THE CRIMSON POLL

Upsetting the early conjectures based on the Hearst and Digest straw-votes, the CRIMSON poll shows that Harvard is caught in a Republican landslide. Surprisingly few students indicated any shift in their party sympathies; the greatest changes occurred in the Business School, where students are presumably in closest touch with the conditions governing this election. As usual, the Law School differed from the University, polling nearly as many votes for Roosevelt as for Hoover.

Of course, there are a number of factors which make it necessary to discount the results of this poll as an indicator for the national elections. Students at Harvard are on the whole of the conservative monied class; there may be some truth in the popular superstition that youth is naturally conservative, judging from the poll results. Massachusetts is, moreover, concededly Republican this year. With the exception of the Law School, CRIMSON polls did not forecast the national results accurately in 1924 or 1928.

Comparison of the results shows that there is a progressive trend to the left in the votes of the College, the Law School, and, as far as is ascertainable, the Harvard Faculty. This is perhaps the result of the increasing intellectual maturity of the three groups. If the CRIMSON poll has any notable significance, it is that the Harvard Faculty tends to be more radical than the College, and that the student body is hesitant in following that leadership.