In the 1940 election, Roosevelt's popular-vote total was nearly the same as in 1936. However, his electoral-vote total fell off considerably. How...

President Franklin D. Roosevelt won both the 1936 and the 1940 elections with incredibly similar vote totals, but his number of electoral votes dropped in 1940. There are two reasons for this. First, more people voted in the 1940 election than in 1936. In 1936, President Roosevelt received 27.7 million votes, while Republican candidate Alf Landon received 16.7 million. In 1940, Roosevelt received a similar vote count--27.3 million--but his opponent, Wendell Willkie, received 22.3 million. About 5 million more people voted in the 1940 election, and most of them voted for Willkie.

Second, Roosevelt won fewer states in 1940. Each state has a certain number of electoral delegates, so whoever wins the state receives those delegates. In 1936, Roosevelt won 46 of the 48 states; Alf Landon won more than 35% of the popular vote, but he only had a majority in 2 states. However, Roosevelt was not quite as successful in 1940. He managed to win majorities in 38 states, but Willkie won 10, most of which were in the Midwest.