Poll: Dewey shades whole field in Pennsylvania GOP favor
New York Governor increases lead with 51% of votes; Willkie runs second; MacArthur third
By George Gallup, Director, American Institute of Public Opinion
The popularity of Governor Thomas E. Dewey as a presidential candidate has increased sharply since early December among Republican voters polled by the Institute through Pennsylvania.
The New York Governor is not only the top choice of Pennsylvania Republicans interviewed in the survey, but receives more votes than all other candidates combined. Pennsylvania’s delegation to the GOP convention will have a voting strength of 70 – second only to Governor Dewey’s home state, New York.
A cross-section of voters in Pennsylvania shown a list of men most frequently mentioned as possible presidential candidates and asked to name their present choice. Based on those who named a Republican, the results in the present survey and in a comparative study last December are given below:
| Today | December 1943 | |
|---|---|---|
| Dewey | 51% | 36% |
| Willkie | 22% | 29% |
| MacArthur | 18% | 19% |
| Stassen | 4% | 5% |
| Bricker | 3% | 5% |
In the latest survey, California Governor Earl Warren and Eric Johnston, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, each received 1%. In the December poll, Senator Robert Taft of Ohio received 6% of the vote.