Colonel William A. Phillips

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The 1940 United States presidential election in Massachusetts took place on November 5, 1940, as part of the 1940 United States presidential election, which was held throughout all contemporary 48 states. Voters chose 17 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Massachusetts voted for the Democratic nominee, incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt of New York, over the Republican nominee, corporate lawyer Wendell Willkie of New York.[citation needed] Roosevelt ran with Secretary of Agriculture Henry A. Wallace of Iowa, while Willkie's running mate was Senate Minority Leader Charles L. McNary of Oregon.

Roosevelt carried the state with 53.11% of the vote to Willkie's 46.36%, a Democratic victory margin of 6.75%. As Roosevelt was re-elected nationally to an unprecedented third term, Massachusetts weighed in as about 3% more Republican than the national average. Roosevelt's win may have been aided by support in New England for aid to Britain during World War Two, as he maintained his votes better among those of English descent than the German-American populations of the interior.[2]

Once a typical Yankee Republican bastion in the wake of the Civil War, Massachusetts had been a Democratic-leaning state since 1928, when a coalition of Irish Catholic and other ethnic immigrant voters primarily based in urban areas turned Massachusetts and neighboring Rhode Island into New England's only reliably Democratic states.[citation needed] Massachusetts voted for Al Smith in 1928, and for Franklin Roosevelt in his national Democratic landslides of 1932 and 1936. Roosevelt's 1940 victory thus marked the fourth straight win for the Democratic Party in Massachusetts, a state that had voted Democratic only once in its history prior to this series of consecutive Democratic wins. Roosevelt and Willkie would split the state's 14 counties, winning 7 counties each. However, Roosevelt won the most heavily populated parts of the state including the cities of Boston, Worcester, and Springfield, while most of Willkie's wins were small or island counties.

Results

1940 United States presidential election in Massachusetts[3]
Party Candidate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Democratic Franklin D. Roosevelt (incumbent) 1,076,522 53.11% 17
Republican Wendell Willkie 939,700 46.36% 0
Socialist Norman Thomas 4,091 0.20% 0
Communist Earl Browder 3,806 0.19% 0
Socialist Labor John W. Aiken 1,492 0.07% 0
Prohibition Roger Babson 1,370 0.07% 0
Write-ins Write-ins 12 0.00% 0
Totals 2,026,993 100.00% 17

Results by county

County Franklin D. Roosevelt
Democratic
Wendell Willkie
Republican
Various candidates
Other parties
Margin Total votes cast[4]
# % # % # % # %
Barnstable 5,351 29.53% 12,659 69.87% 108 0.60% -7,308 -40.34% 18,118
Berkshire 32,620 55.40% 25,973 44.11% 287 0.49% 6,647 11.29% 58,880
Bristol 97,571 61.60% 60,143 37.97% 677 0.43% 37,428 23.63% 158,391
Dukes 1,014 37.98% 1,643 61.54% 13 0.49% -629 -23.56% 2,670
Essex 125,998 51.69% 116,134 47.65% 1,603 0.66% 9,864 4.04% 243,735
Franklin 9,472 39.92% 14,137 59.58% 119 0.50% -4,665 -19.66% 23,728
Hampden 89,477 57.80% 64,502 41.67% 817 0.53% 24,975 16.13% 154,796
Hampshire 17,823 52.86% 15,651 46.42% 241 0.71% 2,172 6.44% 33,715
Middlesex 218,662 47.18% 242,658 52.36% 2,116 0.46% -23,996 -5.18% 463,436
Nantucket 624 37.89% 1,015 61.63% 8 0.49% -391 -23.74% 1,647
Norfolk 67,654 40.75% 97,525 58.74% 838 0.50% -29,871 -17.99% 166,017
Plymouth 34,481 41.24% 48,617 58.15% 508 0.61% -14,136 -16.91% 83,606
Suffolk 243,233 63.32% 138,575 36.07% 2,337 0.61% 104,658 27.25% 384,145
Worcester 132,541 56.62% 100,468 42.92% 1,099 0.47% 32,073 13.70% 234,108
Totals 1,076,522 53.11% 939,700 46.36% 10,771 0.53% 136,822 6.75% 2,026,993

See also

References

  1. ^ Bicentennial Edition: Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970, part 2, p. 1072.
  2. ^ Menendez, Albert J.; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004, pp. 67-69 ISBN 0786422173
  3. ^ "1940 Presidential General Election Results - Massachusetts". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved February 7, 2013.
  4. ^ Scammon, Richard M. (compiler); America at the Polls: A Handbook of Presidential Election Statistics 1920-1964; p. 214 ISBN 0405077114