1940 United States presidential election in Alabama

← 1936 November 5, 1940 1944 →

Nominee Franklin D. Roosevelt Wendell Willkie Party Democratic Republican Home state New York New York Running mate Henry A. Wallace Charles L. McNary Electoral vote 11 0 Popular vote 250,726 42,184 Percentage 85.22% 14.34%

County results Roosevelt   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%   80–90%   90–100% Willkie   50–60%

President before election Franklin D. Roosevelt Democratic Elected President Franklin D. Roosevelt Democratic

Elections in Alabama
Federal government Presidential elections 1820 1824 1828 1832 1836 1840 1844 1848 1852 1856 1860 1868 1872 1876 1880 1884 1888 1892 1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024 Presidential primaries Democratic 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2016 2020 2024 Republican 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024 U.S. Senate elections 1819 1822 1822 sp 1826 sp 1828 1831 1834 1837 1837 sp 1840 1841 sp 1842 1847 1848 sp 1849 sp 1853 1855 1858 1868 1870 1872 1872 sp 1876 1878 1878 sp 1880 sp 1882 1884 1888 1890 1894 1896 1897 1900 1903 1907 1907 sp 1908 1911 1914 1914 sp 1918 1920 1920 sp 1924 1926 1930 1932 1936 1938 1938 sp 1942 1944 1946 sp 1948 1950 1954 1956 1960 1962 1966 1968 1972 1974 1978 1978 sp 1980 1984 1986 1990 1992 1996 1998 2002 2004 2008 2010 2014 2016 2017 sp 2020 2022 2026 2028 U.S. House of Representatives elections 1819 1821 1823 1825 1827 1829 1831 1833 1835 1837 1839 3rd sp 1841 1843 1845 3rd sp 1846 7th sp 1847 3rd sp 1849 1851 1853 1855 1857 1859 1868 1869 1870 1872 1874 1876 1878 1880 6th sp 1882 1883 1st sp 8th sp 1884 1886 1888 1890 1892 1894 3rd sp 1896 1898 1900 8th sp 1902 1904 5th sp 1906 1908 2nd sp 1910 1912 1914 3rd sp 8th sp 1916 1918 1919 7th sp 1920 5th sp 1921 4th sp 1922 1923 2nd sp 1924 1926 1928 3rd sp 5th sp 1930 1932 1933 8th sp 1934 1935 1st sp 1936 1938 2nd sp 1940 7th sp 1941 7th sp 1942 1943 3rd sp 1944 3rd sp 1946 1947 8th sp 1948 1950 1952 1954 1956 1958 1960 1962 1964 1966 1968 1970 1972 3rd sp 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1989 3rd sp 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2013 1st sp 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024
State government State elections 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024 2026 Gubernatorial elections 1819 1821 1823 1825 1827 1829 1831 1833 1835 1837 1839 1841 1843 1845 1847 1849 1851 1853 1855 1857 1859 1861 1863 1865 1868 1870 1872 1874 1876 1878 1880 1882 1884 1886 1888 1890 1892 1894 1896 1898 1900 1902 1906 1910 1914 1918 1922 1926 1930 1934 1938 1942 1946 1950 1954 1958 1962 1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 2026 Lieutenant gubernatorial elections 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 2026 Attorney General elections 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 2026 Secretary of State elections 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 2026 State Auditor elections 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 2026 State Treasurer elections 2010 2014 2018 2022 2026 Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries elections 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 2026 Supreme Court elections 1970 1972 1974 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024 Public Service Commission elections 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024 Senate elections 2010 2014 2018 2022 2026 House of Representatives elections 2010 2014 2018 2022 2026
Ballot measures 1999 Amendment 1 2000 Amendment 2 2006 Amendment 774 2020 Amendment 1 2024 Amendment 1 (November)
Auburn Municipal 2010 2014 2018 2022
Birmingham Mayoral elections 2017 2021
Huntsville Mayoral elections 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024
Lee County Elections 2024
Mobile Mayoral elections 2021 2025
Montgomery Mayoral elections 2007 2009 sp 2011 2015 2019 2023
Government

The 1940 United States presidential election in Alabama took place on November 5, 1940, as part of the 1940 United States presidential election. Alabama voters chose 11 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president. In Alabama, voters voted for electors individually instead of as a slate, as in the other states.

Since the 1890s, Alabama had been effectively a one-party state ruled by the Democratic Party. Disenfranchisement of almost all African-Americans and a large proportion of Poor Whites via poll taxes, literacy tests^[1] and informal harassment had essentially eliminated opposition parties outside Unionist Winston County and a few nearby northern hill counties that had been Populist strongholds.^[2] The only competitive statewide elections became Democratic Party primaries that were limited by law to white voters. Unlike most other Confederate states, however, soon after black disenfranchisement Alabama's remaining white Republicans made rapid efforts to expel blacks from the state Republican Party.^[3] Indeed, under Oscar D. Street, who ironically was appointed state party boss as part of the pro-Taft "black and tan" faction in 1912,^[4] the state GOP would permanently turn "lily-white", with the last black delegates from the state at any Republican National Convention serving in 1920.^[3]

The 1920 election, aided by isolationism in Appalachia^[5] and the whitening of the state GOP,^[6] saw the Republicans even exceed forty percent in the House of Representatives races for the 4th, 7th and 10th congressional districts.^[5] However, funding issues meant the Republicans would not emulate this achievement for several decades subsequently.^[7] Nevertheless, a bitter "civil war" over how best to maintain white supremacy after the Democrats nominated urban, anti-Prohibition Catholic Al Smith saw so many Democrats defect to dry, Protestant Republican Herbert Hoover that he came within seven thousand votes of winning the state.^[8]

However, the economic catastrophe of the Great Depression meant that this trend towards the GOP would be short-lived.^[9] The Depression had extremely severe effects in the South, which had the highest unemployment rate in the nation, and many Southerners blamed this on the North and on Wall Street.^[10] Consequently, the South gave Democratic nominee Franklin D. Roosevelt hefty support in 1932 – he became the only presidential candidate to sweep all of Alabama's counties^[11] — and in 1936.

For 1940, opposition amongst Alabama's ruling elite to the New Deal meant that planter and business interests led by former Congressman George Huddleston attempted to organize the "independent elector" movements that would increase after Harry S. Truman's civil rights proposals.^[12] Other "Big Mules" already supported Republican nominees, corporate lawyer Wendell Willkie and Senate Minority Leader Charles L. McNary.^[13] However, the hatred of the Republican label, in spite of five election cycles as a party exclusive of blacks,^[14] meant that the state Democratic Party was far too strong to allow such a revolt.^[15]

No polls were carried out in the state until a Gallup poll in the middle of September, which had Roosevelt winning 85 percent of the two-party vote to.^[16] Another poll from late October said that Willkie could gain around one hundred thousand votes or one-third of the expected statewide total.^[17]

Alabama was won in a landslide by Roosevelt – now running with Secretary of Agriculture Henry A. Wallace of Iowa — with 85.22 percent of the popular vote against Willkie's 14.34 percent for a Democratic margin of 70.88 percent. Third-party candidates only managed to pick up 0.44 percent of the vote.^[18] Roosevelt was undoubtedly helped, especially in Appalachian regions of the state, by support for aid to Britain in World War II, which he had emphasised in his campaign.^[19] In many Appalachian rural counties, Roosevelt indeed improved upon his 1932 and 1936 performances for this reason.^[20]

Communist party candidate Earl Browder personally campaigned in the state giving speeches in Bullock County, Choctaw County, Clarke County, Coffee County, Conecuh County, Greene County and Hale County. Browder campaigned as an isolationist candidate advocating the United States not get involved in the war in Europe. Browder referred to the war as an "imperialist" war and he took a decidedly "anti-British tone" while campaigning in the aforementioned Alabama counties. In each of his speeches, he condemned Winston Churchill and praised Joseph Stalin.^[23][24] However, Browder said he was "irked by how cold" the crowds there were towards him. In the seven counties where Browder campaigned he ultimately received zero votes in the election (however, in the state as a whole he won just over 500 votes in comparison to Roosevelt's 250,726 votes and Willkie's 42,184 votes.)^[23]

• United States presidential elections in Alabama