Nov. 4, 1964 - A preliminary national survey indicated today the presence of a powerful Negro political thrust in the overwhelming election victory of the Democratic party.
Estimates from New York Times correspondents throughout the country corroborated estimates of the major civil rights organizations that between 85 and 99% of Negroes’ votes from state to state were cast for the Johnson-Humphrey ticket and helped elect many other candidates for Federal, state, and local offices.
The Negro effort was particularly dramatic in the Northern urban and industrial states such as New York and Illinois.
According to the Vote Profile Analysis of CBS, this was the result largely of increased voter registration and voter participation and a massive transfer of Negroes from the Republican party to the Democratic.
In the 1960 election, it was estimated, 60% of the Negroes’ votes nationwide were cast for Republican candidates. On Tuesday, it was estimated, 90% of the Negroes’ votes went to the Democrats.
The Republican party appears to have lost most of the Negro vote for a long time, according to the Vote Profile Analysis.
The effect of the Negro shift in the North was illustrated in the victory of Robert F. Kennedy over Senator Kenneth Keating in the New York Senate race. According to estimates of the NAACP, there were 580,000 registered Negro voters in the state for this election. Of these, 508,000 were in New York City.
While the Negro vote in the state for the Johnson‐Humphrey ticket, estimated by civil rights organizations at 97 to 98%, played a relatively small part in President Johnson’s crushing victory in New York, it was a major factor in the Kennedy election.
According to estimates, at least 80% of the 508,000 Negro voters in the city cast ballots. This meant that Mr. Kennedy received about 400,000 votes of Negroes in the city. His statewide plurality over Senator Keating was something over 600,000.
Negro civil rights leaders hailed Negro voter participation in the election. Some indicated they believed that the massive turnout in favor of the Democrats marked a step in the direction of greater Negro political activity.
Whitney M. Young Jr., executive director of the Urban League, said of the Negroes’ voting:
“For Negro citizens, it is a milestone. Thanks to the combined efforts of the responsible civil rights leadership across the nation, their unprecedented turnout is growing evidence of their desire to share in the responsibilities as well as the privileges of citizenship.
“It evinces a more sophisticated knowledge of what the vote can achieve to bring relief from poverty and despair which afflicts so many.”
Roy Wilkins, executive director of the NAACP, said:
“We impressed upon the people the importance of the vote. Younger Negroes have given more study to what can be accomplished through the vote and how political developments have an effect on civil rights.”
James Farmer, national director of CORE, said:
“I think it means the beginning of genuine and effective political action.
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