How did the Korean War affect the 1952 presidential election?

In my opinion, the major impact of the Korean War came
because people were simply tired of that war.  That helped defeat Adlai Stevenson
because he was too connected to President Truman in people's
minds.

Because people were tired of the war, they wanted it
to be over with.  They equated Stevenson with Truman, who had not been able to bring the
war to an end.  They thought that Eisenhower would be more assertive and would get the
war over with one way or another.

Ike helped make people
think that by promising to go to Korea if elected -- this made it seem like he had some
sort of plan without him having to say what that plan
was.

Although Dwight D. Eisenhower might well have won the
1952 election without the Korean War, that war helped him be more certain of victory. 
The stalemate in the war and Eisenhower’s credibility as a hero from World War II helped
to seal his victory.

By 1952, the war in Korea had become a
stalemate.  As such, it had become rather unpopular in the United States.  Eisenhower
used the people’s unhappiness over the war to his benefit.  One of the major themes of
his campaign was that the Democrats had mishandled the war.  He charged that the
Democrats had not been sufficiently prepared for a war.  Because of that, he said, the
war had ended up in a stalemate.  He had credibility on such issues because of WWII.  He
promised to find a way to end the war if elected.  This, too, helped make him more
popular.

With Ike’s popularity, it is possible that he
would have won the election regardless.  The war in Korea, however, helped to make him
more popular and thereby helped to ensure his victory in 1952.