The Bismarck tribune., 1924-09-26
COOLIDGE LEAD
LARGE, DIGEST
POLL RECORDS
President First in Second
Weeks Nation Wide
Straw Vote Plan
LAFOLLETTE SECOND

E Coolidge again leads in the second
weeks returns of The Literary Di.
gest's huge presidential poll pub.
lished today with LaFollette second
and Davis third.
Of total of 272,299 votes tabu-
lated, Coolidge has 162,473, LaFol-
lette, 63,534, and Davis, 42,611.
In California, LaFollette is run
ming Coolidge a strong second hav-
ing 1899 tallies to the Presidents
22,s48. Davis is leading the field in
Texas and Virginia and is also ahead
of LaFollette in, Ohio, Kansas, and
West Virginia. In all other States
the Senator from Wisconsin is lead
Ing the Democratic candidate.
".The poll at first blush," The Di-
gese states, "may not seem very
cheering to the Democrats, but a
slight inspection will show the fact
that, with two exceptions, the Demo-
cratic States are still to be heard
from and when they begin to flood
IN their ballots, the figures may
have another story to tell.
"!n the meantime it may be in
teresting to observe how firmly the
LaFolette strength is holding up in
California. The first returns, re-
ported last week, gave Coolidge
l,624, LaFollette, 1861, and Davis
23s. This week, the figures stand
Coolidge 22,848, LaFollette 19,829,
and Davis 3,0OS. Most Republican
political prophets have placed Cali
fornia in the certain column for
Coolidge, and founded their compu-
tation on total electoral vote in
which the Pacific States thirteen
ballots were included.
"California, it is recalled, upset
one election, not long since, and,
from present indications. the State
is far from firmly planted in the Re-
publican column.
"The drift of votes, shown in a
general way by tabulation of How
the Same Voters Voted in 1920,'
seems to suggest loss of Republi-
can strength to LaFollette in Cali
fornia, a much smaller loss in
Illinois, Pennsylvania, and New York.
Analysing the vote in more detail,
it appears from the markings of the
ballot, that, of Mr.. Coolidge's 22,848
votes from California 1876 of the
votes were Republicans in the last
elections, 1,431 were Democrats, and
1854 either cast no vote or neglect
ed to declare their previous affilia-
ton.
"Of Mr.. LaFollettes vote of
1899, 10,075 say that they voted
the Republican ticket in 1920 and
4,010 say they voted Democratic
with. 5,134 not voting. 1t appears,
therefore, that Mr.. LaFollette is
drawing heavily from both sides in
the Coast State.
In Illinois, the LaFollette vote of
1926 is drawn from 2,31S former
Democrats and 6,715 former Re-
publicans, with 1858 who did not
vote in 1920. Mr.. Coolidge's vote
Of 5000 in the same state is drawn,
28,635 from former Republicans,
and 1856 from former Democrats,
with 5,647 not specifying.
"Mr. Davis vote of STAT, how
ever, includes almost as many for
mer Republican votes as Mr.. Cool
idge's include former Democrats. In
spite of his total vote of less than
onefourth of the number credited
to Mr.. Coolidge, the Democratic can
didate has captured 1856 ex-Republi-
cans. The whole matter of this
floating vote, will, Of course, gain
in significance with increasing re-
turns"
I. "Of course" The Digest explains,
cit must be taken into consideration
that the present poll is just getting
under way, with 100000 ballots per
day still being mailed out to various
parts of the country. that SO of the
4S States are still to be heard from,
and that there is thus far only a
comparatively small vote from the
twelve States now reported. Two
weeks may considerably change the
complexion of the returns
postal returns come back quicker
from the cities than from the rural
districts so that the early returns
>. in poll of this. sort represents a
preponderance Of city voters just
as the early returns on election
night are from the centers of popu-
lation. ~.a4
"Thc farming districts will be
heard from later. The 100000
ballots of The Digest's poll have
been distributed in such way that
the farming population is sure of it's
full quota of ballots, and farmers, by
and large, are likely to be more
ready than are the city dwellers, to
take an interest in marking their
ballots in such a political test as