Leading the Pack

For a long time Pollster George Gallup was one of the few people in the U.S. to believe Adlai Stevenson's statements that he would not run again for President, consequently kept Stevenson's name off the Gallup poll of 1960 Democratic presidential possibilities. It would, the pollsters said, only distort the count for the real candidates. But Gallup heard so much Stevenson talk that he put him back on, last week put out a report that showed Stevenson at the head of the pack with 23%. The contenders, and their changes in standing since last November:

Latest Nov. Survey 1957 Stevenson 23% -- Kennedy 19 19 Kefauver 16 26 Johnson 12 11 Symington 4 5

Also-rans were such hopeful Governors as Michigan's G. Mennen Williams and New Jersey's Robert Meyner.

For Stevenson backers who might begin to get that dizzy feeling, Gallup had some bad news: Vice President Richard Nixon's tour through Latin America (TIME, May 5, et seq.) boosted his political stock substantially, for the first time put him ahead of Democrat Stevenson in the "trial heat" popularity votes that Gallup kept on running between just about any possible pair of candidates from the two parties. In March Nixon got 47% against Stevenson's 53%; in the last poll Nixon drew 53% to Stevenson's 47%.

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