1936 United States presidential election in California

Summary

The 1936 United States presidential election in California was held on November 3, 1936, as part of the 1936 United States presidential election. State voters chose twenty-two electors, or representatives to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

1936 United States presidential election in California

← 1932 November 3, 1936 1940 →
Turnout83.36% (of registered voters) Increase 2.71 pp
70.56% (of eligible voters) Increase 5.34 pp[1]
 
Nominee Franklin D. Roosevelt Alf Landon
Party Democratic Republican
Home state New York Kansas
Running mate John N. Garner Frank Knox
Electoral vote 22 0
Popular vote 1,766,836 836,431
Percentage 66.95% 31.70%

County Results
Roosevelt
  40-50%
  50-60%
  60-70%
  70-80%


President before election

Franklin D. Roosevelt
Democratic

Elected President

Franklin D. Roosevelt
Democratic

California voted for the Democratic candidate, incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt of New York, in a landslide over the Republican challenger, Kansas Governor Alfred Mossman Landon, carrying every county and nearly sixty-seven percent of the vote to Landon’s 31.7%. Roosevelt’s percentage of the vote is the highest of any presidential candidate in California history, besting Warren G. Harding’s 66.2% in 1920.[2] While his 35.25-percentage point margin of victory over Landon is the largest for any Democratic candidate, it is the second largest overall behind Harding’s 41.92% in 1920 and ahead of his cousin Theodore Roosevelt’s 34.9% in 1904.

As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last time that a presidential candidate from either political party completely swept all of California’s counties in an election. The only other candidate to manage this was Harding in his landslide 1920 victory.[2]

Roosevelt was the last Democrat until Hillary Clinton in 2016 to carry Orange County in a presidential election, and the last until John Kerry in 2004 to carry Alpine County. Also, this was the only one of FDR’s four presidential campaigns where he carried Riverside County, which had never previously voted Democratic since its first election in 1896[3] and would not do so again until Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964. It would also be the first election in the state’s history where the Democratic Party won the state in two consecutive presidential elections

Results edit

1936 United States presidential election in California[4]
Party Candidate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Democratic Franklin D. Roosevelt (incumbent) 1,766,836 66.95% 22
Republican Alfred Landon 836,431 31.70% 0
Prohibition D. Leigh Colvin 12,917 0.49% 0
Socialist Norman Thomas 11,331 0.43% 0
Communist Earl Russell Browder 10,877 0.41% 0
No party Write-ins 490 0.02% 0
Invalid or blank votes
Totals 2,638,882 100.00% 22
Voter turnout

Results by county edit

County Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Democratic
Alfred Mossman Landon
Republican
Various candidates
Other parties
Margin
% # % # % # % #
Lassen 79.47% 4,193 19.62% 1,035 0.91% 48 59.86% 3,158
Plumas 78.81% 2,707 19.80% 680 1.40% 48 59.01% 2,027
Sacramento 78.53% 47,265 20.14% 12,119 1.33% 800 58.40% 35,146
Solano 78.05% 13,459 20.89% 3,603 1.06% 182 57.16% 9,856
Fresno 77.75% 42,859 20.94% 11,545 1.31% 722 56.80% 31,314
Placer 76.62% 7,959 22.34% 2,321 1.04% 108 54.27% 5,638
Sierra 76.44% 1,152 22.56% 340 1.00% 15 53.88% 812
Madera 75.74% 4,646 22.61% 1,387 1.65% 101 53.13% 3,259
El Dorado 75.66% 4,019 23.12% 1,228 1.22% 65 52.54% 2,791
Amador 75.41% 2,506 23.38% 777 1.20% 40 52.03% 1,729
Kings 75.10% 7,062 23.67% 2,226 1.23% 116 51.42% 4,836
Kern 74.61% 25,726 24.20% 8,345 1.18% 408 50.41% 17,381
Yuba 74.18% 4,125 23.95% 1,332 1.87% 104 50.22% 2,793
Mariposa 74.40% 1,907 24.23% 621 1.37% 35 50.18% 1,286
San Francisco 74.04% 196,197 24.69% 65,436 1.27% 3,368 49.34% 130,761
San Joaquin 73.20% 29,078 25.61% 10,172 1.19% 473 47.59% 18,906
Merced 72.69% 9,208 25.50% 3,230 1.82% 230 47.19% 5,978
Tuolumne 72.72% 3,303 26.40% 1,199 0.88% 40 46.32% 2,104
Contra Costa 72.29% 26,007 26.70% 9,604 1.01% 364 45.60% 16,403
Nevada 71.91% 5,128 26.83% 1,913 1.26% 90 45.08% 3,215
Calaveras 71.31% 2,520 27.16% 960 1.53% 54 44.14% 1,560
Colusa 70.38% 2,965 28.15% 1,186 1.47% 62 42.23% 1,779
Sutter 70.04% 4,019 28.11% 1,613 1.85% 106 41.93% 2,406
Shasta 69.72% 5,236 28.75% 2,159 1.53% 115 40.97% 3,077
Siskiyou 69.28% 6,865 29.46% 2,919 1.26% 125 39.82% 3,946
Yolo 68.94% 5,992 29.84% 2,594 1.22% 106 39.09% 3,398
Tulare 67.66% 18,956 30.78% 8,624 1.55% 435 36.88% 10,332
Trinity 67.11% 1,424 30.87% 655 2.03% 43 36.24% 769
Los Angeles 67.00% 757,351 31.62% 357,401 1.39% 15,663 35.38% 399,950
Butte 65.86% 10,490 32.04% 5,103 2.10% 335 33.82% 5,387
Glenn 65.97% 3,288 32.50% 1,620 1.52% 76 33.47% 1,668
San Mateo 65.67% 27,087 33.09% 13,650 1.24% 511 32.58% 13,437
Marin 65.43% 12,152 33.44% 6,211 1.13% 209 31.99% 5,941
Mono 64.78% 458 34.09% 241 1.13% 8 30.69% 217
Modoc 64.57% 1,828 34.19% 968 1.24% 35 30.38% 860
Alameda 63.63% 149,323 35.09% 82,352 1.28% 3,011 28.54% 66,971
San Diego 63.45% 64,628 35.04% 35,686 1.51% 1,540 28.42% 28,942
Stanislaus 63.13% 15,341 35.44% 8,613 1.43% 348 27.68% 6,728
Ventura 63.14% 13,384 35.75% 7,579 1.11% 235 27.38% 5,805
Humboldt 62.93% 11,909 35.97% 6,808 1.10% 208 26.95% 5,101
Mendocino 62.65% 6,432 35.75% 3,670 1.60% 164 26.90% 2,762
Inyo 62.38% 1,560 36.47% 912 1.16% 29 25.91% 648
San Benito 61.93% 2,565 36.58% 1,515 1.50% 62 25.35% 1,050
San Luis Obispo 61.13% 7,889 37.28% 4,812 1.59% 205 23.84% 3,077
Santa Barbara 61.14% 15,923 37.35% 9,728 1.51% 394 23.79% 6,195
Monterey 61.13% 12,267 37.70% 7,565 1.17% 235 23.43% 4,702
Imperial 60.75% 7,560 38.34% 4,771 0.91% 113 22.41% 2,789
Napa 60.35% 6,270 38.24% 3,973 1.41% 147 22.11% 2,297
Tehama 59.68% 3,687 38.46% 2,376 1.86% 115 21.22% 1,311
Sonoma 60.17% 17,273 38.96% 11,185 0.86% 248 21.21% 6,088
San Bernardino 59.55% 33,955 38.97% 22,219 1.48% 842 20.58% 11,736
Del Norte 59.43% 1,292 39.24% 853 1.33% 29 20.19% 439
Santa Clara 58.48% 38,346 40.41% 26,498 1.12% 732 18.07% 11,848
Orange 55.00% 29,836 43.31% 23,494 1.70% 921 11.69% 6,342
Alpine 53.46% 85 46.54% 74 0.00% 0 6.92% 11
Santa Cruz 52.08% 9,326 46.12% 8,260 1.80% 322 5.95% 1,066
Lake 49.82% 1,837 48.74% 1,797 1.44% 53 1.08% 40
Riverside 49.88% 17,011 48.89% 16,674 1.24% 422 0.99% 337

References edit

  1. ^ "Historical Voter Registration and Participation in Statewide General Elections 1910-2018" (PDF). California Secretary of State. Retrieved May 5, 2022.
  2. ^ a b Thomas, G. Scott; The Pursuit of the White House: A Handbook of Presidential Election Statistics and History, p. 421 ISBN 0313257957
  3. ^ Menendez, Albert J.; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004, pp. 152-155 ISBN 0786422173
  4. ^ "1936 Presidential General Election Results - California". Dave Leip's U.S. Election Atlas. Retrieved August 25, 2008.