Abstract

Polls, Propaganda, Politics: It Looks Like F. D. R.

The Democrats reached a peak with U.S. President Grover Cleveland's election in 1892 and came steadily down to a low in 1904 against U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt. Then the accumulated frustrations, which are projected against the government, brought about a rising demand for change, and the Democrats reached another peak with the election of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson in 1912. The last cycle culminated in the anti-Landon landslide of 1936, and since then the curve of Democratic votes has been downward. The moot point now is: Will the cyclic demand for change carry the Democrats down below the point of victory, or will the war prolong their decline for four more years? The polls of today can be better understood if viewed against this long-term swing.