THE ADMINISTRATION: Sowing 'Seeds of Real Conflict'

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Fewer than 100 days after his Inauguration, Jimmy Carter is still riding on a flood tide of popularity: a Harris poll released last week showed that 67% of adult Americans are behind him. Simultaneously, however, there were growing signs that Carter was in trouble with a startling array of prominent Americans, covering a wide spectrum of backgrounds and interests. The paradox is a fascinating and perplexing aspect of the new Administration. While winning such obvious broad support among Americans as a whole, Carter's style and policies may also be alienating the leaders whose help he may need to reach the ambitious goals that he has set for himself and the country.

Labor leaders are outraged because Carter does not consult with them more often on economic policies and seems more worried about inflation than unemployment. They are also upset about his refusal to boost tariffs to protect the shoe industry. Farm groups are angry over his penny-pinching proposals to hold down increases in price supports for their crops. On the other hand, businessmen fear that his plans for stimulating the economy, chiefly through a $50 tax rebate for most Americans, will not help the economy and may spur inflation. To add to the worries of the business community, the Labor Department last week announced that wholesale prices leaped 1.1% in March, the steepest increase since October 1975.

Rev Up. Businessmen also suspect that they will be asked to bear the chief burden of Carter's anti-inflation policies, due out this week (see ECONOMY & BUSINESS), and his energy conservation program, which is expected to be announced next week. These fears are partly responsible for tumbling stock prices and the sluggishness of capital investment. The businessmen want Carter to press Congress harder for an increase in the investment-tax credit to rev up the economy.

Carter's economic-stimulus package has passed the House but is stalled in the Senate, chiefly because Democrats are still furious over Carter's threat to cancel 30 "wasteful" dams and other water projects (TIME, April 4). Members of the foreign policy Establishment are in an uproar over Carter's dealings with the Soviets; some critics argue that an overemphasis on human rights and naive negotiating tactics were the chief reasons that Moscow rejected his proposals on SALT (see THE WORLD). Finally, leaders of feminist and minority groups complain that Carter has not appointed enough women or blacks to high posts in his Administration.

Interviews by TIME correspondents show that Americans are not overly worried about these issues: they like the image of the man as a whole. Says Charles Bowser, chairman of the Philadelphia Party, a predominantly black Democratic faction: "Carter has changed the tone for the better. He is making the presidency relate to the people again." Adds Republican Farmer Dennis Richters of Utica, Neb.: "The sincerity is still there. He may be showing some signs of being naive, and people may be questioning some of his gestures, but there is no great unhappiness with him." Polls in California show that Carter now has the highest popularity of any modern President.