1940
The 1940 U.S. presidential election was won by Franklin D. Roosevelt (Democratic) with 449 of 531 electoral votes, defeating Wendell Willkie (Republican). Electoral-vote margin: 367 (449 to 82). Popular-vote margin: 10.0 percentage points. Turnout was 62.4%. The cycle falls in the New Deal Coalition era of American electoral history.
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Franklin D. Roosevelt and the 1940 map
Roosevelt broke the two-term tradition set by Washington, winning an unprecedented third term amid the European crisis. Wendell Willkie was a liberal Republican businessman who agreed with much of the New Deal; the election turned largely on foreign policy, with Roosevelt promising to keep America out of the war while supporting Britain. Willkie made the race competitive but Roosevelt's incumbency advantage and the anxiety over Hitler's conquests in Europe sealed his victory.
Third term precedent; World War II neutrality; preparedness vs. isolationism
First and only third term in US history; FDR broke Washington's two-term precedent
This summary was drafted with AI tools and has not yet been checked sentence by sentence. The vote table and the National Archives note on this page come from named sources; where they differ from the summary, rely on them. Tell us about an error.
States · 48 reporting
State results · 1940
PennsylvaniaRoosevelt won it by 6.9 points; its electoral votes took the total to 269, past the 266 needed.
Line up the states the winner carried from widest margin to narrowest and add up their electoral votes: the tipping point is the state that takes the total past a majority.
Scroll the table sideways for every column.
| State | Electoral votes | Franklin D. Roosevelt Dem | Wendell Willkie Rep | Also named | Margin | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 11 EV | 250,726 85.2% | 42,184 14.3% | None | 208,542 70.9 pts | Roosevelt Dem |
| Arizona | 3 EV | 95,267 63.5% | 54,030 36.0% | None | 41,237 27.5 pts | Roosevelt Dem |
| Arkansas | 9 EV | 158,622 79.0% | 42,121 21.0% | None | 116,501 58.0 pts | Roosevelt Dem |
| California1 | 22 EV | 1,877,6181 57.4% | 1,351,4191 41.3% | None | 526,199 16.1 pts | Roosevelt Dem |
| Colorado | 6 EV | 265,554 48.4% | 279,576 50.9% | None | 14,022 2.6 pts | Willkie Rep |
| Connecticut2 | 8 EV | 417,6212 53.4% | 361,8192 46.3% | None | 55,802 7.1 pts | Roosevelt Dem |
| Delaware | 3 EV | 74,599 54.7% | 61,440 45.1% | None | 13,159 9.6 pts | Roosevelt Dem |
| Florida | 7 EV | 359,334 74.0% | 126,158 26.0% | None | 233,176 48.0 pts | Roosevelt Dem |
| Georgia3 | 12 EV | 265,1943 84.9% | 23,9343 7.7% | None | 241,260 77.2 pts | Roosevelt Dem |
| Idaho | 4 EV | 127,842 54.4% | 106,553 45.3% | None | 21,289 9.1 pts | Roosevelt Dem |
| Illinois4 | 29 EV | 2,149,9344 51.0% | 2,047,2404 48.5% | None | 102,694 2.4 pts | Roosevelt Dem |
| Indiana5 | 14 EV | 874,0635 49.0% | 899,4665 50.5% | None | 25,403 1.4 pts | Willkie Rep |
| Iowa6 | 11 EV | 578,8006 47.6% | 632,3706 52.0% | None | 53,570 4.4 pts | Willkie Rep |
| Kansas | 9 EV | 364,725 42.4% | 489,169 56.9% | None | 124,444 14.5 pts | Willkie Rep |
| Kentucky | 11 EV | 557,222 57.4% | 410,384 42.3% | None | 146,838 15.1 pts | Roosevelt Dem |
| Louisiana7 | 10 EV | 319,7517 85.9% | 52,4467 14.1% | None | 267,305 71.8 pts | Roosevelt Dem |
| Maine | 5 EV | 156,478 48.8% | 163,951 51.1% | None | 7,473 2.3 pts | Willkie Rep |
| Maryland8 | 8 EV | 384,5468 58.3% | 269,5348 40.8% | None | 115,012 17.4 pts | Roosevelt Dem |
| Massachusetts9 | 17 EV | 1,076,5229 53.1% | 939,7009 46.4% | None | 136,822 6.7 pts | Roosevelt Dem |
| Michigan10 | 19 EV | 1,032,99110 49.5% | 1,039,91710 49.9% | None | 6,926 0.3 pts | Willkie Rep |
| Minnesota11 | 11 EV | 644,19611 51.5% | 596,27411 47.7% | None | 47,922 3.8 pts | Roosevelt Dem |
| Mississippi12 | 9 EV | 168,26712 95.7% | 2,81412 1.6% | None | 165,453 94.1 pts | Roosevelt Dem |
| Missouri13 | 15 EV | 958,47613 52.3% | 871,00913 47.5% | None | 87,467 4.8 pts | Roosevelt Dem |
| Montana | 4 EV | 145,698 58.8% | 99,579 40.2% | None | 46,119 18.6 pts | Roosevelt Dem |
| Nebraska | 7 EV | 263,677 42.8% | 352,201 57.2% | None | 88,524 14.4 pts | Willkie Rep |
| Nevada | 3 EV | 31,945 60.1% | 21,229 39.9% | None | 10,716 20.2 pts | Roosevelt Dem |
| New Hampshire | 4 EV | 125,292 53.2% | 110,127 46.8% | None | 15,165 6.4 pts | Roosevelt Dem |
| New Jersey14 | 16 EV | 1,016,80814 51.5% | 945,47514 47.9% | None | 71,333 3.6 pts | Roosevelt Dem |
| New Mexico | 3 EV | 103,699 56.7% | 79,315 43.3% | None | 24,384 13.3 pts | Roosevelt Dem |
| New York15,16 | 47 EV | 3,251,91815 51.6% | 3,027,47815 48.0% | None | 224,440 3.6 pts | Roosevelt Dem |
| North Carolina | 13 EV | 609,015 74.0% | 213,633 26.0% | None | 395,382 48.1 pts | Roosevelt Dem |
| North Dakota17 | 4 EV | 124,03617 44.2% | 154,59017 55.1% | None | 30,554 10.9 pts | Willkie Rep |
| Ohio | 26 EV | 1,733,139 52.2% | 1,586,773 47.8% | None | 146,366 4.4 pts | Roosevelt Dem |
| Oklahoma | 11 EV | 474,313 57.4% | 348,872 42.2% | None | 125,441 15.2 pts | Roosevelt Dem |
| Oregon18 | 5 EV | 258,41518 53.7% | 219,55518 45.6% | None | 38,860 8.1 pts | Roosevelt Dem |
| Pennsylvania19 | 36 EV | 2,171,03519 53.2% | 1,889,84819 46.3% | None | 281,187 6.9 pts | Roosevelt Dem |
| Rhode Island | 4 EV | 181,122 56.7% | 138,214 43.2% | None | 42,908 13.4 pts | Roosevelt Dem |
| South Carolina20 | 8 EV | 95,47020 95.6% | 1,72720 1.7% | None | 93,743 93.9 pts | Roosevelt Dem |
| South Dakota | 4 EV | 131,362 42.6% | 177,065 57.4% | None | 45,703 14.8 pts | Willkie Rep |
| Tennessee | 11 EV | 351,601 67.3% | 169,153 32.4% | None | 182,448 34.9 pts | Roosevelt Dem |
| Texas | 23 EV | 840,151 80.7% | 199,152 19.1% | None | 640,999 61.6 pts | Roosevelt Dem |
| Utah | 4 EV | 154,277 62.3% | 93,151 37.6% | None | 61,126 24.7 pts | Roosevelt Dem |
| Vermont21 | 3 EV | 64,26921 44.9% | 78,37121 54.8% | None | 14,102 9.9 pts | Willkie Rep |
| Virginia22 | 11 EV | 235,96122 68.1% | 109,36322 31.6% | None | 126,598 36.5 pts | Roosevelt Dem |
| Washington23 | 8 EV | 462,14523 58.2% | 322,12323 40.6% | None | 140,022 17.6 pts | Roosevelt Dem |
| West Virginia24 | 8 EV | 495,66224 57.1% | 372,41424 42.9% | None | 123,248 14.2 pts | Roosevelt Dem |
| Wisconsin25 | 12 EV | 704,82125 50.1% | 679,20625 48.3% | Norman Thomas 15,071 · 1.1%25 | 25,615 1.8 pts | Roosevelt Dem |
| Wyoming | 3 EV | 59,287 52.8% | 52,633 46.9% | None | 6,654 5.9 pts | Roosevelt Dem |
Shares are of each state’s total vote for president. “Not named”: the figures do not give that candidate a line of their own in that state — for example under 1% of the vote, not on the ballot there, or counted on an unnamed line (see the state’s note). Margin is the leader’s lead over the second-placed candidate.
Notes on the figures
- California The official table notes: Other (page 39 digest): Progressives, 16,506; scattering, 262.
- Connecticut The official table notes: Other: Socialist Labor, 971.
- Georgia The official table notes: Other: Independent Democrats, 22,428.
- Illinois The official table notes: Other: scattering, 657.
- Indiana The official table notes: Other: scattering, 706.
- Iowa The official table notes: Other: Socialist Labor, 452.
- Louisiana The official table notes: Other: Independents, 108.
- Maryland The official table notes: Other: Labor Party of Maryland, 657.
- Massachusetts The official table notes: Other: Socialist Labor, 1,492; scattering, 12.
- Michigan The official table notes: Other: Socialist Labor, 795.
- Minnesota The official table notes: Other: Industrial, 2,553.
- Mississippi The official table notes: Other: Independent Republicans, 4,550.
- Missouri The official table notes: Other: Socialist Labor, 209.
- New Jersey The official table notes: Other: Socialist Labor, 455.
- New York Franklin D. Roosevelt's figure is the sum of the lines the official table prints separately (Roosevelt (Democrat) 2,834,500; American Labor 417,418).
- New York The official table notes: Roosevelt's printed figure, 3,251,918, carries footnote 1: 'Includes 417,418 American Labor.' This file stores the Democratic line as 2,834,500 (3,251,918 minus 417,418) and the American Labor line as 417,418 under key ALP; both are Roosevelt's.
- North Dakota The official table notes: Other: Alfred Knutson, 545.
- Oregon The official table notes: Other: Socialist Labor, 2,487; scattering, 40.
- Pennsylvania The official table notes: Other: Independent Government, 1,518; scattering, 827.
- South Carolina The official table notes: Other: Jeffersonian Democrats, 2,496; Republican (Tolbert Faction), 137.
- Vermont The official table notes: Other: scattering, 11.
- Virginia The official table notes: Other: Socialist Labor, 48.
- Washington The official table notes: Other: Socialist Labor, 667.
- West Virginia The official table notes: Willkie's figure is printed with a damaged first digit; it is read as 372,414 (the glyph has the rounded base of a 3, not the flat base of a 2), and only 372,414 makes the row add up to its printed Total of 868,076 and the column add up to its printed total.
- Wisconsin The official table notes: Other: Socialist Labor, 1,882.
SourceStatistics of the Presidential and Congressional Election of November 5, 1940 . How these figures were compiled
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