1932 United States presidential election — 37th quadrennial U.S. presidential election
Roosevelt's landslide victory ended decades of Republican dominance and launched the New Deal coalition that shaped U.S. politics for a generation.
Key Facts
- Election date
- November 8, 1932
- Hoover popular vote share
- 39.6%
- Hoover's 1928 popular vote share
- 58%+
- Socialist nominee vote share
- 2.2% (Norman Thomas)
- Roosevelt's convention ballot win
- Fourth ballot
- Party system transition
- Fourth to Fifth Party System
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
The Great Depression produced catastrophic economic conditions across the United States, severely undermining public confidence in the Hoover administration. Despite this crisis, Hoover faced little serious opposition for the Republican nomination, while Roosevelt emerged as the Democratic front-runner, promising a 'New Deal' and campaigning on the failures of Republican governance.
On November 8, 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt and running mate John Nance Garner defeated incumbent President Herbert Hoover and Vice President Charles Curtis in a landslide. Roosevelt carried every state outside the Northeast, winning the highest percentage of the popular vote achieved by any Democratic nominee to that point, while Hoover's share collapsed from over 58% in 1928 to 39.6%.
Roosevelt's victory ended an era of Republican dominance in presidential politics stretching back to 1860. It initiated the Fifth Party System under the New Deal coalition, subsequently confirmed by Democratic landslides in the 1934 midterms and the 1936 presidential election. Hoover became the only elected incumbent president to lose a general election between 1912 and 1980.
Political Outcome
Franklin D. Roosevelt and John Nance Garner won by a landslide over Hoover and Curtis, ending Republican dominance and beginning the New Deal era.
Republican dominance under President Herbert Hoover (Fourth Party System)
Democratic dominance under Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal coalition (Fifth Party System)