ELECTIONS: The Democratic Tide

In Washington and in the wards, Republicans last week faced up to a blunt fact of political life. The tide that began in 1954 when Democrats took control of both houses of Congress, that carried Democrats into new governors’ mansions and state assemblies, that washed Democrat William Proxmire into Joe McCarthy’s Wisconsin Senate seat last summer, still is rolling strong. Last week, in a series of state and municipal elections along the East Coast, the Democrats were the big winners again.

In the principal battles, to be sure, Democratic victories were predictable. Unpredicted, however, was the way they won against frequently paper-thin Republican opposition. In New York City, Mayor Robert Wagner crushed G.O.P. Opponent Robert Christenberry by a plurality just under the 1,000,000 that Tammany Boss Carmine DeSapio had predicted for him, catching new votes in long-standing Republican counties. In New York State, for the first time in 20 years, Democrats elected more mayors (29) than Republicans did (23). In Pittsburgh. Mayor David Leo Lawrence’s fourth-term win established another record-breaking plurality. And in Republican New Jersey, where, to dike the Democratic tide, both President Eisenhower and Vice President Nixon added weight to the ardent campaigning of Republican Malcolm Forbes, Governor Robert Meyner swamped Forbes (see below).

Analyzing the week’s returns, Republicans were stung not only by cold statistics but by the bitter realization that matters will likely get worse before they get better. Dwight Eisenhower’s prestige is at its lowest since 1954. Pollster George Gallup finds the normally Republican Midwest leaning Democratic (54% to 46%) in congressional choices for the first time in eleven years. Breaking a six-year preference, says Gallup, independent voters consider Democrats the prosperity party rather than Republicans (proDemocratic: 30%; pro-Republican: 25%). The G.O.P. also faces a mathematical disadvantage in next year’s congressional elections. Of 32 Senate seats up, five are safely occupied by Southern Democrats, eight safely occupied by Republicans, and 13 occupied by Republicans who won by narrow margins last time around and will have tough campaigns.

One feature of the week’s elections was that (except in segregation-conscious Virginia) there were no solid issues. The campaigns generally were fought and won on the basis of personality. One additional worry for the G.O.P. next year: it is shy on good, attractive candidates.