Soc Rel Finds Pro-LBJ Bostonians Won't Mail Letters to Elect Barry

If you found a letter addressed to the "Committee to Elect Goldwater," would your political views determine whether or not you'd mail it?

Operating on the assumption that you would, a Junior Soc Rel Tutorial tried a novel method of polling Boston-area residents.

Four hundred stamped envelopes, 100 addressed to each of four committees (Committees to Elect Goldwater, Defeat Goldwater, Re-Elect Johnson, and Defeat Johnson) were left on car windshields and sidewalks in the greater Boston area.

More than 60 per cent of the letters, all addressed to the same post-office box, have been returned so far. "Letters are still coming in, but there is a definite trend for Johnson and against Goldwater," Stanley Milgram, assistant professor of social Psychology and director of the group, said last night.

A second poll conducted by the tutorial group showed an overwhelming (35-90%) preference for LBJ, and a decided unwillingness to reveal oneself as one of Barry's boys.

The students told people that they were "a non-partisan group trying to stimulate interest in the election." They distributed free campaign buttons and books of matches for each candidate.

This technique required people to reveal openly their Presidential preference, something many Goldwater supporters were noticeably reluctant to do.

When told that she couldn't have "one of each," one woman started to take a BMG matchbook, hesitated, took one for Johnson, then asked if she could have the Goldwater one for her little boy. "He needs it for school," she explained.