AMERICAN POLL

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 25048, 11 November 1944, Page 7

AMERICAN POLL

ROOSEVELT'S VOTE BIGGER MAJORITY SUPPOET IN CONGBESS POST-WAR POLICY (Heed. 11.50 p.m.) NEW YORK, Nov. 9 Mr Roosevelt's majority in the United States Presidential election has increased steadily. He has won 36 States with 432 electoral votes, and Mr Dewey has won 12 States with 99 electoral votes. Thin is expected to be the final result of the electoral voting. In the election for Congress the Democrats have increased their majorities in both Houses. In the House of Representatives they have taken 29 seats from the Republicans. Republicans have taken six seats which were formerly held by Democrats and two from other parties. The latest figures are as follows: — Popular Vote. —Mr Roosevelt, 24,184,832; Mr Dewey, 21,180,695. House of Representatives.—Democrats, 239; Republicans, 176; minor parties, 2; undecided, 18. Senate. —Democrats, 59; Republicans, 36; Progressive, 1. 88 Per Cent of Vote Counted So far about 88 per cent of the vote has been tabulated but does not include the Service vote in ten States. The United Press says that with nine seats doubtful, indications are that the Democrats will gain 27 seats in the House of Representatives for a prospective total of 241,. giving them a majority of 23. The Associated Press says that Mr Roosevelt's victory was won by the smallest popular vote since 1918. When the votes totalled 44,391,849, they gave Mr Roosevelt a lead of 2,865,053. Four years ago Mr Roosevelt won by 4,958,711 over Mr Willkie in a popular vote of 49,815,312. by over 10,000,000 from Mr Landon in 1.936, and bv over 7,000,000 from .Mr Hoover in 1932. According to the political experts of both parties, the simplest explanation of Mr Roosevelt's victory was the relatively small but sufficient majority of voters who were unwilling to change the Commander-in-Chief in the midst of war, particularly since they believed that Mr Roosevelt has more ability and determination to make an enduring peace through international co-opera-tion than Mr Dewey. Mr Dewey failed to convince the_people that he was big enough for the job and his would probably have been the fate, of any other Republican candidate* Senate and Post-war Plans The Washington correspondent of the New York Times says Administration leaders think that the chances of the Senate's approval of the Dumbarton Oaks security organisation proposals have been greatly enhanced as a result of the defeat of eight leading isolationist Senators. In almost every case they will be replaced by Senators favourable to the Administration's plans. A columnist in the New York WorldTelegram, which strongly supported Mr Dewey, says: "The way the symbols of isolationism were plucked off by the voters should serve as a warning when Congress takes up proposals for post-war international organisation and other international collaboration measures. Wherever better-known isolationists showed up with sufficient identification, the voters cut them down or frightened them so badly that they should remember their narrow escapes. Some Senators in the same category who were not up for re-election this year were probably grateful that they were not in the line of fire. Position Strengthened "Mr-Roosevelt's position regarding international co-operation should be strengthened by the lesson from the voters," the writer states. "Mr Roosevelt himself singled out Senator Nye and Mr Fish in a foreign policy speech as isolationists who would assume positions of power if the Republicans won the election." , The New York Post, in an editorial, says: "Who says democracy does not work? President Wilson in 1918 lost Congress and went to the peace tables with an isolationist Congress at his back, its knife poised. Congress sank the knife a few months later and killed the peace. This time President Roosevelt will go to the peace table with the people and Congress at the back ofhim. The people are writing a new ending to the tragedy of Wilson and the lost peace;"

TOKIO COMMENT • NO COMPROMISE PEACE (Recct. 7.30 p.m.) NEW YORK. Nov. 9 The Tokyo radio says: '.'Mr Roosevelt's re-election means that there cannot be a compromise peace. Our only path is to recognise the beastly character of the American people and renew our determination to crush America. "The Japanese people expected Roosevelt to win the election. Indeed, he was a ten to one favourite in Tokyo betting, but Japan was amazed at the size of the Democrat victory in Congress, which indicates that the Americans are aggressively behind the imperialistic policy for "world domination." SUPPLYING GERMANS CHARGE AGAINST SPAIN (Reed. 11.50 p.m.) LONDON, Nov. 10 The Paris correspondent of the Associated Press says the newspaper Combat alleges that Spanish ships are supplying the German garrisons holding out on the Garonne estuary and elsewhere on the Atlantic coast. BOMBS ON SWITZERLAND (Reed. 5.35 p.m.) LONDON, Nov. 9 A Swiss communique stated that American planes today violated the northern frontier of Switzerland. A bridge over the Rhine near Diessenholen was heavily damaged and a railway bridge near Rheinfelden was destroyed by bombs. TANKS VERSUS BOATS (Herd. 0..'!0 p.m.) LONDON, Nov. 10 Canadian'tanks sank a small German fleet consisting of one corvette and three converted landing craft in the harbour of Zi.ipe, on Schomven Island, above North Beveland, says Renter's correspondent. The boats, each manned by 50 or 60 men, had been ordered to Zijpe to guard against ail Allied invasion of the island*