Election '82: Trimming the Sails

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The Democrats responded by counterattacking. Tip O'Neill and Senator Edward Kennedy both raised the specter of a secret Republican plan to reduce Social Security benefits. But in general, the Democrats concentrated on assigning responsibility for the recession to the Republicans, calling Reagan's program a failure and inequitable. "It's not fair, it's Republican," proclaimed their ads. It was a case they couldn't fully sell.

The intensity of the debate over national issues, as well as heated state contests and ballot referendums, contributed to a slightly higher voter turnout than in past mid-term elections. Curtis Gans, an analyst of voting trends, estimates that 41% of those eligible turned out at the polls Tuesday.

Congressional elections tend to be a parochial mixture of personalities and local concerns, and are usually not settled by national issues. But to a large extent the national recession came home to America, like it did to Peoria, as a local issue this year. This was particularly evident in Michigan, where the 16.1% unemployment rate is the highest in the nation. In Pontiac, where the devastated auto industry has created a whopping 31.7% unemployment rate, former Democratic Congressman Robert Carr handily won a rematch against the Republican who upset him in 1980, Jim Dunn. "Of course this was a referendum on Reaganomics," said Carr the day after the election. "Voters don't want to bear the burden of this experiment any longer." Agreed Dunn, whose literature avoided even mentioning his Republican affiliation: "Unemployment was the No. 1 issue."

A study of individual House races shows that discontent over Reagan's handling of the economy played a major role in most Democratic gains in the industrial Midwest, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Texas. One Pennsylvania showdown featured Eugene Atkinson, who crossed the aisle last year to become a Republican convert at the height of Reagan's popularity. The voters resoundingly turned out the turncoat (61% to 39%) when he attempted to defend Reaganomics to the unemployed steelworkers.

Unemployment also helped pave the trail for Democratic gubernatorial victories, particularly that of former Peace Corps Director Richard Celeste in Ohio. His opponent, Congressman Clarence Brown, was an ardent backer of Reaganomics, not the most popular philosophy in a state where 13.8% of the work force is idle. A wave of discontent from the depressed steel towns of western Pennsylvania almost deprived Republican Governor Richard Thornburgh of what was supposed to be an easy reelection. New Jersey Businessman Frank Lautenberg hammered away at Reaganomics to help overcome Republican Millicent Fenwick's personal popularity and win a Senate seat.