Date: Fri 01-Nov-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: STEVEB

Quick Words:

presidential-election-history

Full Text:

History Shows Newtown Prefers Republican Presidents

B Y S TEVE B IGHAM

National polls show President Bill Clinton with a huge lead on Republican

challenger Bob Dole in the days leading up to next Tuesday's election, but if

he manages to win in Newtown, it will be the first time in over 30 years that

a Democratic presidential candidate has won the town's support.

The last time Newtown voted for a Democratic President was in 1964 when local

voters went along with the rest of the nation and elected Lyndon B. Johnson

over Barry Goldwater, 2,496-2,326. Other than that, Newtown has been a solidly

Republican town in presidential election years.

If this year's mock polls at Newtown High School and the middle school are any

indication, Newtown just might go Democrat this time around. At the high

school, 48 percent of those who voted gave the nod to Clinton, 31 percent

voted for Dole and 21 percent went with Ross Perot.

At the middle school, 48 percent of the students pulled the lever for Clinton,

36 percent for Dole, and 16 percent for Perot.

A second high school vote was scheduled for this week.

Even when Jimmy Carter was elected to the White House in 1976, 5,062 Newtown

voters backed Republican Gerald Ford, while Mr Carter only polled 2,946. The

same held true in 1992. Bill Clinton knocked off George Bush nationwide, but

here in town, Bush received 4,940 votes to Clinton's 3,783. In 1960 John F.

Kennedy was elected president, but Newtown voters were in favor of Richard

Nixon, 2,856-1,517.

Since 1960, the biggest margin Newtown's voters ever gave a Republican

presidential candidate was in 1984, when Ronald Reagan won 6,835 votes to

Walter Mondale's 2,697. Locally, Reagan easily beat Mr Carter in 1980, running

away with a 5,113-2,365 landslide, and in 1988, Bush beat Dukakis,

6,220-3,403.

In 1972, Richard Nixon received 5,165 Newtown votes to George McGovern's

1,887.