University of Virginia Library

State Voting Trend Indicates
Decline in Party Allegiance

Voter allegiance to political parties in
Virginia may be growing "increasingly
fragile" according to a University
political scientist's examination of voting
patterns in the 1970 senatorial campaign.

The wholesale abandonment of party
nominees by voters who cast their ballots
last fall for the independent candidacy of U.S.
Senator Harry F. Byrd Jr. "handily raised the
possibility" that party allegiance may be
weakening, according to Ralph Eisenberg,
associate professor of government and foreign
affairs.

"In terms of numbers of voters in the
primary and general elections last year, both
produced record totals-at polar extremes," Mr.
Eisenberg stated.

Low Voter Turnout

The turnout for the Democratic primary,
with less than 129,000 votes cast, was the
lowest since 1948. And the turnout for the
general election, with more than 946,000 votes
cast, surpassed the totals of all Virginia
elections except the presidential campaigns of
1964 and 1968, Mr. Eisenberg said in the
October issue of the monthly News Letter
published by the University's Institute of
Government.

In numbers of voters, the balloting in the
primary amounted to only 13.6 per cent of the
number of general election votes-a figure lower
than any similar proportion in Virginia at least
as far back as 1925, Mr. Eisenberg stated.

And while the low turnout in the primary
"raised serious questions about how many
consistently loyal Democrats there now are in
Virginia...the poor Republican showing in the
general election posed equally important
questions about the number of solid-core
Republicans," he continued.

Mr. Eisenberg further stated that the major
parties' proportions of the record vote marked
low points for both.

'Liberal Thrust'

While Senator Byrd's victory was a personal
triumph for him, "it also suggests that the
relatively liberal thrust of the major party
candidates was decisively rejected by
Virginians," Mr. Eisenberg wrote.

"The massive sit out of the Democratic
primary in comparison to the large general
election turnout demonstrated voter
indifference to the Democratic choices from
almost all groups of Democrats," he continued.

"The pattern of voting across the State
demonstrated that Senator Byrd won
impressive numbers of normally Republican
voters, as well as a large amount of traditionally
Democratic support, and his majorities included
localities in the State's most urban areas, Mr.
Eisenberg said.

The liberal-moderate struggle between Mr.
Rawlings and Mr. Duval left Mr. Colvin to seek
support from the conservatives, but since few
conservatives effectively participated in the
primary, Mr. Colvin was never seriously in
contention, Eisenberg stated, Mr. Rawlings'
victory was by a plurality of less than one
percentage point.