Even Split on Presidency Shown in Key Precinct

The two Presidential candidates are running practically even in a key West Roxbury precinct which was less than one percent off the national voting percentages in the last two elections.

Thirteen CRIMSON reporters polled the Seventeenth Precinct of the Twentieth Ward over the last three days and found 282 voters intending to vote for President Eisenhower, and 278 for Adlai E. Stevenson with 85 still undecided.

Most striking within the voting statistics was the large number of voters who said they had switched from Eisenhower to Stevenson over the last four years. Seventy-two said they had done so, while only ten asserted they had switched from Stevenson to Eisenhower.

The reasons most frequently cited for switching to the Democratic nominee were health, Vice President Nixon, the "Wall Street cabinet," and a general faith in the Democratic Party.

Of those remaining undecided, over three-fifths had supported Eisenhower four years ago, while about a quarter had voted for Stevenson. The rest did not remember whom they supported.

One Per Cent Variation

In 1948 this precinct's major-party vote went to President Truman 52.5 per cent, to Thomas E. Dewey's 47.5 per cent. The national major-party vote gave Truman 52.4 per cent and Dewey 47.6.

In 1952, 56.1 per cent of the precinct's major-party votes went to Eisenhower, and 43.9 per cent to Stevenson. The national vote went 55.4 per cent for Eisenhower and 44.6 per cent for Stevenson.

The three-day, door-to-door polling reached about half of the precinct's voters and covered every street. This middle-class precinct has mostly small, one-family homes, with a few two-family dwellings. It has a stable population, including many city and state employes. There is a large Irish segment, and many, even Eisenhower supporters, describe themselves as Democrats. It has not been redistricted within the last eight years.

No Statistical Sampling

No Statistical sampling methods were employed, and this fact doubtless accounts in part for a Republican bias in the poll's 1952 returns. According to the voters' claims, those polled went 389 for Eisenhower, and 218 for Stevenson. This would give Eisenhower 64.1 per cent, although he actually drew only 56.1 percent in the precinct. Another explanation for this discrepancy, shown in some previous national polls, is a tendency to claim to have voted with the winning side on the part of people whose memories are hazy, or who actually did not vote at all.

In the gubernatorial race, 251 said they would vote for Foster Furcolo, 198 for Sumner Whittier and 130 undecided. Two favored incumbent Christian A. Herter'15, who is not running.