Nation: Carter's Rousing Revival

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Riding a wave of patriotism, the President becomes the front runner

He asked that Americans fly the flag to indicate support for the 50 U.S. hostages in Iran. Across the country last week, flags flew. He asked for letters to the hostages. From every corner of the nation, the mail poured forth. The national Christmas tree that he had refused to illumine remained dark behind the White House as a reminder of the hostages' plight. And then, in response to Tehran's renewed threats to put the hostages on trial for spying, he threatened economic sanctions and even a naval blockade to cut off the world's commerce with Iran.

This was Jimmy Carter, President, leading the U.S. in a way that, until the Iranian crisis erupted in November, the former Governor of Georgia had not managed in his three years in the White House. Through those first thousand days, Carter had stumbled and tripped, scored some victories, but lost his way many times. Under his Administration, the economy had worsened, with inflation moving to levels higher than any since the end of World War II and with the threat of a serious recession growing more real each week.

On balance, the American people had judged Carter to be inept. So inept, indeed, that Senator Edward M. Kennedy, before announcing his candidacy last month, held a 2-to-l lead over Carter as the choice for the Democratic presidential nomination. All that has now changed. Riding a wave of patriotic fervor and a degree of unanimity unseen in this country since the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, Jimmy Carter has suddenly become, according to the latest polls, the solid choice to be renominated and re-elected to a second term in the White House.

According to a survey of public opinion conducted for TIME Dec. 10 through Dec. 12 by Yankelovich, Skelly and White Inc., Carter leads Kennedy 53 to 33 among Democrats and independents.* That result, obtained from telephone interviews with 1,041 registered voters, reflects one of the most dramatic political turnabouts in modern American political history. Before the Iranian crisis, which began with the embassy seizure on Nov. 4, Carter trailed Kennedy by ten points, meaning that he has surged 30 percentage points in one month. As recently as August, Kennedy led Carter by 33 percentage points, which means there has been a shift of 63 percentage points in four months. An even more ominous sign for the Kennedy candidacy is the Yankelovich finding that among Democrats, even those who call themselves liberal Democrats, Kennedy's once commanding lead has been erased.

The Carter lead over Kennedy covers all parts of the country. In Kennedy's previous stronghold, the Northeast, Carter leads 47 to 39. In the West, where Carter failed to carry a single state against Gerald Ford in 1976 and where Kennedy has been strong, Carter is ahead 49 to 35. At the same time, Jerry Brown has virtually been pushed off the board as a serious presidential candidate. Carter leads him 71 to 16 nation wide.

The revival in Carter's political standing has occurred not only because of widespread approval of his handling of the hostage crisis (two-thirds say he has managed the situation "just right"), but also because Ted Kennedy has declined sharply in the public's esteem.