“But by 1940 he was known as a progressive by common sense midwesterners and great plains folk.. But still a dearth of electoral votes in opposition”
There’s a very good book called “The New Dealers’ War: FDR And The War Within World War II “
it details forgotten political opposition to FDR, a lot of it from within the Democratic Party. By 1937 southern Democrats joined with conservatives in the Republican Party to form ‘the conservative coalition’ to fight the New Deal.
The manna for the Southern Democrats were the govt. programs that local demo fiefs controlled with “nice work if you can get it” govt. jobs-— the CCC, WPA, and many others. Hence FDR maintained his machine in the South.