Did the Cold War favor the GOP?

[Mechaman]

I actually disagree.

On the Presidential level this might've been true to some extent.  However, on the Congressional level this was blatantly false.  If anything, I think there is an argument to be made that the Cold War actually favored a liberal Congress that would pass expansive government programs to make capitalism as an effective alternative to communism winnable.  Sure, the Democratic Party was more of a big tent back then, but even in many Southern areas many of the Democratic representatives and senators were at least economically populist.
The New Deal was a game changer that if anything forced the Republicans to make concessions to blue collar concerns.  Which is why politicians like Leverett Saltonstall, Republican Governor of Massachusetts from 1939-1945, were actually mediating with strikers in union conflicts and the 1950's GOP praised the record high number of union membership in the country.

The problem is, of course, that it's quite hard to find a national candidate who can appeal to such a wide party.  Winning as a Democrat on the state level in Michigan or Washington or Georgia is a bit easier than trying to win all three states at once, am I right?  Especially considering that a national candidate had to juggle with how to appeal to various cultures/demographics while also finding "the sweet spot" on communism and the Soviet threat.  THe Republicans, though weaker on the Congressional level, at least had the advantage of being perceived as the party of "Americanism".  They just had to tailor a message that appealed to bread, butter, god, happy thoughts and feelings, oh and patriotism!  That's a lot easier than crafting a national platform that people who can't stand each other (looking at you Southern Whites, Irish Catholics, Jews, blacks, Hispanics, union members, free traders, Baptists, atheist intellectuals, yada yada) can agree on top of Cold War politics.

In short, the politics of the Cold War had various effects on the political beast depending on what level you are talking about.  On local and state levels I believe, until Reagan at least, that it overwhelmingly favored Democratic politics.  On the national level, obviously Republican due to the natural complications that arose with the wide New Deal coalition.