1944 →
Turnout75.7%[1] Increase 3.1 pp
 
Nominee Franklin D. Roosevelt Wendell Willkie
Party Democratic Republican
Alliance American Labor
Home state New York New York
Running mate Henry A. Wallace Charles L. McNary
Electoral vote 47 0
Popular vote 3,251,918 3,027,478
Percentage 51.50% 47.95%

County Results

President before election

Franklin D. Roosevelt
Democratic

Elected President

Franklin D. Roosevelt
Democratic

The 1940 United States presidential election in New York took place on November 5, 1940. All contemporary 48 states were part of the 1940 United States presidential election. Voters had chosen 47 electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.

New York was won by incumbent Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt of New York, who was running against Republican businessman Wendell Willkie of New York. Roosevelt ran with Henry A. Wallace of Iowa, and Willkie ran with Senator Charles L. McNary of Oregon. A former Governor of New York who had easily carried the state in his previous two presidential campaigns, Franklin Roosevelt again won New York State in 1940, but by a much closer margin. Roosevelt took 51.50% of the vote versus Wendell Willkie's 47.95%, a margin of 3.55%. This is the only one of his four elections in which New York was decided by less than 5%.

New York weighed in for this election as 6% more Republican than the national average. The presidential election of 1940 was a very partisan election for New York, with 99.45% of the electorate casting votes for either the Democratic Party or the Republican Party.[2] In typical form for the time, the highly populated centers of New York City, Albany, Buffalo, and Rochester voted primarily Democratic, while the majority of smaller counties in New York turned out for Willkie as the Republican candidate. Much of Roosevelt's margin of victory was provided by his dominance in New York City. Roosevelt took over 60% of the vote in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx, and decisively won New York City as a whole.

However, the boroughs of Queens and Staten Island flipped to the Republican side in 1940 after voting for FDR in 1932 and 1936, a major contributing factor as to why the race was much closer than the 20-point margin that FDR had won the state by in 1936, along with Willkie also winning the counties of Schenectady, Montgomery, Rockland and Sullivan, all of which Roosevelt had won in 1936. This was the first time since 1836 that a Democrat won the presidency without carrying Staten Island.

Primaries

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American Labor Party

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Members of the Communist Party USA started joining the American Labor Party and Israel Amter, chair of the Communist Party, called for the "building of the American Labor Party". Communists in the ALP opposed reelecting Roosevelt in the 1940 election and the party's leadership started an attempt to remove them from the party. Fights broke out at the convention on September 14, 1940, where Roosevelt was given the nomination despite an attempted resolution condemning Roosevelt.[3]

1940 American Labor Party presidential ballot[4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
American Labor Franklin D. Roosevelt 442 64.34%
American Labor No candidate 234 34.06%
American Labor Norman Thomas 11 1.60%
Total votes 687 100.00%

Results

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1940 United States presidential election in New York
Party Candidate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Democratic Franklin D. Roosevelt 2,834,500 44.98%
American Labor Franklin D. Roosevelt 417,418 6.62%
Total Franklin D. Roosevelt (incumbent) 3,251,918 51.50% 47
Republican Wendell Willkie 3,027,478 47.95% 0
Socialist Norman Thomas 18,950 0.30% 0
Communist Earl Browder 11,289 0.18% 0
Prohibition Roger Babson 3,250 0.05% 0
N/A Others 1,012 0.02% 0
Totals 6,313,897 100.0% 47

New York City results

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1940 Presidential Election in New York City Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Staten Island Total
Democratic-
American Labor
Franklin D. Roosevelt 478,153 418,931 742,668 288,024 38,307 1,966,083 60.69%
61.45% 67.11% 64.83% 46.91% 49.45%
Republican Wendell Willkie 292,480 198,293 394,534 323,406 38,911 1,247,624 38.52%
37.59% 31.77% 34.44% 52.68% 50.23%
Socialist Norman Thomas 3,496 2,990 3,951 1,749 208 12,394 0.38%
1.48% 1.30% 1.20% 1.69% 1.62%
Prohibition Aaron S. Watkins 378 304 460 153 22 1,317 0.04%
0.05% 0.05% 0.04% 0.02% 0.03%
TOTAL 778,099 624,204 1,145,567 613,954 77,467 3,239,291 100.00%

Results by county

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County Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Democratic/American Labor
Wendell Lewis Willkie
Republican
Various candidates
Other parties
Margin Total votes cast[5]
# % # % # % # %
Albany 77,052 56.58% 58,912 43.26% 210 0.15% 18,140 13.32% 136,174
Allegany 5,077 24.45% 15,611 75.17% 79 0.38% -10,534 -50.72% 20,767
Bronx 418,931 67.11% 198,293 31.77% 6,980 1.12% 220,638 35.35% 624,204
Broome 32,092 42.07% 44,013 57.70% 179 0.23% -11,921 -15.63% 76,284
Cattaraugus 11,924 34.02% 22,987 65.57% 144 0.41% -11,063 -31.56% 35,055
Cayuga 13,985 39.76% 21,032 59.80% 156 0.44% -7,047 -20.04% 35,173
Chautauqua 21,524 37.55% 35,536 62.00% 256 0.45% -14,012 -24.45% 57,316
Chemung 15,203 40.54% 22,156 59.08% 140 0.37% -6,953 -18.54% 37,499
Chenango 5,241 26.94% 14,168 72.84% 43 0.22% -8,927 -45.89% 19,452
Clinton 11,378 52.19% 10,369 47.56% 53 0.24% 1,009 4.63% 21,800
Columbia 8,591 38.76% 13,527 61.04% 44 0.20% -4,936 -22.27% 22,162
Cortland 5,147 29.56% 12,233 70.26% 31 0.18% -7,086 -40.70% 17,411
Delaware 5,968 27.50% 15,684 72.28% 48 0.22% -9,716 -44.77% 21,700
Dutchess 25,598 44.10% 32,329 55.69% 122 0.21% -6,731 -11.60% 58,049
Erie 189,779 50.68% 183,664 49.05% 992 0.26% 6,115 1.63% 374,435
Essex 5,545 31.77% 11,868 68.01% 38 0.22% -6,323 -36.23% 17,451
Franklin 9,479 45.23% 11,446 54.61% 33 0.16% -1,967 -9.39% 20,958
Fulton 9,040 37.64% 14,896 62.03% 79 0.33% -5,856 -24.38% 24,015
Genesee 6,664 31.39% 14,503 68.32% 62 0.29% -7,839 -36.93% 21,229
Greene 6,425 38.67% 10,153 61.10% 38 0.23% -3,728 -22.44% 16,616
Hamilton 840 29.24% 2,029 70.62% 4 0.14% -1,189 -41.39% 2,873
Herkimer 13,013 42.45% 17,590 57.38% 54 0.18% -4,577 -14.93% 30,657
Jefferson 14,581 36.22% 25,584 63.54% 97 0.24% -11,003 -27.33% 40,262
Kings 742,668 64.83% 394,534 34.44% 8,365 0.73% 348,134 30.39% 1,145,567
Lewis 3,466 30.06% 8,049 69.80% 17 0.15% -4,583 -39.74% 11,532
Livingston 6,397 33.52% 12,629 66.18% 58 0.30% -6,232 -32.66% 19,084
Madison 6,301 29.09% 15,262 70.46% 99 0.46% -8,961 -41.37% 21,662
Monroe 120,613 51.09% 114,383 48.45% 1,099 0.47% 6,230 2.64% 236,095
Montgomery 15,079 49.18% 15,546 50.71% 34 0.11% -467 -1.52% 30,659
Nassau 73,171 33.67% 143,672 66.12% 450 0.21% -70,501 -32.45% 217,293
New York 478,153 61.45% 292,480 37.59% 7,466 0.96% 185,673 23.86% 778,099
Niagara 33,207 47.37% 36,729 52.39% 165 0.24% -3,522 -5.02% 70,101
Oneida 49,109 48.27% 52,362 51.47% 271 0.27% -3,253 -3.20% 101,742
Onondaga 67,481 42.44% 91,056 57.26% 485 0.30% -23,575 -14.82% 159,022
Ontario 9,110 32.35% 18,932 67.23% 120 0.43% -9,822 -34.88% 28,162
Orange 27,632 41.43% 38,913 58.35% 145 0.22% -11,281 -16.92% 66,690
Orleans 4,525 29.16% 10,958 70.61% 36 0.23% -6,433 -41.45% 15,519
Oswego 13,459 37.15% 22,688 62.62% 83 0.23% -9,229 -25.47% 36,230
Otsego 7,798 31.64% 16,771 68.04% 78 0.32% -8,973 -36.41% 24,647
Putnam 4,794 39.96% 7,164 59.71% 39 0.33% -2,370 -19.75% 11,997
Queens 288,024 46.91% 323,406 52.68% 2,524 0.41% -35,382 -5.76% 613,954
Rensselaer 32,387 44.90% 39,648 54.97% 97 0.13% -7,261 -10.07% 72,132
Richmond 38,307 49.45% 38,911 50.23% 249 0.32% -604 -0.78% 77,467
Rockland 14,897 42.20% 20,040 56.77% 362 1.03% -5,143 -14.57% 35,299
Saratoga 15,037 41.27% 21,298 58.46% 98 0.27% -6,261 -17.18% 36,433
Schenectady 32,041 48.20% 34,101 51.30% 334 0.50% -2,060 -3.10% 66,476
Schoharie 4,073 35.68% 7,316 64.10% 25 0.22% -3,243 -28.41% 11,414
Schuyler 2,211 30.83% 4,936 68.83% 24 0.33% -2,725 -38.00% 7,171
Seneca 4,203 33.36% 8,364 66.39% 31 0.25% -4,161 -33.03% 12,598
St. Lawrence 15,569 38.93% 24,339 60.86% 82 0.21% -8,770 -21.93% 39,990
Steuben 14,651 34.58% 27,587 65.12% 127 0.30% -12,936 -30.53% 42,365
Suffolk 33,853 34.60% 63,712 65.12% 270 0.28% -29,859 -30.52% 97,835
Sullivan 9,785 45.01% 11,877 54.64% 76 0.35% -2,092 -9.62% 21,738
Tioga 4,081 29.66% 9,618 69.91% 59 0.43% -5,537 -40.25% 13,758
Tompkins 7,118 32.81% 14,325 66.04% 250 1.15% -7,207 -33.22% 21,693
Ulster 20,403 42.78% 27,186 57.00% 107 0.22% -6,783 -14.22% 47,696
Warren 7,226 34.54% 13,657 65.27% 40 0.19% -6,431 -30.74% 20,923
Washington 7,977 33.27% 15,960 66.57% 38 0.16% -7,983 -33.30% 23,975
Wayne 7,358 27.65% 19,196 72.12% 62 0.23% -11,838 -44.48% 26,616
Westchester 110,114 37.49% 182,883 62.27% 694 0.24% -72,769 -24.78% 293,691
Wyoming 4,393 27.88% 11,323 71.87% 39 0.25% -6,930 -43.99% 15,755
Yates 2,170 23.40% 7,084 76.38% 21 0.23% -4,914 -52.98% 9,275
Totals 3,251,918 51.50% 3,027,478 47.95% 34,501 0.55% 224,440 3.55% 6,313,897

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ Bicentennial Edition: Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970, part 2, p. 1072.
  2. ^ "1940 Presidential General Election Results – New York". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved July 25, 2013.
  3. ^ Soyer 2021, p. 29-31.
  4. ^ Soyer 2021, p. 31.
  5. ^ New York, ‘Vote, New York State, By Counties, November 5, 1940 For Highest Elector for President and Vice President’, The New York Red Book 1941 (Albany, 1941)

Works cited

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