For the Record

Political analysts summing up Democratic mini-convention in Philadelphia discovered the Democrats were quite ready to fight “Reaganomics” but not Reagan himself. Reason: Pollsters keep telling them the President’s personal popularity remains high. For instance, latest Gallup shows President Reagan scoring higher than candidate Reagan (summer 1980) in personal qualities: strong leadership (60 per cent now, 56 per cent in ’80); bright, intelligent (70 per cent now, 65 then); high moral principles (69 now, 60 then); likable (65 now, 61 then); religious (51 now, 28 then). CBS/NYTimes asked: Is it fair to judge success of Reagan’s economic program now, or will it take more than this year to find out? Will take longer, 75 per cent; is fair to judge now, 21 per cent. Time magazine poll in March found 52 per cent opposing Reagan’s re-election. Now only 41 per cent do.

. . . Washington Post columnist David Broder underwhelmed by Kennedy-Mondale oratory at Philly. “Their oratorical triumphs,” he says, were “salutes to the nostrums of yesteryear that remain popular in Massachusetts and Minnesota.” And, quoting Rep. Steny Hoyer (Md.), “a shrewd politician with the borderstate mentality”: “You can’t elect a President between Massachusetts and Minnesota; you have to move south and west as well.” . . . Who’s sorry now? The ADA, that’s who, for supporting EMK over Jimmy Carter in 1980, because, says ADA president Father Robert Drinan, Jimmy Carter would have been “infinitely preferable” to Reagan in the White House. The ADA has issued 75-page report on Reagan’s “disastrous” Presidency.

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Political analysts summing up Democratic mini-convention in Philadelphia discovered the Democrats were quite ready to fight “Reaganomics” but not Reagan himself. Reason: Pollsters keep telling them the President’s personal popularity remains high. For instance, latest Gallup shows President Reagan scoring higher than candidate Reagan (summer 1980) in personal qualities: strong leadership (60 per cent now, 56 per cent in ’80); bright, intelligent (70 per cent now, 65 then); high moral principles (69 now, 60 then); likable (65 now, 61 then); religious (51 now, 28 then). CBS/NYTimes asked: Is it fair to judge success of Reagan’s economic program now, or will it take more than this year to find out? Will take longer, 75 per cent; is fair to judge now, 21 per cent. Time magazine poll in March found 52 per cent opposing Reagan’s re-election. Now only 41 per cent do.

. . . Washington Post columnist David Broder underwhelmed by Kennedy-Mondale oratory at Philly. “Their oratorical triumphs,” he says, were “salutes to the nostrums of yesteryear that remain popular in Massachusetts and Minnesota.” And, quoting Rep. Steny Hoyer (Md.), “a shrewd politician with the borderstate mentality”: “You can’t elect a President between Massachusetts and Minnesota; you have to move south and west as well.” . . . Who’s sorry now? The ADA, that’s who, for supporting EMK over Jimmy Carter in 1980, because, says ADA president Father Robert Drinan, Jimmy Carter would have been “infinitely preferable” to Reagan in the White House. The ADA has issued 75-page report on Reagan’s “disastrous” Presidency.