The GOP is at its lowest ebb in forty years. According to a summer Gallup Poll, only one out of every five Americans considers himself Republican; 49 per cent call themselves Democrats, the highest Democratic total since 1965. . . . The least slippage in Republican support was registered among farmers; and unpopular Carter farm policies have led Tom Wicker and the Christian Science Monitor to predict a forty-seat GOP gain in the House in ’78; Kevin Phillips demurs. . . . Surveying Republican decadence, conservative organizations under the direction of Richard Viguerie are shifting to bipartisanship. Ex-GOP Deputy Chairman Eddie Mahe rates “the Viguerie network” as the fourth most potent American political institution, behind Labor, the Democrats, and the Emerging Republican Minority. . . . Sen. Barry Goldwater has warned that if Carter dissolves the Taiwan defense treaty without congressional approval he will be liable for impeachment. . . . Canal notes: Sen. Adlai Stevenson’s mail is running 5,600 against the treaty, five pro. Things are going a little better in St. Louis, where a Globe-Democrat poll found 2,289 against and 29 for.
Thousands of leftists from Germany, Italy, the Scandinavia joined native French demonstrators at Creys-Malville to protest the Super Phénix fast-breeder reactor; one was killed in the ensuing tumult. . . . In energy-related action back home, the Justice Department announces it has found no evidence that New Hampshire Gov. Meldrim Thomson has misused federal funds. Thomson, who supports the Seabrook nuclear power plant, had been accused of doing so by a former energy office worker. . . . Meanwhile in California, Jerry Brown, recently converted to the virtues of technology, held a Space Day. When asked how this accorded with previous gestures (Whale Day, for instance), Brown replied: “I think there’s a certain evolution in one’s program.” . . . Republicans gearing up to seize Brown’s seat next year, among them San Diego mayor Pete Wilson, Attorney General Evelle Younger, and Los Angeles police chief Ed Davis. . . . Bella Abzug, having enthusiastically endorsed a $5-million budget for International Women’s Year, wants $3 million more to continue activities, which have included lobbying for ERA. Sen. Jesse Helms is unconvinced, and has launched an ad hoc investigation into IWY’s affairs.
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