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University Daily Kansan Thursday. May 19, 1960
Nixon and Kennedy Polled As Top Two
Pv Bill Blundell
(Editor's note: This is the second in a series of articles on the voting preferences of KU students and the factors behind these preferences.)
In a student preferential poll taken last week, two presidential candidates were virtually deadlocked or first place in the ratings — Richard Nixon and John Kennedy.
The poll also revealed a swell of Catholic support for the Massachusetts Senator.
Four hundred and sixty-two students taking one or more political science courses were asked to rank the seven major presidential candidates in the order of their preference.
A previous question asked the students if they preferred a Democrat or a Republican as our next president. The responses were then classified by party preference and the reactions to each candidate tabulated on this basis.
Since five of the seven candidates were Democrats, comparing them with Republicans on percentage of party vote gained would be useless. Instead, an arbitrary "popularity index" was used. This index was determined by adding all of the first, second and third choices registered by all students for each candidate.
Sixty one of these last choice ratings came from Democrats. This may be illustrative of the violent negative reaction to Mr. Nixon that political observers have noted within the Democratic party.
The top-ranked candidate was Richard Nixon, with a popularity index of 299. He was ranked first by 73.6 per cent of those who said they would prefer a Republican president, but 65 students ranked him last.
Sen. John Kennedy was treading on Mr. Nixon's heels with a popularity index of 296. He tallied 45 percent of the first place choices made by those who said they would prefer a Democrat as president. Only 21 rated him last, 7 in his own party.
Showing surprising strength for a man who has declared himself out of the race, Nelson Rockefeller took third place with a popularity index of 211. With Mr. Nixon his only party opposition, however, he was able to win but 15.3 per cent of the Republican first place choices.
In a virtual tie with Mr. Rockefeller was Adlai Stevenson, with a popularity index of 208. He got 26.8 per cent of the Democratic first-place choices.
(Sen. Humphrey recently announced the withdrawal of his candidacy after he was decisively defeated by Sen. Kennedy in the Wisconsin and West Virginia primaries.)
Hubert Humphrey was fifth-ranked with a popularity index of 150, but got only 3 per cent of the Democratic first-place choices.
Stuart Symington finished sixth with a popularity index of 115 and 7.7 pec cent of his party's first-place choices. He was rated last by 95 students, 37 in his own party.
Lyndon Johnson brought up the rear with a popularity index of 95 and 5.7 per cent of the Democratic first-place choices.
There was a marked tendency for students to depart from the party
No More Men In Froshawks
The booming men's voices in the Froshawks section will be missing at next year's athletic events. It has been decided that the Froshawks will be restricted to women.
Beth Sterling, Canton junior and Froshawks adviser for Jay Janes, said that it was also decided to limit the number of members to 200 in the pop club organization because the Jay Janes and the KuKus feel that this would encourage more participation in the organization.
This past year was the first year in the past few years that the freshman pep club was co-educational.
Miss Sterling said that next year the freshman women will have to apply to be participants in the pep club.
The two hundred women will be chosen on their interest in pep clubs and what they feel that they can contribute to the Froshawks. Miss Sterling said that final selection of Froshawks women will be made by a committee of Jay Janes.
votes and select the candidates of their choice on the basis of personal qualifications. The selections crossed party lines at many points.
For example, 15 students who said they would prefer a Republican president ranked Adalai Stevenson first of all the candidates, while Nelson Rockefeller polled 9 first-place votes among avowed Democrats.
An analyst's o2 comments made by students on their presidential choice showed that many said they would probably vote party A because they thought the one opposition candidate they would vote for above all others would not be nominated. On the candidate ranking question, they were able to make a free choice.
The tendency to break away from party affiliation was stronger in the second and third-place rankings.
Richard Nixon . . . leads . . .
Sen. Kennedy was the magnet that drew many Republican choices. Seventy-one GOI students ranked him second — more than 20 per cent of the total Republican strength.
Mr. Nixon invaded the enemy camp and picked up 37 Democratic second-place rankings, 17.7 per cent of that party total.
As Sen. Kennedy pushed his candidacy, widespread and often virulent controversy raged over the possible existence of the "Catholic vote." Sen. Kennedy stated that he would scrupulously observe the traditional U.S. position of separation of Church and state and pushed the religious issue aside, as did his opponent in the Wisconsin and West Virginia primaries. Sen. Humphrey.
In an attempt to analyze Sen. Kennedy's popularity index, the voting patterns of the Catholic students polled were examined. This revealed the presence of significantly strong sentiment favoring the Massachusetts Senator.
But the religious issue raised its head to pique them both. In Wisconsin, Sen. Humphrey had to disassociate himself from a group of Protestant clergy who were endorsing his candidacy mainly because they opposed Sen. Kennedy's Catholicism. In West Virginia, Sen. Kennedy was attacked on religious grounds by clergymen and civic leaders.
Of 51 Catholics polled, 30 ranked Sen. Kennedy their first choice for the presidency. Only two students ranked him lower than third. Of thirteen Republican Catholics, nine ranked him second.
Sixty-six per cent of the Catholics polled said they preferred a Democratic president.
In 1956, young Catholic Democrats.
CANDIDATE POPULARITY
Name Democratic rankings Republican rankings Total (popularity index) 1st 2nd 3d 1st 2nd 3d Nixon 3 37 37 173 35 14 299 Kennedy 94 41 32 4 71 54 296 Rockefeller 9 28 28 36 61 49 211 Stevenson 56 33 38 15 29 37 208 Humphrey 19 43 25 4 11 48 150 Symington 16 19 26 1 12 41 115 Johnson 12 13 24 2 18 26 95
MINORITY GROUP PREFERENCES
group Democratic preference Republican preference Catholics 38 (74.5%) 13 (25.5%) Jews 8 (88.8%) 1 (11.2%) Negroes 10 (100%) 0 (0%)
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encouraged by a report that showed an increased positive reaction to a Catholic presidential nominee since the 1940 elections, made an all-out bid for the vice presidential slot on
Lyndon Johnson trails.
the Democratic ticket. John Kennedy was the candidate. The drive sputtered and died, but the surprising strength shown by Kennedy on the first ballot made many political analysts and party leaders pause. The stage was set for 1960.
Republian party leaders will be aiming at the vote of another powerful group in November—the Negroes. In the 1948, 1952 and 1956 elections, Negroes were Democratic by a substantial margin. In 1956, the Republicans were able to poll only 36 percent of the Negro vote. This was the highest percentage polled by the GOP in the three elections.
The 10 Negro students polled at KU went Democratic to a man. Six of the 10 gave Sen. Kennedy first ranking, three chose Hubert Humphrey and one chose Lyndon Johnson.
After the students ranked their candidates, they were asked to write out their reasons for choosing a particular candidate. The answers they gave will be discussed tomorrow in a report on voter attitudes and reliance on mass media for political information.
Riots Flare As Japan Approves Security Pact
TOKYO — (UPI) — The lower house of the Japanese Diet (Parliament) today ratified the controversial Japan-U.S. Security Treaty.
Ratification came over the violent objections of opposition party members who first tried to prevent the house from convening and then boycotted the session.
Outside, under a steady rain. 20,000 demonstrators shouted anti-American slogans, snake-danced and
Fist fights broke out three times during a wild night, twice in the corridors and finally in Parliament itself, where opposition Socialists sought to "kidnap" House Speaker Ichiro Kiyose. But the government succeeded in its drive toward ratification of the treaty, which will keep U.S. forces in Japan.
song Communist songs in time with music blaring from loudspeaker vans.
nuse hearing from troops The vote to ratify came after Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi's ruling Liberal-Democratic party finally managed to extend the Diet session for 50 days to jam through the treaty.
America Is Events Topic
C. S. Griffin, assistant professor of history, and J. E. Fields, professor of political science, will discuss the question. "Is America Becoming Totalitarian" at 4 p.m. tomorrow at the Current Events Forum. The faculty members will discuss the following questions: Will your vote count? Do you approve of our spy planes? Could you stop them? Is our government really by the people?
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