Evening star., 1961-11-05
JERSEY
Continued From First Pagl

D
sationS about the two men.
Virtually all the voters strong
ly rejected any suggestion that
they could or should be influ-
Ienced by the Endorsements of
the rival party heads.
Hell no, that doesn't influ-
ence me-" a Morristown backer
of Mr.. Mitchell declared.
That's all politics. Kennedy
and Eisenhower, they've got
the responsibility to try and
help the man that's running
for their party. but I don't
have any responsibility to obey
them"
A Princeton woman who drove
down to Trenton to see the
President Thursday night said
firmly, II had made up my
mind to vote for Hughes before
that. Mr.. Kennedy gave a fine
speech, but frankly 1 would not
have much respect for anyone
who could not find more sub
.stantial reasons than he gave
for supporting Judge Hughes"
Variety Of Influences
The so voters interviewed
while no scientific cross-section
of the State-showed the Vari-
ETY. of influences at work in the
election and the impossibility
of interpreting Tuesdays State
results as a judgment on the
strength of weakness of the
Kennedy administration.
Over all, these voters have
made a slight shift-of less
than 3 per cent-toward the
Republicans since 1860. If the
shift could be projected to a
Statewide vote, it would give
Mr.. Mitchell a majority of 92,-
900 in a total vote Of 2.3 mil
lion, compared to Mr.. Ken
nedy's 22,000-vote edge among
last November's almost 2.8 mil
lion voters.
More significant than such
hazardous guesses on. the State
wide outcome are the indica-
tions Of switches from 1860 po-
sitions.
In this sample of so, three
Kennedy voters are balloting
for Mr.. Mitchell and four others
are either undecided or do not
plan to vote. All seven, how
ever, said they would vote for
Mr.. Kennedy again if he were
running for President now
against former Vice President
Nixon.
Kennedy Boosts His Stock
On the other side, only one
1860 Nixon voter is switching
to Mr.. Hughes. Two other Nix
onites are undecided.
However, there are three
Mitchell supporters who voted
for Mr.. Nixon in 1860, who said
they would switch to Mr.. Ken
nedy if a presidential election
were held now.
Over all, in summary, Mr..
Mitchell is running 2.3 percent
ahead Of Mr.. Nixon's 1860 pace
in this group Of so voters, but
Mr.. Kennedy has improved his
position in a theoretical re-
match by So percent.
This suggests one reason why
it may have been in Mr.. Ken
nedy's interest to speak in New
Jersey even if Mr.. Hughes loses
Tuesdy. The Trenton talk
may we'll have boosted his own
rising stock in a State he barely
carried last year.
Another benefit, less theo-
retical. is the gratitude he has
earned from the professionals
! in the New jersey Democratic
Party. The New Jersey delega-
ton did not back Mr.. Kennedy
for the nomination last year
and relations between the
White House and important
elements in the State party
have been strained.
Party Strain Eased
Mr.. Kennedy's appearance
for Mr.. Hughes-his only cam
paign speech of the year-did
much to ease that strain. A
New Jersey Democrat close to
the White House put it this
way:
If the President had re-
fused to come in here and
Hughes had lost by a small
margin, there would have been
no stopping the talk among the
pros that Kennedy cost us the
Governorship. Hughes is still
behind and 1 don't think Ken
'lnedy's visit is going to put him
: over.
IF he does win, WOW! But