U.S. At War: Narrow Margin

Republicans have gained strength since 1940 in every section of the U.S. except the still-Solid South, reported a Gallup poll last week. If a Presidential election were held now, Democrats would still carry 54% of the popular vote, Gallup estimated. But, he argued, this is a dangerously narrow margin for the Democrats, who can lose a national election even if they take 52% of the popular vote, because so much of that vote is from the South, where big majorities do not swell the electoral vote proportionately. A shift of a few hundred thousand votes could throw New England, the Middle Atlantic States and the Pacific Coast to the G.O.P.