Issues: The Itchy-Finger Image

Republican Barry Goldwater is far, far behind in his race for the presidency — and rather than gaining ground, he is losing it. A Gallup poll last week showed that since July’s Republican Convention in San Francisco, Goldwater has dropped by two points, to 31% while Democratic President Lyndon Johnson has gained by six, to 64%. The Gallup survey is borne out by almost every other political indicator.

Why is Barry doing so badly? Certainly not out of any vast national veneration for Johnson. A great number of Americans feel that in voting for Johnson they will only be opting for the lesser of two evils. This feeling was most dramatically described in a Sunday sermon by the Very Rev. Francis B. Sayre Jr., dean of Washington’s Episcopal Cathedral and a man who, as Woodrow Wilson’s grandson, was born in the White House.

Two Men. “I suspect,” said Sayre, “that thousands, even millions, of our countrymen this summer, viewing the extravaganzas that were produced at the Cow Palace in San Francisco and at Convention Hall in Atlantic City, felt something like the Israelites must have felt when finally they were thrust into exile . . . This summer we beheld a pair of gatherings at the summit of political power, each of which was completely dominated by a single man—the one, a man of dangerous ignorance and devastating uncertainty; the other, a man whose public house is splendid in its every appearance, but whose private lack of ethic must inevitably introduce termites at the very foundation.

“The electorate of this mighty nation is left homeless, then, by such a pair of nominees. It knows not where to turn. Our people are in a great dilemma, and there is no corner of the country which you may visit today where you do not feel this profoundly. We stare fascinated at the forces that have produced such a sterile choice for us: frustration and a federation of hostilities in one party; and in the other, behind a goodly façade, only a cynical manipulation of power.”

Although he was disputed by his own bishop, the Rt. Rev. William Creighton (“Perhaps I have more confidence in the American people’s ability to make wise political choices than the dean has”), Sayre was far from alone in his opinion, as shown in extensive interviews by TIME correspondents.

“I think Goldwater is just beyond belief,” says Denver Playwright Robert Owens. “I just don’t think he represents the Republican Party. Johnson leaves me very cold, but I am going to ring doorbells for him, and I’m going to vote for him.” Says Elizabeth Carey, a Burlington, Vt., secretary (and a Republican): “I don’t think too much of President Johnson, but I guess I’m really afraid of Senator Goldwater.” Says G. Kinnear Pash, a Los Angeles securities analyst: “In general, you don’t find too many people who are very pro-Johnson in the sense that they say ‘If I had to pick one man for the White House, I would pick Johnson.’ Mostly people are neutral on him and are negative on Goldwater.”

Just Plain Scared. But not even such generally expressed opinions answer the basic question. If Lyndon is less than beloved, then why is he running so far ahead of Goldwater? The answer is easy: Goldwater’s public image is that of a man with an itchy finger on the nuclear trigger, while Johnson has managed to portray himself as the responsible, restrained keeper of nuclear peace.

Interviews with people of all political persuasions, at all economic and educational levels, in all parts of the U.S., find this sentiment constantly repeated. “Goldwater and his nuclear stand,” says Denver Auto Salesman Arnold Grand, “scare me to death.” Says Nashville Trucker John A. Wilson:

“You’ve got to think about all this nuclear stuff. I don’t think it will ever be used, but with Goldwater in there and the way he talks and acts, I’m afraid we could get in a spot where we’d have to use it.”

Atlanta Computer Programmer Dan Roberson says: “Almost everyone I know who’s against Goldwater is afraid he’ll lead the country into war. It’s by far their biggest reason for being against him.” Says a Republican physician from Vermont: “I don’t like President Johnson’s history of political dealings, but I just can’t vote for Goldwater. The man is sincere, but he is dangerous in this day and age. I don’t think he knows what he is going to say next, and you can’t run a country that way in the nuclear age.”

While Goldwater vehemently protests that he is not nuke-happy, it is this reputation that is ruining his chances for election (see following cover story). Unless and until he can rid himself of the image, he hasn’t a hope of entering the White House.