Nation: How Anderson Changes the Race

A TIME poll shows people want him to run, even if he loses

For some of the contenders, the campaign of 1980 was a multimillion-dollar enterprise that consumed as much as two years of their lives. For others it was a brief and quixotic fling. Now, with the seemingly endless set of primaries concluding next week, America's increasingly bizarre process for sorting out its presidential candidates is all but over.

President Jimmy Carter's crushing defeat of Senator Edward Kennedy in last week's Oregon primary put him within easy reach of the majority of delegates necessary for his renomination. Carter has already started planning his fall campaign, and last week began looking for ways to get the support of disappointed Kennedy backers. Declared Carter: "It is time to pull the Democratic Party together and to be generous in victory."

Republican Ronald Reagan, despite a lopsided loss to Challenger George Bush in Michigan, won easily in Oregon and was by many counts already in control of more than half of the Republican convention delegates. Said he: "There is a smell of roses in the air. We'd better start planning for the convention and beyond."

The Third Man, Independent John Anderson, continued his state-by-state efforts to petition his way onto the presidential ballot. His attorneys last week riled suit in Ohio and West Virginia, where they contend that early deadlines or unreasonable requirements deny Anderson access to the ballot. Anderson, buoyed by the fact that he has managed to get onto every state's ballot where deadlines came after his April 24 entry as an independent, said he no longer had any doubts about continuing in the race. "I'm going ahead, and my supporters can feel confident of that."

Thus Campaign 1980 heads into a new and critical phase that at the moment promises a close contest for the presidency. According to the latest national public opinion survey conducted for TIME by Yankelovich, Skelly and White, Inc., none of the three candidates commands a large, devoted following. All three have major handicaps and vulnerabilities.

The survey, conducted among 1,221 registered voters from May 14 to 16,* showed a near standoff between Reagan and Carter, with Anderson still trailing. The percentage figures were Reagan 36, Carter 34, Anderson 23. Since TIME'S last survey, in late March, Anderson's total had risen slightly.

With Anderson not included in a presidential runoff, Reagan still leads Carter by the sliver-thin margin of two percentage points, 44 to 42. This means that today Anderson's independent candidacy draws support from both major party candidates in about equal amounts.

Although Anderson still trails both the President and Reagan in the three-way contest by a sizable margin, he has noteworthy areas of strength. Among voters identifying themselves as independents, Anderson actually leads in the race, edging out Reagan 35% to 34%. Carter trails with this group at 23%. At the same time, Reagan and Carter continue to command the support of their own party members, with Anderson making only minor inroads.