1936 United States presidential election in North Dakota

← 1932 November 3, 1936 1940 →

Nominee Franklin D. Roosevelt Alf Landon William Lemke Party Democratic Republican Union Home state New York Kansas North Dakota Running mate John Nance Garner Frank Knox Thomas C. O'Brien Electoral vote 4 0 0 Popular vote 163,148 72,751 36,708 Percentage 59.60% 26.58% 13.41%

County Results Roosevelt   40-50%   50-60%   60-70%   70-80%

Elections in North Dakota
Federal government Presidential 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 1996 2000 2004 2008 2016 2020 2024 Republican 2004 2008 2012 2024 U.S. Senate 1889 1891 1893 1897 1899 1903 1905 1909 1911 1911 sp 1914 1916 1920 1922 1926 1926 sp 1928 1932 1934 1938 1940 1944 1946 1946 sp 1950 1952 1956 1958 1960 sp 1962 1964 1968 1970 1974 1976 1980 1982 1986 1988 1992 1992 sp 1994 1998 2000 2004 2006 2010 2012 2016 2018 2022 2024 U.S. House 1889 1890 1892 1894 1896 1898 1900 1902 1904 1906 1908 1910 1912 1914 1916 1917 1st sp 1918 1920 1922 1924 2nd sp 1926 1928 1932 1934 1936 1938 1940 1942 1944 1946 1948 1950 1952 1954 1956 1958 1960 1962 1963 1st sp 1964 1966 1968 1970 1972 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024
State government State elections 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024 Gubernatorial elections 1889 1890 1892 1894 1896 1898 1900 1902 1904 1906 1908 1910 1912 1914 1916 1918 1920 1921 (recall) 1922 1924 1926 1928 1930 1932 1934 1936 1938 1940 1942 1944 1946 1948 1950 1952 1954 1956 1958 1960 1962 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024 Secretary of State elections 2018 2022 Attorney General elections 2018 2022 State Treasurer elections 2020 2024 State Auditor elections 2020 2024 State Senate elections 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024 House of Representatives elections 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024
Ballot measures 2004 Constitutional Measure 1 2022 Constitutional Measure 1
Fargo City elections 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024 Mayoral elections 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2015 2018 2022
Bismarck City elections 2020 2022 2024 2026 Mayoral elections 2022
Grand Forks City elections 2020 2024 Mayoral elections 2020 2024
v t e

The 1936 United States presidential election in North Dakota took place on November 3, 1936, as part of the 1936 United States presidential election. Voters chose four representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Ever since statehood, North Dakota had been overwhelmingly Republican at state level and in many presidential elections,^[1] although progressive Democrat Woodrow Wilson was able to carry the state in both his campaigns in 1912 and 1916, in the second due to his anti-war platform. In the following three elections, the state's voting would be shaped by its extreme isolationism in the aftermath of President Wilson's pushing of the nation into World War I and his “League of Nations” proposal, to which the Russian-Germans who dominated North Dakota's populace were vehemently opposed.^[2] North Dakota thus shifted markedly from voting four-to-one for Warren G. Harding against the pro-League James M. Cox in 1920, to being the second-strongest state for Robert La Follette under the Nonpartisan League banner in 1924, to strong pro-Catholic and anti-Prohibition voting for Al Smith in 1928. Severe drought and depression in the following three years turned the state overwhelmingly to Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932, despite President Hoover's call to “be safe” by supporting him, and at the same time North Dakota elected progressive, pro-New Deal Republicans to fill its House and Senate seats.^[3] One of these, Gerald Nye, would say in 1934 that the GOP needed to

turn its back up “that which has been its undoing, namely the private money bags”.^[4]

Roosevelt won North Dakota by a margin of 33.02 percentage points and for the second consecutive election carried every county in the state. As of the 2020 presidential election^[update], this is the last time that a Democratic presidential candidate has carried every county in the state (which previously occurred in 1932 as well). This is also the last time one has carried the following counties: Golden Valley, Grant, Kidder, Logan, McIntosh, Mercer and Sheridan.^[5]

Controversial Louisiana Governor and Senator Huey P. Long had planned to run against incumbent Roosevelt on an economically more radical platform in the 1936 election,^[8] but was assassinated in September 1935. The ashes of Long's movement were taken over by “radio priest” Father Charles Coughlin, who nominated local Representative William Lemke as the presidential candidate of the new “Union Party” on June 9,^[9] whose platform was vague and clearly Coughlin's personal creation.^[10] Lemke had had a long history as a progressive reformer since endorsing Woodrow Wilson in 1912.^[11]

Lemke was a poor campaigner and speaker, and unable to build his hoped-for “consensus of despair” amongst agrarian radicals, southern poor whites, Catholics and the elderly.^[12] The “favorite son” effect and the state's extreme isolationism meant Lemke received 13.41 percent of his home state's vote – over four and a half times the 2.88 percent of on-ballot votes he won nationally.^[b] Lemke exceeded 28 percent in the counties of Burke, Sheridan and Hettinger, and ran second ahead of Republican nominee Alf Landon in six counties. However, he did not make the impact personally expected when nominated, and unlike elsewhere in the nation, Lemke's best vote was not where ethnic and religious influences might have been expected to give him the largest vote, but in the northwest where local leaders held votes for him.^[13] Nonetheless, only Ross Perot in 1992 and Evan McMullin in 2016 have since equaled Lemke's performance for a third-party candidate in any non-southern county.^[c]

• United States presidential elections in North Dakota