1940 election : What if the attack in Pearl Harbor occured before the election?

[UWS]

The 1940 presidential election between FDR and Wendell Willkie was the closest presidential election from the Japanese attack in Pearl Harbor. What if this attack took place before the 1940 election?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_1940

[RogueBeaver]

FDR wins even bigger and if before the RNC, Willkie becomes the frontrunner sooner. That said, geopolitical timeline would need to speed up a lot.

[Sir Mohamed]

FDR wins by a wider margin due to a "rally around the flag" mood.

✓ President Franklin D. Roosevelt (D-NY)/Secretary of Agriculture Henry Wallace (D-IA): 488 EVs.; 57.8%
Businessman Wendell Willkie (R-NY)/Senator Charles McNary (R-OR): 43 EVs.; 41.3%

[UWS]

FDR wins even bigger and if before the RNC, Willkie becomes the frontrunner sooner. That said, geopolitical timeline would need to speed up a lot.

You mean, for example, that Hitler would have been defeated earlier?

[HisGrace]

I'm always surprised at how "close" the election was in 44. I would have thought that in the midst of WWII FDR would have gotten a solid 60% of the vote and won all but a couple states. Even I probably would have voted for him that time. Even though he still won handily it was his worse election performance.

So I'm not sure how much of a difference WWII would have made here.

[Lord Admirale]

FDR wins even bigger and if before the RNC, Willkie becomes the frontrunner sooner. That said, geopolitical timeline would need to speed up a lot.

You mean, for example, that Hitler would have been defeated earlier?

I'm not sure if Hitler would declare war on America if the Japanese attacked in 1940. He was preparing to invade the USSR by that point.

[TheElectoralBoobyPrize]

I'm always surprised at how "close" the election was in 44. I would have thought that in the midst of WWII FDR would have gotten a solid 60% of the vote and won all but a couple states. Even I probably would have voted for him that time. Even though he still won handily it was his worse election performance.

So I'm not sure how much of a difference WWII would have made here.

Agreed...you'd think the "don't change horses in midstream" argument would've made this election more of a blowout. Was it just fatigue?  The fact that Dewey was young and vibrant compared to the aged Roosevelt?

Also interesting...Democrats almost lost the House in the 1942 midterms in the midst of the war and did lose the popular vote.