1932 United States presidential election in Louisiana

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

1932 United States presidential election in Louisiana

← 1928 November 8, 1932[1] 1936 →
All 10 Louisiana votes to the Electoral College
Nominee Franklin D. Roosevelt Herbert Hoover Party Democratic Republican Home state New York California Running mate John Nance Garner Charles Curtis Electoral vote 10 0 Popular vote 249,418 18,853 Percentage 92.79% 7.01%
Parish Results Roosevelt   70-80%   80-90%   90-100%
President before election Herbert Hoover Republican Elected President Franklin D. Roosevelt Democratic

Ever since the passage of a new constitution in 1898, Louisiana had been a one-party state dominated by the Democratic Party. The Republican Party became moribund due to the disenfranchisement of blacks and the complete absence of other support bases as Louisiana completely lacked upland or German refugee whites opposed to secession.^[3] Despite this absolute single-party dominance, non-partisan tendencies remained strong among wealthy sugar planters in Acadiana and within the business elite of New Orleans.^[4]

Until the rise of Huey P. Long, post-disenfranchisement Louisiana politics was dominated by the New Orleans-based “Choctaw Club”,^[5] which overcame Socialist, Wobbly, and Progressive challenges from the outlying upcountry, Imperial Calcasieu and Acadiana regions between the late 1900s and early 1920s.^[6] The three presidential elections between 1916 and 1924 saw a rebellion in Acadiana over sugar tariffs and Woodrow Wilson’s foreign and domestic policies; however, the nomination of Catholic Al Smith in 1928 rapidly restored their Democratic loyalty without causing significant upheaval in the remainder of the state, which was too focused on control of black labor to worry about Smith’s Catholicism.^[7] The effects of the Great Depression were extremely severe in the South,^[8] which had the highest unemployment rate in the nation. Many Southerners blamed this on the North and on Wall Street, rejecting Hoover’s claim that the Depression’s causes were exogenous,^[9] and this ensured that the previous decades Acadiana revolts would not be repeated.

Louisiana was won by Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt (D–New York), running with Speaker John Nance Garner, with 92.79 percent of the popular vote, against incumbent President Herbert Hoover (R–California), running with Vice President Charles Curtis, with 7.01 percent of the popular vote.^[10][11]

By percentage of the popular vote won, Louisiana was Roosevelt's third-best state, behind only South Carolina and Mississippi.