40th President of the United States Ronald Reagan
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Reagan's appeal and political clout have fundamentally changed political debate; few victorious candidates of either party campaigned for increased domestic spending or the neoisolationist foreign policy approach favored by many Democrats in the 1970s. ABC News exit polls showed that Reagan's popularity remains astonishingly high; his positive approval rating is 62% to 38%. White House Political Director Mitchell Daniels noted that successful Democratic candidates "very wisely slipped every punch and ducked every engagement with the President." Even in Louisiana, where Reagan's policies were blamed for the statewide economic crisis wrought by the collapse of oil prices, Democratic Winner John Breaux declined to criticize the President. He diplomatically called Reagan a "very nice gentleman who gets bad advice."
Given the lack of galvanizing issues, the personality and character of the individual candidates became overriding factors. One result was that a remarkable number of campaign ads were personal attacks, many of them quite venomous. The nature of the contests was particularly harmful for the G.O.P.'s class of '80. Several of those freshman Senators were unknown and undistinguished candidates who squeaked into office on the night the Reagan revolution was born. This year most faced attractive Democrats who had years of experience in the House or held important local political posts. The Democrats won several key races by simply fielding more appealing contenders who knew how to exploit local issues.
The negative ads and dearth of big issues also prompted a lot of people to sit this one out. According to Curtis Gans, director of the Committee for the Study of the American Electorate, this year's turnout was the lowest since 1942 for a midterm election -- 37.3% of eligible voters -- and the third lowest in history. "This was the most ugly and vacuous campaign in recent memory," says he, "and the public responded accordingly."
In some particularly close contests, the President may have turned off voters by attacking Democratic candidates by name. "The Republicans overdid it with Reagan," says Orleans Parish Assessor Ken Carter, who backed Democrat Breaux. "He began to sound like just another politician." In Missouri, former Republican Governor Christopher ("Kit") Bond withdrew an ad in which Reagan warmly endorsed him. Bond feared that it would inspire anti-Reagan votes for his opponent.
The President may have been stung by the poor results of his stumping. When staffers greeted him with a sustained ovation at the Old Executive Office Building last week, Reagan quipped, "Based on my previous experience, I ought to quit right now." Even though Reagan's efforts did not preserve the Republican Senate majority, several of the more mediocre G.O.P. candidates would certainly have lost by larger margins if the President had not campaigned for them.