Most pavement isn't perfectly smooth, even when new. This means that, in the real world, for non-racers who aren't terribly concerned about the additional small amount of air resistance, it is better to decrease rolling resistance via increased tire width instead of increased tire pressure. The rougher the roads anticipated, the wider the tire needed to minimize rolling resistance.
I'm going to have to disagree with you that there's any real world situation where
new pavement is anywhere near rough enough to need a tire bigger than 23-28c.
And as a regular biker, I ride in a major metro area (Minneapolis) and do not run into any roads where the road is actually in bad enough shape that a wider tire would be faster.
There's an argument that the ability to simply ride over a large pothole makes one safer on a commute where they're riding alongside traffic, and don't want to swerve into the lane of traffic to avoid potholes. But it's still not faster.
The only roads I've personally ever run into that are in bad enough shape to gain an advantage with larger tires, other than the previously mentioned dirt roads, are roads that are newly chip sealed.
I don't think your 32c vs 35 example makes sense - an ability to put them at the same pressure is not the same thing as that being the right pressure. To dramatize to make a point, a 2" tire at 100psi would roll over imperfections and maintain contact with the road a lot worse than a 2" tire at 30psi. Increasing the pressure on a tire reduces it's ability to suspension abilities in rolling over anything. Of course in reality a 2" tire inflated to 100psi is way, way over it's max pressure.