S8 Ep698: 8. Election night 1936 resulted in a historic landslide victory for Franklin D. Roosevelt, defying the predictions of the *Literary Digest* straw poll. Roosevelt carried 46 of 48 states and secured a massive mandate in both houses of Congress. The victo
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 6 April 2026
⏱️ 5 minutes
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Summary
8. Election night 1936 resulted in a historic landslide victory for Franklin D. Roosevelt, defying the predictions of the *Literary Digest* straw poll. Roosevelt carried 46 of 48 states and secured a massive mandate in both houses of Congress. The victory signaled a fundamental political realignment, as FDR captured 104 of the nation’s 106 major cities, driven by the coming-of-age of immigrant populations. This sweep solidified the modern Democratic coalition, uniting urban centers, organized labor, and minority voters. The triumph transformed the party into a national powerhouse for decades to come. (9)
1936 FDR AND HIS CABINET
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm John Batchel with David Patricia. |
| 0:07.2 | Great fun. |
| 0:08.2 | David Patricia's book is great fun because at the time it was tragedy upon tragedy. |
| 0:13.2 | People were struggling to have confidence each day that there would be a tomorrow. |
| 0:18.2 | The world of the United States at this time was watching Europe tumble into the catastrophe we know as the second war, still with us, still scarring mankind. |
| 0:31.6 | But at this moment, we come to election night, and David celebrates election night by taking us to a scene in the Hyde Park scene, |
| 0:39.6 | the one where Roosevelt always returned to Hyde Park. It was like he recharged his batteries there. |
| 0:45.8 | Eleanor is in a white chiffon gown with an immense red rose. I'm following in her belt. I'm |
| 0:51.3 | following David's reporting. The reporters are gathered outside. |
| 0:55.0 | The teletype machines are chattering away. David, they still expected for it to be close |
| 1:01.0 | that late in the night. Is that correct? Well, they didn't know. And politics is a time of |
| 1:08.3 | surprises. Jim Farley was always very confident. |
| 1:13.0 | He had predicted that Roosevelt would take 46 out of 48 states. |
| 1:18.0 | Franklin Roosevelt was predicting a win and had been the whole time, but not a massive, massive landslide. |
| 1:26.5 | The literary digest was still, which had a sample. It was a straw |
| 1:31.7 | poll. It wasn't scientific. People mailed their responses in, but they had millions of responses. |
| 1:38.7 | They had missed the 1932 election by only two electoral votes. They had everything right except one state in 1924, 1916, which was an eyelash. |
| 1:49.5 | They had got that right. |
| 1:51.2 | So they had always been right. |
| 1:52.9 | So why would you think they wouldn't be right or why would they be so horribly wrong in 1936? |
| 2:04.6 | The first notes that come in are from New Haven, |
| 2:10.4 | Connecticut, right across the border from Duchess County. And Roosevelt himself reacts when he learns that he's won New Haven by 15,000 votes. That tells him something strange is happening. |
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