1936 United States presidential election in Idaho explained

See main article: 1936 United States presidential election.

The 1936 United States presidential election in Idaho took place on November 3, 1936, as part of the 1936 United States presidential election. State voters chose four^[2] representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Idaho was won by incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt (D–New York) and Vice President John Nance Garner (D–Texas) with 62.96 percent of the popular vote, over Governor Alf Landon (R–Kansas) and running mate Frank Knox (R–Illinois) with 33.19 percent of the popular vote.^{[3] [4]}

Idaho has since become a Republican stronghold; as of 2020, this election marks the last time that Ada County, Canyon County, Gooding County, Jerome County, Lincoln County, Payette County and Twin Falls County would vote for a Democratic presidential nominee,^{[5] [6]} the last time that a Democrat would carry the state by double digits, and the last time that the state would (by margin of victory) vote more Democratic than the nation as a whole.

Republican nomination

William Borah, the Republican Senator for Idaho ran for the Republican nomination for president in 1936, the first candidate from Idaho to do so.

His candidacy was opposed by the conservative Republican leadership. Borah praised Roosevelt for some of his policies, and deeply criticized the Republican Party. With only 25 Republicans left in the Senate, Borah saw an opportunity to recast the Republican Party along progressive lines, as he had long sought to do. He was opposed by the Republican organization, which sought to dilute his strength in the primaries by running state favorite son candidates in order to ensure a brokered convention. Despite being easily the leading primary vote-getter, Borah managed to win only a handful of delegates and took a majority of them in only one state, Wisconsin, where he had the endorsement of Senator Robert M. La Follette, Jr. Borah refused to endorse the eventual candidate, Kansas Governor Alf Landon (who was nominated at the 1936 Republican National Convention), leading some to believe Borah might cross party lines and support Roosevelt. Ultimately, as he had four years earlier, he chose to endorse neither candidate.^[7] Borah was on the ballot that fall in Idaho, seeking a sixth term in the Senate. For the first time since the people had been given the right to elect senators, the Democrats ran a serious candidate against him, Governor C. Ben Ross. Although Idahoans overwhelmingly voted for Roosevelt, who won every state except Maine and Vermont, Borah still took over sixty percent of their votes in his re-election bid.^[8]

Results

Results by county

County	Franklin Delano Roosevelt Democratic		Alfred Mossman Landon Republican		William Frederick Lemke Union		Margin		Total votes cast[9]
		%		%		%		%
	Ada		12,027		58.46%		7,581		36.85%		966		4.70%		4,446		21.61%		20,574
	Adams		770		59.41%		434		33.49%		92		7.10%		336		25.93%		1,296
	Bannock		9,443		70.51%		3,830		28.60%		120		0.90%		5,613		41.91%		13,393
	Bear Lake		2,078		59.61%		1,404		40.28%		4		0.11%		674		19.33%		3,486
	Benewah		1,906		65.70%		897		30.92%		98		3.38%		1,009		34.78%		2,901
	Bingham		4,215		62.42%		2,354		34.86%		184		2.72%		1,861		27.56%		6,753
	Blaine		1,361		64.59%		735		34.88%		11		0.52%		626		29.71%		2,107
	Boise		780		65.55%		368		30.92%		42		3.53%		412		34.62%		1,190
	Bonner		3,521		58.75%		2,016		33.64%		456		7.61%		1,505		25.11%		5,993
	Bonneville		5,439		69.85%		2,213		28.42%		135		1.73%		3,226		41.43%		7,787
	Boundary		1,304		60.31%		732		33.86%		126		5.83%		572		26.46%		2,162
	Butte		546		62.83%		312		35.90%		11		1.27%		234		26.93%		869
	Camas		442		60.47%		274		37.48%		15		2.05%		168		22.98%		731
	Canyon		8,290		56.99%		4,910		33.75%		1,347		9.26%		3,380		23.24%		14,547
	Caribou		640		66.53%		321		33.37%		1		0.10%		319		33.16%		962
	Cassia		3,100		64.62%		1,629		33.96%		68		1.42%		1,471		30.66%		4,797
	Clark		272		46.90%		304		52.41%		4		0.69%		-32		-5.52%		580
	Clearwater		1,959		66.95%		812		27.75%		155		5.30%		1,147		39.20%		2,926
	Custer		875		61.58%		530		37.30%		16		1.13%		345		24.28%		1,421
	Elmore		1,567		65.84%		688		28.91%		125		5.25%		879		36.93%		2,380
	Franklin		2,255		61.44%		1,396		38.04%		19		0.52%		859		23.41%		3,670
	Fremont		2,904		66.51%		1,423		32.59%		39		0.89%		1,481		33.92%		4,366
	Gem		2,468		69.17%		879		24.64%		221		6.19%		1,589		44.53%		3,568
	Gooding		2,100		56.68%		1,505		40.62%		100		2.70%		595		16.06%		3,705
	Idaho		3,104		62.97%		1,535		31.14%		290		5.88%		1,569		31.83%		4,929
	Jefferson		2,776		71.84%		1,037		26.84%		51		1.32%		1,739		45.01%		3,864
	Jerome		2,374		62.84%		1,297		34.33%		107		2.83%		1,077		28.51%		3,778
	Kootenai		5,752		63.92%		2,586		28.74%		661		7.35%		3,166		35.18%		8,999
	Latah		4,359		58.45%		2,838		38.05%		261		3.50%		1,521		20.39%		7,458
	Lemhi		1,648		61.82%		943		35.37%		75		2.81%		705		26.44%		2,666
	Lewis		1,612		74.35%		507		23.39%		49		2.26%		1,105		50.97%		2,168
	Lincoln		916		53.22%		766		44.51%		39		2.27%		150		8.72%		1,721
	Madison		2,455		68.35%		1,114		31.01%		23		0.64%		1,341		37.33%		3,592
	Minidoka		2,095		67.65%		948		30.61%		54		1.74%		1,147		37.04%		3,097
	Nez Perce		5,705		71.45%		1,988		24.90%		292		3.66%		3,717		46.55%		7,985
	Oneida		1,673		63.42%		955		36.20%		10		0.38%		718		27.22%		2,638
	Owyhee		1,106		64.00%		500		28.94%		122		7.06%		606		35.07%		1,728
	Payette		1,677		45.78%		1,524		41.61%		462		12.61%		153		4.18%		3,663
	Power		1,075		59.33%		708		39.07%		29		1.60%		367		20.25%		1,812
	Shoshone		5,377		70.92%		2,146		28.30%		59		0.78%		3,231		42.61%		7,582
	Teton		834		59.19%		542		38.47%		33		2.34%		292		20.72%		1,409
	Twin Falls		7,476		58.28%		4,966		38.71%		386		3.01%		2,510		19.57%		12,828
	Valley		1,260		63.64%		575		29.04%		145		7.32%		685		34.60%		1,980
	Washington		2,147		60.38%		1,234		34.70%		175		4.92%		913		25.67%		3,556
Totals	125,683	62.96%	66,256	33.19%	7,678	3.85%	59,427	29.77%	199,617

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

• Clark

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

• Bear Lake

See also

• United States presidential elections in Idaho

Notes and References

1. Web site: United States Presidential election of 1936 - Encyclopædia Britannica. December 30, 2018.
2. Web site: 1936 Election for the Thirty-eighth Term (1937-41). December 30, 2018.
3. Web site: 1936 Presidential General Election Results - Idaho. December 30, 2018.
4. Web site: The American Presidency Project - Election of 1936. December 30, 2018.
5. Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016
6. Menendez, Albert J.; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004, pp. 178-179
7. http://www.kevincmurphy.com/williamborah3.html A Lion Among The Liberals
8. William E. Borah: The People's Choice. Claudius O.. Johnson. The Pacific Northwest Quarterly. 44. 1. January 1953. 15–22. 40486998.
9. Scammon, Richard M. (compiler); America at the Polls: A Handbook of Presidential Election Statistics 1920-1964; p. 119