① Background before the 1948 election

It was hard time for the Democratic Party and Republican’s winning for the 1948 presidential race seemed to be apparent until the day of election. The public seemed to be tiring of the New Deal and its abundant inefficiencies.

After World War II, inflation took off when wartime price controls were lifted and organized labor began striking for higher wages. Americans ware discontented with high taxes, rising cost of living, labor strife, and the Cold War that was brought on with the end of World War II.

In 1946 mid-term congressional elections, the Republican Party took control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives for the first time since 1928 and a public opinion poll taken in December 1946 revealed that only 35 percent of those surveyed supported Truman’s handling of the presidency.

Actually, it is not surprising that until the 1948 presidential election-day, all the public-opinion showed Truman trailing Republican nominee Dewey, sometimes by double digits.