Carter popularity slumps as party nears convention

Press, 9 August 1980, Page 9

Carter popularity slumps as party nears convention

NZPA Washingtoni A tattered, beleaguered; Democratic Party will open, its- forty-eighth presidential' nominating convention ini New York next week, with a; divisive rules fight first on! the agenda. President Jimmy Carter, his popularity at an all-time low, faces the stiffest challenge to any Democratic White House incumbent since President Franklin : Pierce was denied renomination by his party in 1856. , But the President’s only l head-on challenger, the once-fabled Senator Edward; Kennedy, has been judged by Democratic primary elec-i tion and caucus voters to be even more flawed, The legacy of Chappaquiddick, a troubled marriage, and other questions of “character” have thrown the Kennedy family charisma!' into eclipse, leaving the senator only strong enough! to mount a final harrassing' action on Mr Carter’s flanks.l So Jimmy Carter of Georgia seems assured of! winning renomination easily,] but only under the serious c question of how much that! nomination is worth in the; face of a rising Republican; surge. ! As the 3331 Democratic i delegates begin to gather ini New York, the latest Galluph poll reports yet another gain'

I for the Republican nominee,i I Ronald Reagan, the former! factor and Governor of Cali-| [forma appointed by the' ,Grand Old Party in Detroit: past month. I Mr Reagan now wins the support of 45 per cent of American registered voters, to 31 per cent for Mr Carter and 14 per cent for the Independent candidate, John Anderson, Gallup states. In the last Gallup match-j up in mid-July, Mr Reaganj led with 37 per cent, to 34 jPer cent for Mr Carter, and' !21 per cent for Mr Ander- ! son. ■ j Ihe President thus seems] .fated to end the week at op- | posite poles from his posi-l tion upon being nominated] in New York four years ago, when he emerged from the convention with a whopping lead of 30 points over the tarnished Republican incumjbent, Gerald Ford. By mounting a ragged, erI ratic northern autumn Gen- ' eral Election campaign, how!ever, Mr Carter managed to; .blow that advantage corn-! i pletely, finally beating Mr| I Ford by only a razor-thin! margin. As in other contested con-' ; ventions, the key showdown ! will come well before the : (balloting for the nomination; itself. j This year the President’s | power will be tested soon I after the first session of the

I convention opens Monday (afternoon (New York time, (Tuesday New Zealand time), (and the proposed rules come lup for final adoption in early evening. The package includes a new “binding” rule which would require all delegates to vote on the first ballot for the candidate under whose banner they were elected. I Since Mr Carter has about . 1990 delegates and Mr Kennedy only about 1218 — 'with 1666 needed to win the nomination — enforcement [of the binding rule would (assure a Carter victory. i So the Kennedy forces,! (and a loosely -organised [ separate faction working for an “open convention” will make a last-ditch effort to block adoption of the binding rule. The Carter campaign manager, Robert Strauss,' concedes that some of the delegates committed to Mr Carter will nevertheless vote against the rule, but asserts that the number will be insignificant and “we’re going to win that one big.” Kennedy spokesmen dispute that, naturally, but innependent surveys tend to support Mr Strauss’s claim. A nation-wide sampling of Carter . delegates last week indicated that no more than 10 per cent might oppose the President on the rule.