Evening star., 1948-12-08
Election Totals Show
Truman Is ActuaIIya
Minority President
FoiIed to Win Majority
By 4o7,3l2 Votes; Has
Received No Mandate
Bv David Laurence

after elections Cnat tne HlhJo0AIy
of the American people" have
spoken seems not to have been ac-
curate as to the presidential elec-
tion of November last. Actually
q majority of the people voted
against President Truman as their
Chief Executive for the next four
years.
Mr.. Truman will be known In his
torv as q minority" President-the
first In that category in 80 years.
For the latest tabulation Of elec-
ton returns by the United Press
shows that 24,454,517 people voted
against Mr.. Truman and 24,047 ,2O5
voted for him. Thus by 407,312
votes MIR. Truman failed to win a
majority.
If, however, the Thurmond, WAL
lace and Truman votes are added up
and considered as segments Of the
Democratic Party vote, it will be
found that the votes not cast for
Dewey totaled 26,354, ,903, or 1885,
275 more than the number who
voted for Gov. Dewey.
Non-Republican Vote.
Thus the strength Of the DEM
ocratic Party-or, II 1t be preferred,
the non-Republican vote-is nearly
4,5o0,0O0 votes larger than that of
the Republican Party.
In some States no States rights
balloting was permitted, 50 that
persons who disapproved Of the
Truman civil rights program had
no means Of expression, as they did
In most Southern States.
In some Northern States, like
Illinois, where the Wallace candi-
dacy was kept off the ballot, or In
Ohio where the confusion Of inde-
pendent electors was present and
the same chance to vote for Henry
Wallace was not clearly given as in
other States, 1t is possible to say
that the votes cast for Mr.. Truman
did not reflect the wishes of those
voters who did not care for Gov.
Dewey or Mr.. Truman.
There is small comfort In the
fact that the Democratic Party
had more than 1000, 900 majority,
when that same majority is made
up Of persons in the States rights
group and persons from the left
wing Wallace camp.
When an attempt Is made, more
over, to find the mandate" Of the
last election, the task is even more
difficult. For with a President who
was able, with q minority of the
popular votes, to obtain q majority
of the electoral college votes, Just
which policies were wanted by a
majority of the people are by no
means easy to determine.
Cleavage Inside Party.
Any one who says that Mr.. Tru-
man reflects the desires of the
States rights voters because they
were formerly Democrats, or the
wishes of the Wallace voters who
probably also were Democrats four
years ago, ignores altogether the
cleavage inside the Democratic
Party. --.-- .~--..,,.-
Likewise, there were persons In
the South who did not make an
issue Of the civil rights program
but who, as Democrats, reflect still
the point Of view Of their Demo-
cratic Senators and Representa-
tives who have q record of having
opposed Mr.. Truman on the Taft
Hartley law and on tax revision.
It may be doubted also whether
the millions of voters of the con-
servative school in the South go
along with the proposals now being
offered for radical changes in the
tax laws and particularly the i'm
position Of punitive tax measures.
For. these reasons, it is inaccurate
to say that a majority of the Ameri-
can people have voted either for
the repeal of the Taft Hartley Act
or for the revival Of the excess
profits tax law. The claim that
the majority supported Mr.. Truman
will doubtless be made just the
same-and largely because the exact
figures Of the way the ballots are
cast are rarely given as much pub
licity as the electoral college votes
on the night of the election.
Mr.. Truman has won fairly by q
plurality rather than majority of
the votes-but he has received no
mandate" whatsoever from the
majority because the majority Of
the people did not vote for him.
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