I cannot see how the Democrats could have won in 1932 without the Great Depression.
The highly sectional "System of 1896", whilst best-known for eliminating the Republicans in the secessionist South, also eliminated the Democratic Party almost completely from:
- Upper New England
- most of Pennsylvania and Illinois
- the Upper Midwestern states of Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa
- the Pacific states of California, Oregon and Washington
In those states during the "System of 1896", the Democratic Party had almost no representation in state legislatures and very little ability (outside Presidential elections) to organise. In my view, it is highly plausible that without the Depression the sectionalism of the "System of 1896" could have intensified indefinitely.
