Washington Post Polls 60 Seniors In National Survey

The Washington Post and Harvard's Center for International Affairs have sent 4500 American leaders, including 60 Harvard seniors, a questionnaire on America's problems and direction.

Leaders from eight categories of national organizations and 600 randomly chosen seniors from ten colleges have been asked to assess economic, educational, and social equality in America and United States foreign policy, Sidney Verba '53, professor of Government and a sponsor of the survey said last week.

"Our main interest is in the extent to which there is value agreement or disagreement among national leaders and whether there is a turning-inwardness among those leaders," Verba said.

Verba said the survey will include leaders of organizations of business, labor, agriculture, politics, the media, academics, women, and blacks.

Verba will analyze the data, including rankings of national priorities, on the basis of differences between the eight segments, age groups, and local versus national leaders, Verba said.

Organization Men

Verba said that he and Barry Sussman, The Washington Post's editor for survey reporting, chose to survey organization heads rather than generally prominent people because "it is through such organizational structures that national policy will be carried out."

Organization heads "tend to be more sensitive to and more likely to reflect the views of their constituents," Verba said. He said he is planning a survey of the general public to determine the extent to which leaders accurately represent constituents.

The survey should be finished early next month, and the Post plans to use the results in a June and July series of bicentennial articles, Verba said.

Verba said he and Gary R. Orren, assistant professor of Government, will use the results in writing several articles and a book on division and cohesion of American leaders