1940 United States presidential election in Maine

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1940 United States presidential election in Maine
Flag of Maine.svg
  1936 November 5, 1940 1944  
  WendellWillkie.jpg FDRoosevelt1938.png
Nominee Wendell Willkie Franklin D. Roosevelt
Party Republican Democratic
Home state New York New York
Running mate Charles L. McNary Henry A. Wallace
Electoral vote50
Popular vote163,951156,478
Percentage51.10%48.77%

Maine Election Results by County 1940.svg
County Results

President before election

Franklin D. Roosevelt
Democratic

Elected President

Franklin D. Roosevelt
Democratic

The 1940 United States presidential election in Maine took place on November 5, 1940. All contemporary 48 states were part of the 1940 United States presidential election. State voters chose five electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president. Maine was won by Republican businessman Wendell Willkie of New York, who was running against incumbent Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt of New York. Willkie ran with Senator Charles L. McNary of Oregon while Roosevelt ran with Henry A. Wallace of Iowa.

Contents

Willkie won Maine by a narrow margin of 2.33%. This was a swing of 11.66% to Roosevelt during an election where he lost eight states and almost 700 counties that had supported him four years earlier, mostly because of Midwestern German-American opposition to increasing "tension" with Nazi Germany. [1] However, the Atlanticist tendencies of Yankee and French-Canadian Maine and support for aid to the United Kingdom and France in World War II led to substantial gains for Roosevelt in the state. [2] Maine was one of five states that swung more Democratic compared to 1936, alongside New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, and North Carolina. [3]

This was the first time that Kennebec County (home of Augusta, the state capital) had ever voted for a Democratic presidential candidate. [4]

Results

1940 United States presidential election in Maine [5]
PartyCandidateRunning matePopular voteElectoral vote
Count%Count%
Republican Wendell Willkie of New York Charles Linza McNary of Oregon 163,95151.10%5100.00%
Democratic Franklin Delano Roosevelt of New York Henry Agard Wallace of Iowa 156,47848.77%00.00%
Communist Earl Russell Browder of Kansas James W. Ford of New York 4110.13%00.00%
Total320,840100.00%5100.00%

Results by county

CountyWendell Lewis Willkie
Republican
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Democratic
Earl Russell Browder
Communist
MarginTotal votes cast [6]
# %# %# %# %
Androscoggin 10,39434.99%19,27364.88%400.13%-8,879-29.89%29,707
Aroostook 13,88858.34%9,87741.49%390.16%4,01116.85%23,804
Cumberland 29,79552.47%26,91147.39%760.13%2,8845.08%56,782
Franklin 4,54858.47%3,22441.44%70.09%1,32417.02%7,779
Hancock 8,53966.36%4,31533.54%130.10%4,22432.83%12,867
Kennebec 14,87748.36%15,86151.56%270.09%-984-3.20%30,765
Knox 6,53060.76%4,19739.05%200.19%2,33321.71%10,747
Lincoln 5,24468.42%2,41531.51%50.07%2,82936.91%7,664
Oxford 8,65653.49%7,50246.36%250.15%1,1547.13%16,183
Penobscot 18,67455.79%14,75744.09%400.12%3,91711.70%33,471
Piscataquis 3,80652.05%3,49947.85%70.10%3074.20%7,312
Sagadahoc 3,50443.30%4,57556.54%130.16%-1,071-13.24%8,092
Somerset 7,52653.42%6,53446.38%280.20%9927.04%14,088
Waldo 5,17061.56%3,21438.27%140.17%1,95623.29%8,398
Washington 6,25343.65%8,04856.18%250.17%-1,795-12.53%14,326
York 16,54742.59%22,27657.33%320.08%-5,729-14.74%38,855
Totals163,95151.10%156,47848.77%4110.13%7,4732.33%320,840

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

See also

References

  1. Dunn, Susan; 1940: FDR, Willkie, Lindbergh, Hitler–the Election Amid the Storm, p. 107 ISBN   0300190867
  2. Phillips, Kevin; The Emerging Republican Majority; p. 93 ISBN   1400852293
  3. Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections; 1940 Presidential General Election Data -- National
  4. Menendez, Albert J.; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004, p. 68 ISBN   0786422173
  5. "1940 Presidential General Election Results – Maine". U.S. Election Atlas. Retrieved December 23, 2013.
  6. Scammon, Richard M. (compiler); America at the Polls: A Handbook of Presidential Election Statistics 1920-1964; p. 203 ISBN   0405077114