1932 United States presidential election in North Carolina

1932 United States presidential election in North Carolina
All 13 North Carolina votes to the Electoral College
Roosevelt 50-60% 60-70% 70-80% 80-90% 90-100%	Hoover 50-60% 60-70% 70-80%
President before election; Herbert Hoover; Republican	Elected President ; Franklin D. Roosevelt; Democratic

The 1932 United States presidential election in North Carolina took place on November 8, 1932, as part of the 1932 United States presidential election. North Carolina voters chose thirteen^[2] representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

As a former Confederate state, North Carolina had a history of Jim Crow laws, disfranchisement of its African-American population and dominance of the Democratic Party in state politics. However, unlike the Deep South, the Republican Party had sufficient historic Unionist White support from the mountains and northwestern Piedmont to gain a stable one-third of the statewide vote total in most general elections,^[3] where turnout was higher than elsewhere in the former Confederacy due substantially to the state's early abolition of the poll tax in 1920.^[4] A rapid move following disenfranchisement to a completely “lily-white” state GOP also helped maintain Republican support amongst the state's voters.^[5] Like Virginia, Tennessee and Oklahoma, the relative strength of Republican opposition meant that North Carolina did not have statewide white primaries, although certain counties did use the white primary.^[6]

However, anti-Catholicism against 1928 Democratic nominee Al Smith in the fishing communities of the Outer Banks, alongside increasing middle-class Republican voting in such cities as Charlotte, Durham and Greensboro,^[7] meant that Republican nominee Herbert Hoover would use the lily-white state party to win its electoral votes for the first time since the Reconstruction election of 1872. During Hoover's administration, North Carolina was the scene of a major controversy in the Supreme Court nomination of Fourth Circuit judge and 1920 Republican gubernatorial candidate John Johnston Parker. During that election, Parker had said that black North Carolinians no longer desire to participate in politics, and when he was nominated the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People sent letters to senators requesting Parker's defeat.^[8] The NAACP would ultimately succeed in defeating Parker, being helped by many Southern Democrats who feared that his nomination would strengthen a newly lily-white Republican Party in the South, by many Northern and Border State Republicans opposed to a lily-white GOP in the former Confederacy, and by the hostility of the American Federation of Labor to some of his rulings.^[9] The Parker defeat put an end to Republican efforts to breach the “Solid South” for over two decades, and in North Carolina the two Republican Congressmen elected in 1928 would both be defeated in 1930.

Although North Carolina suffered the smallest relative income loss of any state as a result of the Depression,^[10] many Southerners blamed the collapse on the North and on Wall Street.^[11] it 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, rejecting Hoover's claim that the Depression's causes were exogenous.^[11]

Neither Hoover nor Democratic nominees Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt and Speaker John Nance Garner campaigned in North Carolina, which was universally expected to return to the “Solid South” with economic conditions as bad as they were.^[12] Early polls in October would entirely omit the state, even those including Confederate states that had actually remained loyal to Al Smith.^[13] The only poll taken in the state was taken very late in the campaign and had Roosevelt leading by three-to-one.^[14]

North Carolina was won by Roosevelt with 69.93 percent of the popular vote, against Hoover and Vice President Charles Curtis, with 29.28 percent of the popular vote.^[15] Roosevelt won all but six loyally Unionist counties; although as in 1928 rock-ribbed Republican Avery County in the northwestern Blue Ridge Mountains was Hoover's tenth-best in the country.^[16]

Results

1932 United States presidential election in North Carolina
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Franklin D. Roosevelt	497,566	69.93%
	Republican	Herbert Hoover (incumbent)	208,344	29.28%
	Socialist	Norman Thomas	5,591	0.79%
Total votes			711,501	100%

Results by county

1932 United States presidential election in North Carolina by county^[17]
County	Franklin Delano Roosevelt Democratic		Herbert Clark Hoover Republican		Norman Mattoon Thomas Socialist		Margin
County	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#
Bertie	97.83%	3,154	2.02%	65	0.16%	5	95.81%	3,089
Martin	97.37%	3,781	2.42%	94	0.21%	8	94.95%	3,687
Pitt	96.55%	7,724	3.19%	255	0.26%	21	93.36%	7,469
Hoke	96.22%	1,780	3.51%	65	0.27%	5	92.70%	1,715
Greene	96.28%	2,510	3.61%	94	0.12%	3	92.67%	2,416
Currituck	96.02%	1,759	3.77%	69	0.22%	4	92.25%	1,690
Chowan	95.96%	1,639	3.75%	64	0.29%	5	92.21%	1,575
Warren	95.82%	2,661	3.96%	110	0.22%	6	91.86%	2,551
Edgecombe	95.62%	5,872	4.04%	248	0.34%	21	91.58%	5,624
Northampton	95.47%	3,243	4.33%	147	0.21%	7	91.14%	3,096
Franklin	95.34%	4,294	4.42%	199	0.24%	11	90.92%	4,095
Hertford	95.08%	1,835	4.56%	88	0.36%	7	90.52%	1,747
Halifax	94.98%	6,413	4.53%	306	0.49%	33	90.45%	6,107
Anson	94.91%	4,252	4.98%	223	0.11%	5	89.93%	4,029
Granville	94.51%	3,808	5.26%	212	0.22%	9	89.25%	3,596
Nash	92.79%	7,472	6.61%	532	0.61%	49	86.18%	6,940
Gates	93.01%	1,198	6.91%	89	0.08%	1	86.10%	1,109
Lenoir	92.60%	4,677	6.93%	350	0.48%	24	85.67%	4,327
Scotland	92.42%	2,608	7.37%	208	0.21%	6	85.05%	2,400
Vance	92.03%	3,833	7.64%	318	0.34%	14	84.39%	3,515
Camden	92.05%	915	7.85%	78	0.10%	1	84.21%	837
Wilson	91.55%	6,153	7.69%	517	0.76%	51	83.86%	5,636
Jones	91.42%	1,449	8.33%	132	0.25%	4	83.09%	1,317
Caswell	91.39%	1,858	8.31%	169	0.30%	6	83.08%	1,689
Onslow	90.89%	2,615	8.79%	253	0.31%	9	82.10%	2,362
Robeson	90.48%	7,860	9.01%	783	0.51%	44	81.47%	7,077
Craven	90.02%	4,375	9.59%	466	0.39%	19	80.43%	3,909
Pasquotank	89.49%	2,946	9.96%	328	0.55%	18	79.53%	2,618
Union	88.84%	6,103	10.33%	710	0.83%	57	78.50%	5,393
Pender	87.64%	1,993	11.87%	270	0.48%	11	75.77%	1,723
Hyde	87.43%	1,050	12.24%	147	0.33%	4	75.19%	903
Richmond	86.96%	4,862	12.39%	693	0.64%	36	74.57%	4,169
Columbus	86.55%	5,098	12.55%	739	0.90%	53	74.01%	4,359
Wake	86.02%	14,863	12.56%	2,170	1.42%	246	73.46%	12,693
Beaufort	86.33%	5,552	13.05%	839	0.62%	40	73.29%	4,713
Perquimans	84.94%	1,280	14.93%	225	0.13%	2	70.01%	1,055
Cumberland	83.77%	5,012	15.56%	931	0.67%	40	68.21%	4,081
Lee	81.50%	3,058	18.15%	681	0.35%	13	63.35%	2,377
Cleveland	80.60%	8,016	19.15%	1,904	0.25%	25	61.46%	6,112
New Hanover	79.33%	6,030	18.81%	1,430	1.86%	141	60.52%	4,600
Duplin	79.46%	4,674	19.94%	1,173	0.60%	35	59.52%	3,501
Wayne	79.01%	6,365	20.25%	1,631	0.74%	60	58.76%	4,734
Mecklenburg	77.90%	18,167	21.32%	4,973	0.78%	181	56.58%	13,194
Person	77.80%	2,372	21.65%	660	0.56%	17	56.15%	1,712
Tyrrell	76.78%	873	22.69%	258	0.53%	6	54.09%	615
Bladen	75.85%	2,651	23.12%	808	1.03%	36	52.73%	1,843
Washington	72.71%	1,681	26.77%	619	0.52%	12	45.93%	1,062
Rockingham	72.37%	7,795	26.89%	2,896	0.74%	80	45.48%	4,899
Durham	70.78%	7,559	25.94%	2,770	3.29%	351	44.84%	4,789
Orange	69.57%	2,924	26.50%	1,114	3.93%	165	43.06%	1,810
Dare	71.16%	1,241	28.50%	497	0.34%	6	42.66%	744
Gaston	70.78%	12,890	28.36%	5,164	0.86%	157	42.42%	7,726
Johnston	70.86%	9,574	28.77%	3,887	0.37%	50	42.09%	5,687
Cabarrus	70.68%	8,465	28.76%	3,444	0.57%	68	41.92%	5,021
Harnett	70.42%	6,346	29.04%	2,617	0.54%	49	41.38%	3,729
Forsyth	69.73%	14,016	28.49%	5,727	1.78%	357	41.24%	8,289
Alleghany	70.28%	1,951	29.18%	810	0.54%	15	41.10%	1,141
Iredell	69.70%	8,367	29.85%	3,583	0.46%	55	39.85%	4,784
Pamlico	67.34%	1,526	29.35%	665	3.31%	75	38.00%	861
Haywood	68.54%	6,790	31.11%	3,082	0.34%	34	37.43%	3,708
Rowan	67.81%	9,782	30.94%	4,464	1.25%	180	36.86%	5,318
Buncombe	66.69%	18,241	31.97%	8,745	1.34%	367	34.72%	9,496
Guilford	66.42%	19,301	31.88%	9,263	1.70%	495	34.54%	10,038
Carteret	65.50%	3,455	33.46%	1,765	1.04%	55	32.04%	1,690
McDowell	65.68%	4,810	33.84%	2,478	0.48%	35	31.84%	2,332
Rutherford	64.93%	8,336	34.65%	4,448	0.42%	54	30.29%	3,888
Alamance	63.97%	8,240	34.76%	4,478	1.27%	164	29.20%	3,762
Moore	63.11%	4,287	36.20%	2,459	0.69%	47	26.91%	1,828
Polk	62.48%	2,401	36.98%	1,421	0.55%	21	25.50%	980
Surry	62.05%	7,490	37.37%	4,511	0.57%	69	24.68%	2,979
Chatham	61.68%	4,263	37.47%	2,590	0.85%	59	24.20%	1,673
Jackson	60.49%	4,360	39.03%	2,813	0.49%	35	21.46%	1,547
Davidson	59.95%	9,292	39.04%	6,051	1.01%	157	20.91%	3,241
Alexander	59.86%	2,953	39.57%	1,952	0.57%	28	20.29%	1,001
Transylvania	59.84%	2,523	39.63%	1,671	0.52%	22	20.21%	852
Caldwell	59.07%	5,479	40.43%	3,750	0.50%	46	18.64%	1,729
Catawba	58.90%	8,446	40.56%	5,817	0.54%	77	18.33%	2,629
Stanly	58.87%	5,785	40.63%	3,992	0.50%	49	18.25%	1,793
Stokes	58.76%	3,721	40.69%	2,577	0.55%	35	18.06%	1,144
Yancey	58.66%	3,412	41.19%	2,396	0.15%	9	17.47%	1,016
Macon	57.97%	3,223	41.49%	2,307	0.54%	30	16.47%	916
Montgomery	57.41%	2,927	42.23%	2,153	0.35%	18	15.18%	774
Swain	55.78%	2,412	43.78%	1,893	0.44%	19	12.00%	519
Henderson	55.37%	5,255	43.96%	4,172	0.66%	63	11.41%	1,083
Brunswick	55.30%	2,245	44.29%	1,798	0.42%	17	11.01%	447
Lincoln	55.02%	4,399	44.56%	3,563	0.43%	34	10.46%	836
Ashe	54.86%	4,751	44.70%	3,871	0.44%	38	10.16%	880
Burke	54.64%	5,866	44.92%	4,823	0.44%	47	9.71%	1,043
Randolph	54.44%	7,345	45.00%	6,072	0.56%	75	9.44%	1,273
Sampson	53.66%	4,911	45.09%	4,127	1.25%	114	8.57%	784
Graham	53.32%	1,364	46.25%	1,183	0.43%	11	7.08%	181
Watauga	51.76%	3,419	47.93%	3,166	0.32%	21	3.83%	253
Cherokee	51.48%	3,348	48.14%	3,131	0.38%	25	3.34%	217
Clay	51.30%	1,341	48.39%	1,265	0.31%	8	2.91%	76
Davie	48.64%	2,381	50.52%	2,473	0.84%	41	-1.88%	-92
Wilkes	46.04%	5,598	53.64%	6,522	0.32%	39	-7.60%	-924
Yadkin	44.68%	2,789	54.82%	3,422	0.50%	31	-10.14%	-633
Madison	37.57%	2,769	61.76%	4,552	0.66%	49	-24.19%	-1,783
Mitchell	31.77%	1,773	68.06%	3,798	0.16%	9	-36.29%	-2,025
Avery	26.79%	1,045	72.64%	2,833	0.56%	22	-45.85%	-1,788

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

References

^ "United States Presidential election of 1932 — Encyclopædia Britannica". Retrieved January 29, 2019.
^ "1932 Election for the Thirty-seventh Term (1933-37)". Retrieved January 29, 2019.
^ Phillips, Kevin P.;The Emerging Republican Majority, pp. 210, 242 ISBN 978-0-691-16324-6
^ Key, Valdimer Orlando; Southern Politics in State and Nation, p. 502, Alfred A. Knopf (1949)
^ Heersink, Boris; Jenkins, Jeffery A. (2020). Republican Party Politics and the American South, 1865–1968. Cambridge University Press. pp. 48–50, 239–243. ISBN 9781316663950.
^ Klarman, Michael J. (2001). "The White Primary Rulings: A Case Study in the Consequences of Supreme Court Decision-Making". Florida State University Law Review. 29: 55–107.
^ Phillips; The Emerging Republican Majority, pp. 212-215
^ Goings, Kenneth W. (1990). The NAACP comes of age: the defeat of Judge John J. Parker. Indiana University Press. pp. 23–24. ISBN 0253325854.
^ Topping, Simon (2008). Lincoln's lost legacy: the Republican Party and the African American vote, 1928-1952. Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida. p. 22. ISBN 978-0813032283.
^ Abrams, Douglas Carl (1992). Conservative constraints: North Carolina and the New Deal. Jackson, Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi. p. 3. ISBN 9780878055593.
^ ^a ^b Ritchie, Donald A. (2007). Electing FDR: the New Deal campaign of 1932. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas. p. 143. ISBN 978-0700616879.
^ Lewinson, Paul (1965). Race, class and party; a history of Negro suffrage and white politics in the South. pp. 167–168.
^ See "Roosevelt Increases Lead over Hoover with Nearly 800,000 Votes Counted in Literary Digest's Poll". The Piqua Daily Call. October 7, 1932. p. 6.
^ "All Record Broken by Digest Poll: Semi-Final Figures Near 3,000,000 Mark — Vote Stands Hoover 1,093,274, Roosevelt 1,648,237". The Hartford Daily Courant. October 28, 1932. p. 24.
^ "1932 Presidential General Election Results – North Carolina". Retrieved January 29, 2019.
^ "1932 Presidential Election Statistics". Dave Leip’s U.S. Election Atlas.
^ "NC US President Race, November 08, 1932". Our Campaigns.