The predominant German population holds authority in high regard, particularly on the family level, and this could mean support for the authority of President Johnson. On the other hand, Germans also have great respect for Wisconsin universities and colleges, which are among the best in the nation. Even Joe McCarthy, who searched Harvard and other Eastern universities for Reds, carefully refrained from implicating the University of Wisconsin--despite its long liberal and socialist traditions.

THE fact the Eugene McCarthy has mobilized Wisconsin colleges -- both students and faculties -- will mean additional votes for him. Harvard students may be of more marginal value, since voters are often uneasy about what they consider "super-sophisticated" Easterners. Harvard volunteers must be prepared to talk politics over beer and bratwurst in cross-roads taverns.

A more imponderable factor in Sen. McCarthy's campaign is the traditional isolationism of German and Scandinavian groups, which has somewhat dissipated since the late '30's. As a result of Catholic and Protestant missionary work in China and Japan, many Wisconsin congregations identify with Asia. The state's stand on the war, however, has never been put to the test.

Probably the biggest plus that McCarthy carries into Wisconsin is his religion. The state is one-third Catholic, and more than 40 per cent of the primary vote will be cast in Catholic Democratic cities in the east. In the 1960 Kennedy-Humphrey contest, it was estimated that up to three-fourths of Wisconsin Catholics voted Catholic.

The Protestant majority consists of several large Lutheran denominations (about one-fourth of the state), as to be expected of a heavily German and Scandinavian ethnic population. The Jewish population is about two per cent and concentrated largely in Milwaukee County.

White "backlash" is an important new force in Wisconsin politics. The 1960 census listed 2.4 per cent of the state's population as "non-white." Over 80 per cent of this group is Negro, with 15 per cent Menomonie Indian. Non-whites make up 3.2 per cent of urban areas and 6.7 per cent of central cities. Since 70,000 of the state's Negroes live in such cities, and only 5,000 in the rest of the state, the race issue has not yet confronted many Wisconsinites. One-tenth of the counties have no significant Negro population.

Racial prejudice nevertheless runs high in rural Wisconsin. Despite liberal state legislation, many small