Abstract

Analyzing the Vote: The Effect of Crisis

"Popularity" and "crisis" are the two key words in the explanation of what happened in the U.S. presidential election on November 6, 1956. The political tide developing over the past four years and in the course of the campaign since the conventions, made it reasonably clear that presidential candidate Dwight D. Eisenhower's popularity would be the central feature of the balloting. By mid-October, it looked like an Eisenhower victory with a smaller margin than in 1952, and Democratic control of both houses of the U.S. Congress. Then came the international crisis--the uprisings in Eastern Europe and' the Israeli-British-French moves on Egypt. Instead of an estimated 53 per cent of the popular vote compared with 55 per cent in 1952, Eisenhower received 58 per cent. This last-minute lift is inclined to attribute almost entirely to the frightening international developments.